Friday, January 30, 2009

Risk of Sewage Water Contamination in Iraq

By: Omar A. Jassim
The increasing of population in Iraq contributed the increasing demands for the water. During this time, the phenomenon of water scarcity has begun to worry Iraqis and at the same time pollution from sewage by right is a clear threat to millions of people in Iraq.

Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, which stretch from the northern to the south of Iraq, are facing a risk of contamination caused by sewage water pollution. These rivers are the main water resources and they provide drinking water to Iraqis without any high liquidation technology and sterilization processes before they reach the people. The Iraqis Ministry of Environment said that studies carried out by them showed that 95 percent of school children are using non-sterile water without any control.

Children age six to 12 years old faced several types of diseases such as cholera, dysentery and typhoid fever caused by Amoeba and other bacteria. Sometimes, these diseases can be fatal if they are not treated immediately. The children are now facing some environment threats after their “horror lives” during U.S war in Iraq.

Drainage in Iraq comes from several sources, for instance, home, restaurants, schools, rain as well as the groundwater. They contain some elements with high risk pollutants that can harm to human. Iraqis are not completely aware about these polluted water and they do not know the risk of ignoring the threat of sewage water even if the water are treated with chlorine.

The class is the foundation of human sewage water pollution where it connects domestic usage of water with the network of sewage. Then it directly reaches the river without any filter process and then back again in the circulation of water usage. Even after some sterilization processes have been implemented, there are still a lot germs and parasites that can cause deadly threats to humans.

Amoeba dysentery disease is one of the most dangerous diseases which often lead to death if not treated quickly. Dysentery amoeba is a parasitic worm transmitted by human feces that is drained into the river and then back into human in the circulation of water usage. It can cause intestine inflammation, diarrhea, intestinal tumors and sever fever.

Photo by: Omar A. Jassim

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