A project to set up a water treatment station in Basra's downtown Saad square has been carried out at a total cost of over $750,000, an official source from Basra's construction department said on Tuesday.
"Work on the project took four months, during which a station to pull water at a capacity of 1800 cubic meter/hour in Saad Square and a water treatment station in the old al-Mashraq area (downtown Basra) have been set up," Engineer Haidar Hisham told Aswat al-Iraq- Voices of Iraq- (VOI).
Basrah, 590 km (340 miles) south of the Iraqi capital Baghdad, has an estimated metropolitan population of 2,300,000 in 2008.
Basra is the cradle of the first civilization of Sumer. It has the seven main Iraqi ports. The first built in Islam 14 A.H. (After Hegira), the city played an important role in early Islamic history.
The area surrounding Basra has substantial petroleum resources and many oil wells. The city's oil refinery has a production capacity of about 140,000 barrels per day (bpd).
Basra is in a fertile agricultural region, with major products including rice, maize corn, barley, pearl millet, wheat and dates as well as livestock.
A network of canals flowed through the city, giving it the nickname "The Venice of the Middle East" at least at high tide.
(Voices of Iraq)
