Soldiers in Iraq Given Untested H2O

U.S. soldiers at a military base in Iraq were provided with treated but untested wastewater for nearly two years by KBR, the giant government contractor, and may have suffered health problems as a result, according to a report released yesterday by the Pentagon's inspector general.

The inspector general said that from March 2004 to February 2006, KBR inappropriately distributed chlorinated wastewater to 5,000 U.S. troops at Camp Q-West, located at the Qayyarah West airfield about 180 miles north of Baghdad. The wastewater had been processed by a reverse-osmosis purification system and treated with chlorine before being distributed to showers and latrines on the base.

The report said that from October 2005 to June 2006, sick-call records showed 38 reported illnesses that "an attending medical official said could be attributed to water, such as skin abscesses, cellulites, skin infections and diarrhea." The report said it was impossible to definitively link the treated water to all the illnesses.

At a handful of other bases that were audited, both KBR and the military failed to perform required water-quality checks, the report stated. At Camp Ar Ramadi in Anbar province, auditors found that of 251 soldiers interviewed, 44 percent reported water provided for personal hygiene that was discolored or had an unusual odor. Four percent of the soldiers said they got sick from the water.

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