According to their own information, the population has been suffering from water shortages for about 15 years. The old boreholes did not provide enough water for a long time and the water network has been blocked for many years. The inhabitants of Laylan were dependent on water transport from distant boreholes. As a result, there were only small quantities of water and high transport costs were incurred.
Laylan, which recently had a population of 6,000, has hosted more than 20,000 IDPs since 2014, some inside and others in temporary shelters outside the village. There are currently more than 10,000 internally displaced persons. At the same time, families who had been expelled to other governorates during the wars in Iraq are now returning to Laylan.
Many villages in the arche noVa project area were and are the hub of migration movements within Iraq. Almost every family is directly affected, be it that relatives or acquaintances had to be taken in, be it that their own family had to flee or return to a destroyed home. Although there are currently hardly any open hostilities, the supply situation is still difficult.
Since the beginning of the reign of terror of the "Islamic State" in 2014, arche noVa has been deployed in Iraq. What began as an emergency operation has developed into a long-term WASH project, with arche noVa primarily supporting people in camps for fugitives. At the same time, our local team is active in rural communities such as Laylan, where there is an urgent need for action in the water and sanitation sector.
