KUWAIT CITY - Around 180,000 cubic meters of untreated drainage water has been pumped directly into the sea, since the breakdown of all distillation units at Mishref sewage plant last week, reports Al-Seyassah daily quoting sources. Sources revealed the tankers from Saudi Arabia are being used to transport drainage water from the Mishref plant to Sulaibiya, reducing the volume of untreated drainage water pumped directly into the sea by 10-15 percent. Sources said 3,959 tankers with a capacity of 10,000 gallons are needed to transport 39,595,000 gallons of untreated drainage water to other plants, but only 150 tankers with a capacity of 10,000 to 15,000 gallons came from Saudi Arabia. Affirming the best solution is to expedite procedures for the Mishref plant to resume normal operations, sources alleged some beneficiaries are behind the awarding of the tender to establish the plant to a certain company, without fulfilling the conditions specified by the Central Tenders Committee (CTC).
Accountable
Sources said a former minister, along with officials at the Ministry of Public Works (MPW), should be held accountable for offering the tender to an unqualified company. Sources added the Environment Affairs Committee has asked Minister of Public Works and State Minister for Municipality Affairs Dr Fadhel Safar to refer the assistant undersecretary in charge of the Mishref plant operations to the Public Prosecution. Sources said the assistant undersecretary has disregarded the warnings issued by the contractor, who implemented the project, concerning technical procedures, and has not consulted the Environment Public Authority (EPA) in this regard.
Sources disclosed MPs are keen on forming an investigative committee to identify the official behind the disaster, punish him and refer him to the Public Prosecution.
Sources added the engineers discovered technical faults in the plant and forwarded a recommendation to repair these flaws, but it took MPW quite sometime to take the appropriate steps until the operation of the plant two years ago.
Safar told reporters after the meeting that he explained to the committee the situation at the pumping station since it was established three years ago and what caused the station to break down. He said that he also explained measures taken after the incident, adding that pollution levels were improving after authorities were forced to dump over 100,000 cubic meters of little treated sewage into the sea.
Safar added that the ministry plans at present calls for diverting the sewage to the Rigga and Ardhiya pumping stations and then try to operate reserve pumps at the Mishref station if situations improve. The minister also supported whatever the MPs decide regarding forming an investigation committee into the incident. Meanwhile MPs who attended the meeting said the public works ministry put the blame on the contractor for failing to meet the required specifications.
MP Saadoun Hammad quoted head of the Environment Public Authority as saying that the Authority has objected to the Mishref sewage plant project from the very beginning and its opinion was ignored by the ministry. Other MPs said that they demanded during the meeting that Safar should fire an assistant undersecretary at the ministry who has been in-charge of the project and whom they accused of ignoring all remarks and comments made by the contractor.
The council of minister formed at an emergency session recently two committees, a ministerial committee to follow up the situation at the station and the levels of marine pollution and to seek international experts to help bring down high pollution levels. The second committee is a legal panel to investigate who is responsible for the environmental disaster in prelude to take actions against them.
Authorities have banned fishing and swimming between the fishermen coffee in Salmiya to the cost of Fahaheel, about 25 kilometers of coastline, where some officials said pollution levels have reached 10 times above normal levels. Water and Electricity Minister Bader Shuraian Al-Azemi meanwhile assured the public that drinking water was safe and desalination plants have not been affected. He added that the ministry measures pollution levels of drinking water every 15 minutes.
© Arab Times 2009
