Iraqi workers, hired as part of a $14 million USAID program in conjunction with the Coalition Provisional Authority, brought trucks and workmen to remove the waste. Next, the project hired Iraqi workers to build cement drainage ditches to carry away waste water from the neighborhood streets.

The sewage is being diverted into an underground pipe leading into the nearby Tigris River. Eventually it will be linked to a wastewater treatment plant.

A dozen of the 15,000 people, who live in the Saida area in Karada District of the Iraqi capital, stood in front of a small shop and told American visitors how the drainage system has improved their lives.