Water, air and ugly face

Other Voices

FBy Ahmad alsarraf

our months ago, I suffered from cough that I thought it was temporary and will go away. I stopped smoking, but the cough continues until today. I checked with at least eight doctors in three countries, swallowed large quantities of medicines and took 10 antibiotic shots, and finally it turned out that I might be allergic due to air pollution, hence the appetite to write about Kuwait water and air increased.

Tap water in Kuwait is considered the best in the region, but it is exposed to a lot of pollution before it reaches the consumer. It is also assumed that Kuwait’s air is clean because of the small number of factories that emit poisons day and night, but the truth is otherwise.

All local and global indicators, unlike those of the government, show significant air pollution that has continued to escalate since post-liberation despite the refusal of the Environment Public Authority to accept these claims in the absence of the opinion of the Supreme Council for the Environment whose voice we have never heard.

All the reports of neutrals, including the US Embassy and the pollution measuring instruments of the people and international bodies such as Air Quality Index (AQI) and World’s Air Pollution Index, unquestionably show the levels of pollution have reached very dangerous levels.

The Environment Public Authority has long acknowledged the high levels of NO2 in some areas near the oil wells. Kuwait’s Green Line environmental group had warned a while ago that there was severe pollution in the atmosphere which

alsarraf

was classified as unhealthy with the high particles measuring ( 2.5 ppm), which are carcinogenic pollutants and are not visible to the naked eye, and smaller than dust.

Other dangerous elements such as lead, sulfur, nitrite, and other carcinogenic pollutants are also present in the atmosphere. Some experts believe that the cause of the air pollution is partly due to the fumes emitted by the refineries and others, and more to what comes out of the landfills because of the amount of toxic gases as a result of the interaction of organic materials (such as food) with other materials such as plastic at a temperature sometimes exceeding 60 in summer.

One visit to the respiratory, lung and allergic clinics shows the magnitude of the disaster. Many believe that Kuwait’s atmosphere, after 30 years of liberation, continues to suffer from contamination with radioactive materials and depleted uranium, which the US military used to eliminate Iraqi army weapons and armor.

After the liberation, many US soldiers were suffering from serious disease after returning home, especially among those who worked to transport and bury the bodies of Iraqi soldiers and remove their destroyed equipment.

Once again, we want to emphasize the danger of leaving landfills in their current hazardous condition. They need to be treated quickly by turning them into inert soil without bacteria. This requires the availability of a specific technology that does not exceed half the cost spent on chest medicine.

There are many parties willing to address this problem once the government has the determination and intention to help them. We are importing the world garbage that has been converted to fertilizers at high cost, although its raw materials are available to us.

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