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UN Environment Agency Assesses Five Contaminated Sites in Iraq

Posted on: Friday, 11 November 2005, 09:00 CST

UN environment agency assesses five contaminated sites in Iraq

GENEVA, Nov. 11 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) said on Thursday that they have assessed five contaminated sites in Iraq to show Iraqi experts how to detect risks, analyze harmful chemicals and further detoxify and clean up such areas.

One of the assessed sites was a metal plating facility located to the south of Baghdad, which was destroyed and looted during the 2003 Iraq war, It contains several tons of acutely toxic sodium cyanide and a large amount of other toxic materials.

The other four sites include a pesticide storehouse, a chemical and petrochemical factory, a military scrapyard and a large sulfur mining plant, which are all near to Baghdad.

There are thousands of contaminated industrial and military sites, which are severely harmful to nearby residents, especially children who often play on such sites and touch or even ingest toxic materials, said Iraqi Environment Minister Narmin Othman Hassan.

Iraq plans to implement a new project on cleaning up the sites polluted by depleted uranium in south Baghdad in cooperation with the United Nations. And more importantly, Iraq needs to build a hazardous waste treatment facility, added Hassan.

An estimated 40 million US dollars are needed to further assess and clean up other polluted sites, and enact environmental legislation in Iraq, noted the UNEP.

Source: Xinhua News Agency - CEIS

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