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Question: What are the major environmental effects of the oil fires in Kuwait? I need very general information about how it affects the air, water, land, plants, animals, and people. Dear Ms. Stein: Thank you for your recent inquiry to the EPA's website. You had asked for general information about the major environmental effects of the oil fires in Kuwait. Such as, the effects on air, water, land, plants, animals, and people. We will try to answer your questions the best we can. It's important to note that in addition to the burning oil wells, there were numerous wells gushing oil under pressure. Air The air was filled with smoke and soot. The sun could not shine through making daytime hours very dark. Also, the temperature was a little cooler than normal because the sun was not able to shine through to warm the daytime temperature. Water The oil from the oil lakes may have found its way to underground reservoirs and then into the ground water, causing a change in the ground water quality. Land Fine droplets of oil from the gushing oil wells in the form of a spray would fall to the ground coating areas of the desert with a black tar-like coating. The mixture of soot and other airborne chemicals eventually settled on the land as well as on the surface of the Gulf water.
Plants Shrubs and perennial grasses, which sprouted during winter rains, were oil logged in many areas where oil lakes formed due to gushing oil. The main crops grown in Kuwait and Eastern Saudi Arabia are wheat and date palms. During the oil fires, the production of these crops was reduced because of the smoke plume. However, there is no evidence of contamination through these crops to people. Animals The migrant birds were badly affected by the oil well fires. A large number of birds were flying straight into the fires, and some managed to get through the hot gases, which resulted in severe burns and bleeding. Some of them were found covered with thick oil as they collapsed on the oil-flooded surface in the vicinity of the fires. Many birds, due to reflection effects, drowned in the oil lakes. These oil lakes also acted as traps for dragonflies and ground beetles. There is a possibility that grazing animals (i.e., camels and sheep) and marine life might have transmitted contaminants to human beings through the food chain. People A study showed that acute illnesses, headaches, skin and eye irritation were the most frequently diagnosed conditions in 1991 at the primary health care clinics. The study also found that respiratory disease characteristics were significantly higher in the exposed population in 1991 than in the unexposed population of 1987. There were more hospital admissions for acute bronchitis and broncopneumonia during the period when the atmosphere was polluted with the oil fires burning.
Sources Consulted: Husain, Tahir. Terrestial and atmospheric environment during and after the Gulf War. Environment International 24: 189-196; 1998. Al-Khalaf, Bader. Pilot Study: the onset of asthma among the Kuwaiti population during the burning of oil wells after the Gulf War. Environment International 24: 221-225; 1998. ***************** We hope this information helps. Please contact us if we can be of further assistance. Public Access EPA Headquarters Information Resources Center, operated by GCI Information Services Ariel Rios Building 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W. (3404) Washington, DC 20460 (202) 260-5922 lbp ------------------------------------------------ WARNING NOTICE This electronic mail originated from a federal government computer system of the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Unauthorized access or use of this EPA system may subject violators to criminal, civil and/or administrative action. For official purposes, law enforcement and other authorized personnel may monitor, record, read, copy and disclose all information which an EPA system processes. Any person's access or use, authorized and unauthorized, of this EPA system to send electronic mail constitutes consent to these terms.
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