Ten years of oil

2001/08/22 Elhuyar Zientzia

• Ingurumena

The
Gulf War will launch a giant project to clean up oil spilled in the deserts of Kuwait

Although the Persian Gulf war ended ten years ago, Kuwait's deserts remain steeped in oil. According to calculations, the polemics of that war generated more than 250 million gallons of oil, that is, about 945 million liters, which covered a third of the territory. In total it is estimated that there are 70 million m3 of contaminated land.

However, the Kuwait Institute of Scientific Research has done little to solve the problem. To date only two pilot projects have been carried out. In the first one a hectare affected by oil was treated. First they cleaned the land and then promoted the growth of microbes that eat oil. In this way, 94% of the soil pollutants were cleaned. However, the use of this method to clean all contaminated soil would cost 1.3 billion dollars.

In another more recent project, sand from contaminated land was used in the manufacture of cement. If you notice that this technique is viable and safe, you could contaminate the amount of sand needed to pave the 5,000 km road.

However, it seems that the time has come to take it seriously. In June of this year, the United Nations Compensation Board decided to donate $108.9 million to Kuwait to repair the damage caused by the Gulf War in the environment. That money will receive it from the profits of the controlled sale of oil in Iraq. During the first five years they will analyze and measure the damage caused by oil and try their solution. According to several scientists, this project will be the largest living laboratory that human beings have ever seen.