Kurdistan completes project to treat waste water
Water treatment ponds in Duhok governorate, Kurdistan. Photo: Sky News Arabia
Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) – The authorities in Kurdistan region of Iraq completed a project to purify the sewage water in Duhok governorate, aiming to use the treated water in irrigating vast agricultural areas.
Local officials are seeking to use the treated water to save the area from the risks of diseases associated with polluted water.
Tanker trucks collect more than half a million cubic meters of sewage water (heavy water) on daily basis from all areas in Duhok governorate, and deliver it to a remote area of fifty thousand square meters for treatment.
The main objective of this project, which was accomplished by the regional government months ago, is to reduce the use of polluted water in irrigating agricultural areas, and the consequent real risks to human health.
An official in the municipality of Fayda district in Duhok governorate mentioned that the heavy water collected in the ponds is chemically and biologically treated through three stages, to end in drainage channels after making sure it became free of toxic substances to be used in irrigating plants and watering livestock.
According to the director of the water treatment project, Ashwaq Thanoun, the heavy water is treated for bacteria in the first stage, before it is transferred to the ponds of the second stage where the water purification stage begins.
Thanoun explained that after the water is purified, tons of remaining waste are collected and transported to nearby ponds for drying to be sent later to the markets as agricultural fertilizers.
The project saved the residents from the dangers of diseases, but it still, as those in charge say, needs the complementary system to make this water pure enough for human consumption.