I. Introduction II. Revenue generation

16Table 5: Water availability at urban treatment plants in centre/south400350360Liters per capita per day3002502001501001661975001990 1997 200257. Recent rains in the country have increased water levels in the two major rivers servingwater treatment plants and compact units, thus increasing raw water availability at the intake.However, the previous drought resulted in saline intrusion in some of the tributaries that serverural compact units in Basrah, Missan, Thi-Qar, and Wassit Governorates, forcing the associatedcompact units to shut down. As a result, water supply was rationed in the affected communitiesand consumers received water from tankers. Thus, provision of reverse osmosis plants to thesecommunities would greatly enhance the provision of potable water. United Nations observationin those governorates revealed that the water quality in the raw water sources appears to haveslightly improved with the recent rains. In the absence of data, the number of years of good rainsneeded to remove the salinity could not be ascertained. However, based on professionalexperience, the immediate return of water quality to normal appears to be most unlikely.58. Data from UNICEF’s Programme review of 1990 to 2000 indicates that in 1990,Baghdad City had 800 garbage collection trucks of eight cubic meters capacity each. Acollection rate of 1.5 kg per capita per day for 4.25 million inhabitants, with a total of 6,375metric tons collected each day, was maintained by making two trips per day. From 1991 to 2000,the number of collection trucks decreased to 80, while the population increased to 5.6 millionand the collection rate fell to only 0.5 kg per capita per day. Almost two thirds of the garbageremained uncollected, while garbage disposal areas were getting nearer to the city. In 2001 newcollecting vehicles started to arrive under the Programme.59. Since then, Baghdad City has received, under the Programme, 730 garbage collectionvehicles and 855 service vehicles, all of which have been distributed and put to good use.Recently, a United Nations assessment of the garbage collection system in Baghdad City verifiedthat all the available compactors and skip trucks have been imported under the Programme.Resafa landfill, the only dumpsite for Baghdad City, receives now about 2,500 metric tons perday, against an estimated need of 4,500 metric tons. To fill the gap between the requirement andpresent capacity, there will be a need for both additional assets and improvements in theoperational management of these services.