Water Treatment Plant
WATER TREATMENT PLANT
A CALL FOR EMERGENCY CHLORINE SHIPMENTS TO IRAQ
David Sole, President of the Sanitary Chemists & Technicians Association-UAW Local. 2334 at the Detroit Water & Sewerage Department
U.S./U.N. Sanctions Are Crippling lraq's Water System.
Economic sanctions imposed on Iraq by the United States and the United Nations have created a crisis in fresh water and waste water treatment. Sanctions have kept Iraq from rebuilding a system severely damaged in the 1991 Gulf War. Sanctions forbid Iraq from maintaining and repairing the system in a timely manner. And sanctions make it impossible for Iraq to expand the system for increased population and industrial demands. The population, unable to get safe drinking water, is suffering widespread diarrhea and dysentery. The most vulnerable victims, the children, arc dying. Unable to properly treat waste water, the country is facing even more extensive medical and ecological problems in the future.
Chlorine Needed Immediately to Alleviate Crisis.
The most immediate need is for liquid chlorine to treat the fresh water and provide the entire population with safe, drinkable water. Adequate chlorination alone could eliminate a large percentage of medical cases, especially of babies and children who now fill emergency rooms at every hospital. The need for costly medical treatment (often unavailable due to sanctions for thousands with diarrhea and dysentery could disappear. Scarce medicines could go to others with non-water borne infections. Increased chlorination can save thousands of children’s' lives almost immediately.
Restrictions on Fresh Water and Waste Water Treatment Endanger Entire Population
Chlorine is cheap and readily available for shipment. Chlorine supplies can be tracked and its use easily monitored at the various water plants. UNSCOM inspectors already monitor the limited amount of chlorine now entering Iraq from UNICEF. No reasonable or legitimate objection can be put forward to the importation of essential amounts of chlorine to Iraq. This could end a great part of the enormous suffering and needless deaths of children who have no part in political disputes among nations.
We must begin an international campaign to immediately provide adequate amounts of liquid chlorine for Iraq’s water purification plants.
In discussions with various officials of Baghdad’s Water Department and a visit to the “April 7” Water Purification Plant, a delegation from the United States “Iraq Sanctions Challenge” group (May 8-May 12, 1998) obtained the following picture.
Baghdad had a population of 2.5 million before the Gulf War. This has grown to 5.5 million today. Of the four water purification plants serving Baghdad in 1990, the two smaller plants are not operational due to shortages of parts and supplies caused by the sanctions. The two larger plants are running, but at reduced capacity. No upgrading or expansion has been permitted, due to the sanctions, to meet the doubled demand for water. Before the war the city was providing 132 gallons per day per capita. Now less than 42 gallons per day per capita is available, including water for industry. The United Nations 661 Committee (U.N Resolution 661 established sanctions against Iraq) either prohibits importation of certain items it has declared having potential military use (dual use) or stalls contracts that have been approved under the “Food for Oil” Memorandum of Understanding between Iraq and the U.N. The Baghdad water department was only allowed a budget of $8 million for a recent 6 month period under the “Food for Oil” program. Of 9 contracts approved one and one half years ago by the 661 Committee (really the U.S. and Britain) only 2 contracts have been filled.
The “April 7” Plant, north of Baghdad, takes water from the Tigris River. Only 7 of the 14 pumps are working, pumping 174 million gallons per day. Standard procedures call for pre-chlorination of the incoming water. Pre-war pre-chlorination was done at 2.5 parts per million (ppm). Today, because chlorine is declared a potential military item, manufacture of chlorine is prohibited in Iraq (three chlorine plants were destroyed during the Gulf War). Importation of chlorine has been severely restricted by the U.S.-U.N. sanctions. Only one year ago UNICEF was permitted to provide some liquid chlorine and this is not enough for even the limited amount of water being treated. Pre-chlorination has been eliminated.
The water from the Tigris has a high turbidity. Settling tanks eliminate some of the solids. Additional precipitation of suspended solids calls for addition of alum. Prior to the war 99% pure alum was available. Today’s sanctions make pure alum unavailable. The plant is adding a domestically mined alum ore that has about 50% impurities. This makes it impossible to control the alum dose and properly eliminate suspended solids. Every day the alum treatment tank has to be scraped out with a mechanical shovel. Testing of the plant’s water is normally done every two hours, but because of a lack of chemical reagents, simple chemical tests to monitor the water quality are being done only once or twice a day.
The “April 7” Plant is fitted with 12 Portacel chlorinators. Six are not operational. Chlorine is supplied from 1000 kg tanks. Only three tanks were in a storage bay designed to hold at least 40 tanks. Another 20 tanks were in an adjacent yard, but this is used to supply the other plants as well. UNSCOM weapons inspectors regularly visit the water treatment plants to monitor the use and location of chlorine tanks. The only chlorination of the water is just before it leaves the plant. The chlorine residual (the amount of chlorine left in the water after it reacts with any pollutants or reactive particles) is between 1.0 and 1.5 ppm. Officials want to have a residual of 2.5 ppm, but are unable to secure enough chlorine to reach this target.
The chlorine residual of 1.0-1.5 ppm is remarkably high compared to water leaving a Detroit water plant (0.15 ppm). The reason appears to be in the problem of widespread damage to the water delivery pipes under the streets of Baghdad from the massive bombing sustained in the Gulf War. Cracks and breaks in the pipes now result in a 40% rate for unaccounted water (compared to a 15% rate before the war). Pipes to repair the system are barred by UNSCOM. Low pressure from a lack of pumps and water loss leads to an influx of contaminated ground water into the system. Baghdad engineers apparently are trying to send the water from the treatment plant with enough chlorine to destroy contaminants coming into the pipes far from the plant itself. Even with a 1.0-1.5 ppm residual, some areas are receiving water at the tap with no chlorine left in it. Testing of tap water has revealed that 11% of the test sites are failing World Health Organization standards for water quality (before the war failure to meet WHO standards never exceeded 1.8%).
The result of this combination of problems, shortages and restrictions inflicted by the Gulf War and war by economic sanctions is massive outbreaks of diarrhea and dysentery. Especially hard hit are the poor who cannot afford bottled water or the fuel to boil tap water. The hospital emergency rooms are filled with children suffering intestinal disorders. Most go untreated due to a lack of antibiotics, anti-parasite medicine and a lack of IV fluids. Even if the doctors can treat some cases, the patients are sent back home where they will drink the water again. According to all sources, Baghdad’s situation is MUCH BETTER than the rest of the country.
Baghdad’s waste water treatment now consists of primary and secondary treatment and aeration. No chlorine is available for waste water treatment. An estimated 66 billion gallons a year of untreated waste water is also being returned to the Tigris River due to shortages caused by the sanctions. Industrial waste is largely going untreated into the river. Most alarming are reports that hospital incinerators are not functioning and that medical waste is going untreated into the system. The ecological long term effects are incalculable.
About one metric ton of liquid chlorine is being used at each of two fresh water plants in Baghdad per day. Another one to two metric tons per day would allow Baghdad to increase the chlorine residual leaving the plants to the target of 2.5 ppm. Waste water treatment could use an additional 3.5 metric tons per day. The rest of the country has the need for 5-6 metric tons per day.
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