Research Institute
King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals
Dhahran, Saudi Arabia

This is a summary of a book on the environmental effects of the Gulf War. The emphasis in the book is on air and marine impacts; however, there is some information that is interest to Gulf War vets. For example, the authors found that the concentrations of heavy metals decrease substantially with increasing distance from the Kuwaiti border. There is also information in the book about the smoke plume. The book is expensive, and the authors recommend checking your local public or university libraries before you decide whether to buy a copy.

The ecological devastation of the Gulf War is just now being revealed. The invasion and later occupation of Kuwait by Iraqi forces in 1990-91 led to unprecedented environmental contamination. The effects of this contamination will continue for years to come.

Emissions from hundreds of burning oil wells polluted the air, the largest oil spill in history fouled the sea, and massive bombardment and troop movement scarred the land. Information regarding this environmental legacy of the Gulf War has hitherto been scattered throughout the popular and scientific press. Current knowledge about the environmental aftermath of this tragic war is brought together for the first time in this new book, The Gulf War Aftermath: An Environmental Tragedy.

The United States and its allies deployed their armies in the Gulf region from August 1990 through January 1991 in response to Kuwait's occupation by Iraqi Forces. By mid-January 1991, Allied troop strength rose to over 700,000 personnel. Estimates of Iraqi troop strength ranged from 300,000 to 500,000 in the Kuwait theater.

Maneuvering of both Allied and Iraqi troops, the erection of defensive structures, and preparation of military facilities before the War disturbed the desert surface in the areas of operation, thereby enhancing wind erosion. Severe soil damage occurred in Kuwait, northeastern Saudi Arabia, and southern Iraq. The breakdown of the desert crust enhanced wind erosion in this area. Comparison between the distribution of air particulate during 1980-83, 1991, and 1992 suggest that soil erosion contributed to the enhancement of air particulates in the ambient air of Dhahran, Saudi Arabia during both 1991 and 1992.

Solid wastes from the Gulf crisis littered about 40,000 square kilometers of Kuwait, northeastern Saudi Arabia, and southern Iraq. Destroyed military hardware, explosives and ammunition, and sanitary wastes generated the major portion of this solid waste including over 5,000 Iraqi tanks and armored vehicles and one million mines, 80,000 tonnes of bombs, 120,000 tonnes of ammunition, and 4 million tonnes of human wastes from humans. Solid wastes generated during the Gulf crisis pose a serious problem to land resources in the war zone. Collection and disposal of these wastes are a daunting task.

About 120,000 tonnes of munitions including over 84,000 tonnes of bombs were used on Iraqi installations in Kuwait and Iraq. This estimate does not include Iraqi munitions destroyed by Allied bombardment. Destruction of Iraqi munitions stockpiles was a top priority of the Allied air forces. The total amount of munitions used in the Gulf War may be several times higher than the above estimate.

Military hardware and supplies included many chemicals that are hazardous to health and the environment. For example, the inserts for 30 mm cannon shells for the A-10 airplane were manufactured from spent uranium. Exposure of military personnel and civilian populations to toxic substances released during the operation is quite possible.

A total of 788 Kuwait oil wells sustained damage as a result of Iraqi sabotage including 613 burning oil wells, 76 gushing only, and 99 damaged. Pre-war predictions of the environmental impact of the Kuwait oil fires were extremely gloomy. Early fears assumed that the large quantity of soot particles produced by the fires would remain suspended in the stratosphere for several weeks and eventually moved up to the troposphere, thus enhancing the greenhouse effect.

Atmospheric warming and modification of the earth's radiation balance could change the global climate, weakening the Indian monsoon, and adversely affecting other climatological sensitive regions of the world. Some ecologists warned that ignition of the Kuwaiti oil fields could produce a "petroleum winter effect."

Data presented in the Gulf War Aftermath showed that the smoke plume remained suspended from 2 to 5 km above the ground and it rarely touched ground. Carbon dioxide accounted for over 83 percent and CO was about 0.5 percent of the emission products from the Kuwait oil fires. The Kuwait oil fires produced approximately 133, 0.8, and 8 million metric tonnes of carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, and elemental carbon (largely soot), respectively.

Total carbon dioxide emission was about less than 2 percent of the global emission from the burning of fossil fuel and biomass. The book authors concluded that the effects of the burning oil wells in Kuwait may be significant on a regional scale; however, global effects including greenhouse warming are likely to be insignificant, in contrast to the early "petroleum winter effect" predictions.

Soot and smoke from the Kuwait oil fires decreased solar radiation, ambient temperatures, and visibility during February through September 1991. The Temperature decrease was in the range of 0.8 to 4C. The Gulf Crisis also adversely effected agriculture in the region. Iraqi troop deployment destroyed the agricultural areas of Kuwait. As a result of labor scarcity and other war-associated factors, crop productivity in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia dropped significantly. Most seriously affected were crops grown in winter, such as wheat.

A major concern of the local Gulf and international communities was the atmospheric emission of toxic chemicals due to activities during the Gulf War. The books presents data that show ambient concentrations of many hydrocarbons below the recognized safe limits. The blood concentrations of volatile organic chemicals in people that stayed in Kuwait during the Gulf War were lower than the mean found in the many urban centers of the world.

Concentrations of lead, cadmium, and cobalt in inhaleable particulates were higher than their safe limits, whereas nickel, vanadium, and copper were within safe limits. Metal concentrations in inhaleable particulates found in the Gulf region indicated that the concentrations of nickel, lead, vanadium, and chromium were higher than normal worldwide concentrations.

Concentrations of toxic metals such as vanadium, lead, and chromium were substantially higher in soils collected near the Kuwaiti border than elsewhere in Saudi Arabia. The inhalation of contaminated dust particles may accumulate metals in some specific human organs and induce adverse chronic health effects in certain supersensitive subjects.

In assessing health implications of the Gulf crisis, the book authors faced many problems, especially inadequacies in health statistics and technical limitations of available scientific data. From a human health point of view, smoke, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide, and carcinogenic chemicals from Kuwait oil fires were most likely to cause harm. Smoke from the Kuwait oil fires and burning of diesel fuel was not toxic; however, the health of individuals repeatedly exposed to smoke episodes for prolonged periods could have been adversely affected. Ambient concentrations of sulfur dioxide, a very toxic gas produced from burning of crude, were below the air quality guidelines throughout the Gulf region.

The new book speculates that such low levels would not affect human health adversely, even in Kuwait. No doubt, Kuwait oil fires had the potential to emit large quantities of sulfur dioxide but luckily most of the produced gas immediately oxidized to sulfate, a non-toxic form. In the book authors' opinion, this phenomenon probably saved many thousands of lives in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and Iran.

All other toxic pollutants were below the permissible levels suggesting no hazard to human health. Ambient concentrations of volatile, alipahtic and polycyclic hydrocarbons (many of these are carcinogenic) were below the permissible level. The new book suggests that minimal acute health effects occurred but warns of the chronic health effects of these chemicals.

The book authors estimate that the oil lakes in Kuwait formed during the oil well fire period contained about 20 to 50 million barrels of oil. More than 50 percent of this oil was recoverable, leaving a large volume of oil in the bottom of the lakes. Generally, soil contamination from the oil lakes was limited to less than 0.5 meter of top soil or about 35 million cubic meters. Oil decontamination will be slow and complete recovery of oil contaminated soils may require many years or even decades.

After the Gulf War, one writer described its impact on the Arabian Gulf (Persian Gulf or ROPME Sea Area) by stating "During most of 1991, the Gulf was transformed into a stinking sea of death, fouling its own shores, bed, and even the air above." This graphic description of impacts, produced well after the initiation of detailed impact studies, echoes similar pronouncements that appeared in the press during the Gulf War just after the oil spills and the ignition of the Kuwaiti oil well fires.

The book authors believe that the Gulf is not a dying sea because of the oil spill in contradication to the predictions of those not familiar with its unusual nature. In time, it will recover and be exposed to more released oil. The Gulf's importance as an oil producing region assures this.

The western Arabian Gulf has the dubious reputation of being the most heavily oil polluted body of water in the world. In addition, it receives a considerable quantity of untreated sewage and industrial wastewater. This is the base condition into which 1.9 to 11 million barrels of oil were intentionally released by retreating Iraqi troops from January through May 1991.

Oil contaminated over 777 km of shoreline and 1,367,000 m3 of sediment in Saudi Arabia due to the largest oil spill in history. Productive habitats such as salt marshes and mangrove swamps were smothered. In salt marshes, as many as 1000 dead crabs littered a single meter of the shoreline. The salt marshes are just now showing some signs of recovery; however, mangrove trees are continuing to die.

Oil inundated other less productive, but nonetheless important habitats, contributing to a general decline in productivity in the oil coastal areas. The nearshore areas of Kuwait and Saudi Arabia exposed to slicks and sheens from the Gulf War Oil Spill contain some of the major shrimp fishing and spawning areas of the Gulf. Although perhaps not oiled directly, elevated petroleum hydrocarbon levels undoubted occurred within some of the western Gulf shrimp spawning and fishing areas.

The Gulf War Aftermath showed that the average seawater temperature from June 4 through December 10 was 2.5C lower in 1991 than the mean temperature during 1986-90. During 1991, solar radiation was only 79 percent of that during 1990.

The relationship between solar radiation during 1991 and the combustion of oil in the Kuwaiti Oil Fields is evident. Lower than normal seawater temperatures may have directly affected the reproduction and growth of organisms in the Gulf. Saudi Arabian catches of Hamour (a favorite food fish in the Gulf) contain no sexual mature specimens since the Gulf War. This effect may have extended to many other organisms. The 1992 shrimp season in Saudi Arabia was approximately 33 percent of the normal harvest. While total catch declined, the size of shrimp caught also declined after the Gulf War. The Saudi Arabian prawn fishery alone has lost about US$ 55 million due to the Gulf War.

Allied causalities during the Gulf War included 149 killed and 513 wounded. Estimates of Iraqi troop causalities are highly speculative and range from 30,000 to over 100,000. The book authors fear that the world has forgotten the Iraqi people and warned that civilian deaths associated with the Gulf crisis, could be close to half a million.

The authors raise issues in this book that need to be addressed such as the impact of the United Nations embargo, the secrecy surrounding hazardous chemicals used in munitions, and the relatively small role the United Nations Environment Programme played during the Gulf War environmental tragedy. They urge the scientific community to prepare for such environmental disasters in future.

Sadiq, M. and J. C. McCain (1993). The Gulf War Aftermath: An Environmental Tragedy. ISBN 0-7923-2278-9, 296 pp. Hardbound Dfl. 225.00/ 90.00/$137.00. Kluwer Academic Publishers Group, Order Dept., P.O. Box 322, 3300 Ah Dordrecht, The Netherlands, Telephone (0) 78-524400 or FAX (0) 78-524474; or Kluwer Academic Publishers Group, Order Dept., P.O. Box 358, Accord Station, Hingham, MA 02018-0358 USA, Telephone (617) 871-6600 or FAX (617) 871-6528.