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CNN Live At Daybreak
Iraq Water Crisis
Aired June 10, 2003 - 05:45 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: The disruption of clean water supplies across Iraq has caused a spike in waterborne illnesses, and the people most at risk are the children.
Our Matthew Chance has more from Baghdad on the water crisis in Iraq.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Little baby Iube (ph) is fighting for his life. Just 6 months old and a sip of polluted Iraqi water threatens to kill him. Dehydrated by diarrhea, his tiny face and body are sore from lack of nutrients. Doctors say he may not live. His country's contaminated water may claim many others like him.
DR. NADIM AL JABORY, BAGHDAD CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL (through translator): Cholera, dysentery and diarrhea are our biggest concerns right now. The drinking water is polluted, and if that problem is not solved, we will have lots more cases and many more deaths.
CHANCE: Outside the city, precious water spouts from a bullet hole in the main supply. Without electricity to pump it, pipes across Baghdad have been vandalized for their water. The city's whole supply has been exposed to pollution.
For years, raw sewage has poured unchecked into the Tigris River. But since the war, efforts to treat this flood of human waste have all but stopped. Now it seeps into the drinking water carrying the threat of killer diseases with it.
In the village of Hassan Hamid (ph) on the banks of the Tigris, local children cool off in the waters. But what looks like a summer playground is rife with disease, and the youngest are suffering most.
As his grandmother fans away the flies, she hopes baby Ali (ph) is getting better. For weeks, his family say, he was tortured with stomach pains and vomiting after drinking bad water. They've only just got the simple medicines needed to treat him.
Another sick child is carried in to show us. These are not the only ones, his uncle says, many children in this village are suffering as much.
(on camera): Across this war ravaged country, ordinary people like those here in Hassan Hamid are facing a water crisis. And as the summer temperatures rise, so too do the risk of diseases like cholera. Shattered pipes here and filthy water may yet prove lethal.
(voice-over): There are efforts to make clean water available. At a price, locals can pay to have water delivered that is good enough to drink. But without wide scale repairs to Iraq's pipes and infrastructure, this country's waterborne disaster may prove impossible to prevent.
Matthew Chance, CNN, Baghdad.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired June 10, 2003 - 05:45 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: The disruption of clean water supplies across Iraq has caused a spike in waterborne illnesses, and the people most at risk are the children.
Our Matthew Chance has more from Baghdad on the water crisis in Iraq.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Little baby Iube (ph) is fighting for his life. Just 6 months old and a sip of polluted Iraqi water threatens to kill him. Dehydrated by diarrhea, his tiny face and body are sore from lack of nutrients. Doctors say he may not live. His country's contaminated water may claim many others like him.
DR. NADIM AL JABORY, BAGHDAD CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL (through translator): Cholera, dysentery and diarrhea are our biggest concerns right now. The drinking water is polluted, and if that problem is not solved, we will have lots more cases and many more deaths.
CHANCE: Outside the city, precious water spouts from a bullet hole in the main supply. Without electricity to pump it, pipes across Baghdad have been vandalized for their water. The city's whole supply has been exposed to pollution.
For years, raw sewage has poured unchecked into the Tigris River. But since the war, efforts to treat this flood of human waste have all but stopped. Now it seeps into the drinking water carrying the threat of killer diseases with it.
In the village of Hassan Hamid (ph) on the banks of the Tigris, local children cool off in the waters. But what looks like a summer playground is rife with disease, and the youngest are suffering most.
As his grandmother fans away the flies, she hopes baby Ali (ph) is getting better. For weeks, his family say, he was tortured with stomach pains and vomiting after drinking bad water. They've only just got the simple medicines needed to treat him.
Another sick child is carried in to show us. These are not the only ones, his uncle says, many children in this village are suffering as much.
(on camera): Across this war ravaged country, ordinary people like those here in Hassan Hamid are facing a water crisis. And as the summer temperatures rise, so too do the risk of diseases like cholera. Shattered pipes here and filthy water may yet prove lethal.
(voice-over): There are efforts to make clean water available. At a price, locals can pay to have water delivered that is good enough to drink. But without wide scale repairs to Iraq's pipes and infrastructure, this country's waterborne disaster may prove impossible to prevent.
Matthew Chance, CNN, Baghdad.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
