The Water Iraq Has

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Water Iraq is a constant battle to keep the stock fresh and clean of any forgein particles. This particular article was about KBR (aka Halliburton or Kellog, Brown and Root) supplying bad water.

The Pentagon released a report stating that a few dozen United States soldiers got sick because they drank tainted water in 2005 and 2006 on bases in Iraq. It is reported that soldiers broke out in abscesses, skin infections, and bouts of Montezuma's Revenge, better known as diarrhea.

While I am not a defender of KBR, I used to work for them and am familiar with how they purify the water Iraq has. I would like to point out some things that are not right with this report.

A lot of the water in Iraq comes from the Tigris and/or Euphrates rivers. The H2O is channeled to the cities through canals. It is then used by the Iraqis for many things including watering their crops. The military uses a system known as reverse osmosis water purification unity. We call it ROWPU for short. Some bases have been sinking wells and are using well water now instead of water out of the canals.

These units are specialized for cleaning the nastiest, dirtiest water Iraq can find. They are mounted on 40 foot flatbeds or inside 40 foot connexes for mobility.

I do not know all the technical procedures but I do know that the water goes through a filtering system that contains anywhere from 16 to 32 filters. Then chemicals are added to the water for further purification. The people who make these machines claim that once the water goes through the purification process it is drinkable.

No official in Iraq will tell you to drink water from the ROWPU unit. Just to be on the safe side, bottled water is used for drinking and cooking.

Now I must admit that there are bases which produce ice. I do not know where they get their water from or what sort of procedures it goes through.

I have known people who did drink the water and, of course, when you take a shower you will swallow some. Most civilians and military personnel do use the water to brush their teeth with.

In the four plus years I have been in the Middle East, I have never gotten sick from the water. Even in Kuwait, bottled water is used.

After purification, the clean water Iraq has is pumped into water tanks mounted on trucks. Then it is put into water tanks mounted on the ground.

The article states: "Tainted water from a major US contractor was probably" and "definite link could not be established" and yet there is finger pointing at KBR. There are many things that could have caused these problems.

For instance, a possible reaction to the chemicals--maybe these people were allergic to some of the chemicals used. Maybe they were having a reaction to the type of laundry soap being used. There are so many things that could have caused this. The IG even states that there is no evidence that any of the illnesses were related to the water.

Not following a few standards does not necessarily mean the water Iraq has is going to be contaminated. They do not state what the violation is. The violation could have been that the words "non-potable" were not stenciled on the right piece of equipment.

These people could have been having reactions to the garbage. The air quality is bad a lot of times. The military burns a lot of its refuse, including foam and plastic and you know how much they smell as the chemicals burn away.

There are a lot of things that could have caused the illnesses and for someone to make this claim is ridiculous. The Pentagon may know what caused the illnesses and does not want any lawsuits for causing them so they blamed KBR. Or someone is blaming KBR so they can attack them again and cause embarrassment for President Bush. The illness could have been caused by something in the care packages that people send to the troops.