Future Perfect

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nvironment

air

water

oceans

climate

change

mediation methods and a mixture of indigenous microbial strains

and nutrients.

Soil washing technology, high temperature thermal dispersion and

landfilling are among the other remedial technologies and methods

that have been thoroughly bench-scale tested and evaluated.

The Kuwait Environmental Remediation Programme

In May 1991, PAAC was established to assess the losses and damages

resulting from the Iraqi invasion and occupation and assist claim-

ants in preparing their claims before submitting them to the United

Nations Compensation Commission (UNCC).

On 8 December 2005 the UNCC Governing Council issued

Decision No. 258, with around US$3 billion of funds awarded to

a group of remediation/restoration projects for the environmental

damages caused in Kuwait by the 1990-1991 Gulf War.

Established in 2006, the Kuwait National Focal Point (KNFP)

provides a point of contact between UNCC and the main stakeholders

in Kuwait (Ministry of Defence, KEPA, Public Authority for Agriculture

and Fish Resources, and KOC). It is mainly responsible for planning

and supervising the implementation of the Kuwait Environmental

Remediation Programmes (KERPs) by developing phasing plans and

terms of reference for remediation/restoration contracts, setting terms

for the organizations engaging field contractors, prioritizing implemen-

tation of projects and managing financial resources.

On request from KNFP, the Office of Consultation and Career

Development in the Kuwait University College of Engineering

recently set a Programmatic Management Plan to guide the imple-

mentation of KERPs.

Al-Sulaibiya Wastewater Treatment and Reclamation Plant

Following a massive fish kill event (around 150 tons) in the north-

ern coastal waters of Kuwait Bay in mid 1999, KEPA formed a

permanent National Emergency Committee to study and follow up

the fish kill and red tide (algal bloom) phenomena.

The committee implemented an action plan to minimize the

discharge of nutrient-rich raw sewage water into sea waters by

reducing the number of existing sewage pumping stations to two

new stations, upgrading the existing three wastewater

secondary treatment plants to tertiary treatment plants,

and encouraging the private sector to invest in building

a modern, large-capacity wastewater treatment plant in

Al-Sulaibiya area.

Accordingly, in 2002 the Utilities Developing

Company (UDC) built Al-Sulaibiya Wastewater

Quaternary Treatment and Reclamation Plant, one of the

largest of its kind in the world. The plant initially treats

up to 375,000 cubic metres of raw domestic wastewater

per day – almost 60 per cent of Kuwait’s total. Over the

next 30 years, it is gradually expected to reach a capac-

ity of 600,000 cubic metres a day using reverse osmosis

(RO) technology.

A detailed research project, funded by the Kuwait

Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences and KEPA,

has been implemented by a team of researchers in the

KISR to study in depth the effect of using RO-treated

wastewater on soil and groundwater at Al-Abdally farms

in northern Kuwait.

Al-Abdally is the second-largest area of agricultural land

in Kuwait. Farmers have used brackish groundwater for

irrigation for 50 years and, over the past 21 years, the over-

pumping of groundwater for agricultural use has lowered

the water table by between 1.6 and 6.0 metres (about 3.8

metres on average). Continuous pumping of groundwater

since 1963 has also significantly increased groundwater

salinity, leading in turn to an increase in soil salinity.

Al-Qallaf and others

have drawn the following

conclusions from their detailed field investigations and

laboratory analyses:

• RO-treated wastewater is good for irrigation

in Al-Abdally farms due to its low salinity, but

fertilizers should be used to compensate for the

water’s low nutrient content

• The use of RO-treated wastewater in irrigation

leached out the salts and lowered soil salinity

Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer, Vienna, 1985

Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer, Montreal, 1987

Amendment to the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer, London, 1990

Amendment to the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer, Copenhagen, 1992

Amendment to the Montreal Protocol on substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer, Montreal, 1997

Amendment to Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer, Beijing, 1999

Basel Convention on Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal, Basel, 1989

Stockholm Convention on Persistence of Organic Pollutants, Stockholm, 2001

Rotterdam Convention for the Prior Informed Consent (PIC) Procedure for Certain Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides in International Trade, Rotterdam, 1998

10.

UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, New York, 1992

11.

Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations, Framework Convention on Climate Change, Kyoto, 1997

12.

UN Convention on Biological Diversity, Rio de Janeiro, 1992

13.

The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, Washington, 1973

14.

UN Convention to Combat Desertification in Those Countries Experiencing Drought and Redesertification, particularly in Africa, Paris, 1994

Major international environmental agreements ratified by the State of Kuwait 1992-2006

Source: KEPA, Kuwait (2009)