ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - A landmark water supply project in Erbil is set to be over 65 percent completed by November and will provide clean water to half of the Kurdistan Region’s capital, a local official said on Monday.  

The key project currently provides drinking water to residents of 33 neighborhoods, all of whom had been gripped by severe water shortage in the past, with the figure set to rise to 50 neighborhoods upon the completion of the second stage of the initiative.

“Construction nears completion in the main stations and lanes, 65 percent of the project will be completed by November,” Ari Ahmed, head of the Kurdistan Region’s water and sewerage department, told The New Region on Monday, asserting that “water scarcity issues for another 50 percent of Erbil’s population will be resolved.” 

For years, Erbil’s residents had suffered from intense water shortages. The scarcity has led families across the city to be obliged into buying water from private tankers, a process that at times could cost a family around $100 per month.

The 480-million-dollar project, inaugurated earlier in September by Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani, is considered the largest water project in the Kurdistan Region and could save Erbil from water scarcity for at least another 20 years.

Located on the Greater Zab River in the Kawrgosk subdistrict of Erbil, the project is set to have 20 large tanks with the capacity to store 300,000 cubic meters of water. It also incorporates a refinery for the water that can filter up to 20,000 cubic meters of water every hour.