CAPT OKs request for ‘water treatment plan’

KUWAIT CITY, Nov 17: The Central Agency for Public Tenders (CAPT) has approved the request of the Ministry of Electricity, Water and Renewable Energy to propose a mechanism to carry out pilot studies for water treatment in Rawdatain and Umm Al-Aish areas, provided that the work is carried out through a public tender, reports Aljarida daily.

According to sources in the Ministry of Electricity and Water, this project is one among the projects to rehabilitate the environment and polluted groundwater in Rawdatain and Umm Al-Aish basins with the aim of rehabilitating the environment and polluted groundwater in the two basins through comprehensive treatment of groundwater that was polluted as a result of burning oil wells located in those areas, the oil that had leaked and ignited during the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1990, and as a result of the use of salty sea water to extinguish oil fires.

They said the ministry has completed five projects within the rehabilitation projects for that area.

The sources explained that the mechanism that will be presented includes the study of extracting contaminated groundwater and treating it above the ground using reverse osmosis units, and re-injecting groundwater into the appropriate injection wells established for this purpose, and also supportive treatment by injecting oxygen or oxidizing gases will be used to speed up the groundwater treatment process.

It is noteworthy that the United Nations Compensation Committee allocated USD 41.531 million to carry out the treatment works for those areas.