VZCZCXRO4457
RR RUEHDA RUEHDE RUEHIHL RUEHKUK
DE RUEHBC #0107/01 1710907
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 200907Z JUN 06
FM REO BASRAH
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0389
INFO RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC
RUCNRAQ/IRAQ COLLECTIVE
RUEHBC/REO BASRAH 0408

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 BASRAH 000107 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV SENV ECON EPET IZ
SUBJECT: ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES IN BASRAH 
 
BASRAH 00000107  001.2 OF 003 
 
 
¶1.  (U) Summary:  Water supply and sanitation are the main 
environmental issues for both the Basrah Provincial Council and 
the Office of the Director General at the Ministry of 
Environment.  Because of problems of purity, many residents 
purchase their water from reverse osmosis stations for drinking 
and cooking regardless of whether they have running water in 
their homes.  Basrah's source of water, the Shaat al Arab River, 
is highly polluted with oil and sewage.  There is also severe 
pollution from the oil industry.  Decades of war have 
contributed to the many environmental issues in Basrah.  Lack of 
funding and coordination among the various agencies and 
organizations hinders any real progress in tackling the myriad 
of problems.  End summary. 
 
¶2.  (U) There are many environmental issues in Basrah including 
water supply and sanitation, pollution from oil, air pollution, 
sewage and solid waste management, military waste and pollution 
of the Shaat al Arab River.  Basrah is located in the area 
formed by the combined deltas of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers 
and contains some of the marshlands of Iraq.  The draining of 
the marshes by the previous regime and three wars over the past 
25 years have decimated the environment in what should be a 
relatively fertile and green area.  Basrah is also home to many 
oil wells and a large refinery, and their pollution contributes 
to the environmental degradation. 
 
WATER SUPPLY AND SANITATION 
 
¶3.  (SBU) Water supply and sanitation are critical issues.  In a 
meeting with poloff on May 24, the Director General (DG) of the 
Ministry of Environment (MoE), Mr. Taha Yasien, stated that 
approximately 60 percent of the homes in Basrah city have 
running water.  The figure drops to 35 percent in the rural 
areas.  Mr. Yasien added that the quality of drinking water is 
the number one priority for his office.  There are 12 large 
water treatment plants in Basrah Province along with a few 
smaller privately owned plants.  However, Mr. Yasien pointed out 
that water going through the smaller plants is merely filtered 
and not treated and is therefore not fit for drinking.  He said 
the main issue with water distribution is that the facilities 
and networks are in poor condition because they were built in 
1948 and have not been maintained properly.  Much of the water 
bound for residences never reaches its destination because of 
the large number of leaks in the network system.  Another issue 
with the water treatment facilities is that they require 
electricity, and electricity is currently on for two hours and 
off for four hours. 
 
¶4. (SBU) Many residents of Basrah purchase their drinking water 
from Reverse Osmosis (RO) stations.  Private vendors purchase 
water from tankers that come from the water treatment facilities 
and then resell it.  According to Mr. Yasien, there are supposed 
to be government-run RO stations that provide water for free, 
but he admitted that he had not seen any in the city.  Access to 
water is much more limited in rural areas; there are fewer RO 
stations and citizens must travel significant distances to 
purchase potable water.  The average cost for 20 liters of water 
is less than US$1 at RO stations.  Although some residents are 
fortunate enough to have running water in their homes, they 
purchase drinking water from RO stations because water that 
comes from the taps is not potable. 
 
THE SHAAT AL ARAB RIVER 
 
¶5.  (SBU) Basrah's source of water is the Shaat al Arab River 
(SAAR), which flows 120 miles from the confluence of the Tigris 
and Euphrates Rivers to the Persian Gulf.  The SAAR is extremely 
polluted with sewage, oil and wreckage of ships from the 
Iraq-Iran War.  The lower portion of the river forms the border 
between the two countries and was the site of intense fighting 
during the war.  Because of Basrah's ports and the oil industry, 
the SAAR is highly polluted with oil.  According to Mr. Yasien, 
his office works closely with the ports to try to minimize oil 
pollution caused by spills and leaks in the SAAR.  Mr. Yasien 
told poloff that a center to monitor and prevent oil pollution 
at the ports should be established and expressed frustration 
with the lack of funding to deal with the problem.  The second 
leading cause of pollution in the SAAR is from sewage.  During a 
meeting on May 21 with poloff, Dr. Azhar al-Sabonchi, a 
professor of environmental pollution at Basrah University, said 
that approximately 24 percent of the sewage in Basrah city is 
sent to a treatment facility, and the rest is dumped into the 
SAAR. 
 
¶6.  (U) The banks of the SAAR were once lined with up to 17-18 
million date palms, making it the largest area of date palms in 
the world as well as providing an economically viable crop. 
Decades ago, Basrah was known for the quality of its dates. 
According to a Study on the Environment in Iraq conducted by 
United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) in 2003, 80 percent of 
the date palms were destroyed during the Iran-Iraq war.  Since 
 
BASRAH 00000107  002.2 OF 003 
 
 
that time, it has been difficult to replant the crops due to 
increased water salinity from an upstream dam and various 
irrigation schemes.  According to the UNEP study, the few 
remaining trees are susceptible to pest infestations, further 
degrading the quality of the forest. 
 
OIL POLLUTION 
 
¶7.    (U) Basrah is home to vast petroleum reserves and an oil 
refinery.  It is also the location of Iraq's only ports.  As 
mentioned above, the oil industry is one of the biggest culprits 
for pollution in this southern province, polluting not only its 
main water source but also the ground and air around the wells 
and refineries.  UN economic sanctions in recent years caused a 
severe shortage of parts to maintain the oil industry. 
According to the UNEP study, this resulted in an increased 
number of oil spills and leaks, and the problem worsened because 
of a lack of technology for leak detection and the disposal of 
oil-contaminated water in shallow aquifers or land. 
 
¶8.  (SBU) The DG from the MoE, Mr. Yasien, meets regularly with 
oil industry representatives to discuss pollution and possible 
solutions, but there is no funding available to tackle the 
issues.  Mr. Yasien told poloff that he believes there is 
legislation in place to prevent pollution by the oil industry 
but does not know who is in charge of enforcement.  During a May 
30 meeting with poloff, Dr. Suknah al-Falak, member of the 
Basrah Provincial Council (BPC) and the Health and Environment 
Committee, said that the BPC sent a letter to the Ministry of 
Oil in early 2006 requesting that it stop polluting and take 
measures to prevent further pollution at the ports.  To date, 
the BPC has not received a response to the letter. 
 
TRASH CITY 
 
¶9.  (SBU) The amount of trash on the streets of Basrah is 
staggering.  Large mounds of trash line the sides of roads as 
well as immense hills of trash in empty lots.  There has not 
been trash collection service in Basrah for over a year.  Mrs. 
Hajar Salim Essa, also a member of the BPC and Health and 
Environment Committee, told poloff that there was a contract 
with a Kuwaiti company to clean up the trash.  However, because 
of the security situation and the company receiving threats, it 
did not come to Basrah.  Mrs. Hajar said that the BPC currently 
is seeking to award the contract to Iraqi companies.  She added 
that BPC focus for funding projects in this sector are on water 
treatment and trash removal.  Mr. Yasien recognized that solid 
waste management was a priority for the BPC, but complained that 
it was unable to remedy the situation because it did not have 
money for projects.  Although burning trash is illegal, Mr. 
Yasien said that many citizens of Basrah do so to get rid of 
their refuse. 
 
¶10.  (SBU) There are no official landfills in Basrah; however, 
many unofficial sites have appeared all over the city.  Mr. 
Yasien expressed concern and said that landfills are not 
supposed to be within city limits.  Due to the inability of the 
local government and residents to transport their waste, all of 
it remains within the city.  There is also no place for 
hospitals in Basrah to safely dispose of their hazardous waste. 
According to Mr. Yasien, it is merely dumped along with other 
waste from the hospitals.  The UNEP study indicates that 
long-term consequences of inadequate waste systems will be acute 
health and safety risks associated with the accumulation of 
waste in heavily populated areas.  The risks are exposure to 
disease as well as dust and debris that contain hazardous 
materials. 
 
AIR POLLUTION 
 
¶11. (SBU) Every contact poloff spoke with regarding the 
environment said that there was no means of measuring air 
quality in Basrah.  All contacts believed that the air quality 
in Basrah had deteriorated over the past decade with the 
increase of automobiles in the city.  In addition to the oil 
industry other factories such as power, fertilizer and paper 
contribute to air pollution.  According to Mr. Yasien, residents 
of Basrah burning their trash, as mentioned above, greatly 
contributes to air pollution as well. 
 
REMNANTS OF WAR 
 
¶12.  (SBU) Over the past 25 years, Basrah has suffered the 
consequences of three wars, and as a result there are large and 
widespread quantities of military debris, such as unexploded 
ordinance (UXO) and military vehicles and toxic and radioactive 
material such as depleted uranium.  Both Dr. al-Sabonchi and Mr. 
Yasien expressed concern about the military debris and 
radioactive material that remain in Basrah.  Both expressed to 
poloff their anxiety over the lack of monitoring of the military 
debris in the area.  (Note: It is believed that significant 
 
BASRAH 00000107  003.2 OF 003 
 
 
quantities of depleted uranium were used in Basrah during the 
1991 Gulf War, and it is also believed that significant 
quantities of UXO remain in the area as well.  End note) 
 
COMMENT 
 
¶11.  (SBU) Comment:  There is very little attention being paid 
to the serious environmental issues facing Basrah today that 
could cause devastating results in the near future.  With 
serious security problems, a high level of unemployment and 
political in-fighting, Basrah has not focused on its mounting 
environmental challenges.  But pollution and other damage to the 
environment are a ticking time bomb that could seriously impair 
Basrah's future growth. 
 
¶12.  (SBU) Comment continued:  In a recent meeting with the 
Governor of Basrah, Mohammad al-Wa'eli, he expressed frustration 
that the province only receives money for reconstruction and 
that there are no funds for environmental projects.  This 
sentiment was echoed by all contacts that poloff met with. 
Besides a lack of funding, there is little coordination among 
the various organizations and entities that have a stake in 
improving the situation.   The various agencies and players all 
act independently from one another in trying to tackle a problem 
that can only be solved through a coordinated, unified, 
well-funded approach.  End comment. 
GROSS