Doctor alleges water linked to infections

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http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/biz/3780160.html

 

April 7, 2006, 11:59PM

 

Doctor alleges water linked to infections

Halliburton contends it met Army standards

By DAVID IVANOVICH

Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON - A U.S. Army doctor serving in Iraq has linked a small

outbreak

of bacterial infections among U.S. troops to allegedly contaminated

water

supplied by Houston-based Halliburton Co.

In the latest broadside against Halliburton and its performance in

Iraq,

Senate Democrats produced an e-mail Friday from Capt. A. Michelle

Callahan, a

family physician serving at Qayyarah Airfield West, recounting how

she treated

six infections over a two-week period in January, at the same time

she was

noticing the water in base showers was cloudy and foul-smelling.

Follow-up testing of the water soldiers were using to bathe, shave

and even

brush their teeth revealed evidence of coliform and E. coli bacteria,

Callahan

wrote in an e-mail to a staffer for the Democratic Policy Committee,

led by

Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D.

Halliburton subsidiary KBR was responsible for treating water at that

base,

under a contract to provide logistical support to U.S. troops.

Halliburton spokeswoman Cathy Mann said the company provided water at

the

base " consistent with the Army's standards and used the same process

the Army

itself had been using before KBR took over the water operations

there. "

Daniel Carlson, a spokesman for the Army Field Support Command in

Rock

Island, Ill., said military officials are aware of the issues being

raised.

" Our personnel in Iraq are diligently working to assure a proper

water

supply, " he said.

Chlorine added

Once Callahan raised the alarm, Halliburton chlorinated the water in

the

area where the infections had occurred.

But the water was still cloudy, Callahan said. Further investigation

revealed

that the water the troops were using was actually wastewater from a

purification unit, she wrote.

In response to the issues Callahan identified, KBR installed an

additional

water purification unit.

Halliburton spokeswoman Mann noted that " despite the fact that KBR

believed

it was meeting the Army's own requirements, the Army requested and

KBR

immediately changed the treatment process and is still handling water

treatment

there. "

Concerns about possible water contamination first arose in March

2005, when a

KBR employee at Camp Ar Ramadi reported spotting what looked like

larvae in

a toilet.

Wil Granger, then KBR's water quality manager, and colleague Steve

Outain

conducted what they called a " cursory investigation. "

But the report they issued two months later was explosive, warning

that

troops could have been exposed to " potentially harmful water for an

undetermined

amount of time. "

Halliburton officials have distanced themselves from Granger's

report.

Indeed, they told Dorgan that Granger's findings, titled KBR Report

of Findings &

Root Cause Water Mission B4 Ar Ramadi, constituted

Granger's " personal

conclusions. "

Noted Dorgan: " That is almost unbelievable to me. "

Going public

Dorgan's panel learned about the water quality issue and went public

with

Granger's concerns in January.

Then in February, Jerry Allen, KBR's senior manager/practice leader

for the

Environmental/Water Resources Department, issued a " final report "

disputing

many of Granger and Outain's findings.

When they were conducting their probe, Granger and Health Safety and

Environment Manager Kevin Pope " received inaccurate information, "

Allen wrote in the

report.

" We have been unable to conclusively determine whether the 'larvae'

was

actually a microorganism or an optical illusion caused by a leak in

the toilet

fixture, " the report said.

Who was purifying water?

And in March 2005 when the purported larvae sighting occurred, the

Army †"

not KBR †" was purifying water at Ar Ramadi " due to difficulties in

obtaining

and installing the necessary equipment, " Allen said.

Allen conceded the water for showers was not chlorinated, but said

military

regulations required water for such uses to be chlorinated only " if

prescribed

by the command surgeon. "

Jeffrey Griffiths, a professor of public health and medicine at the

Tufts

University School of Medicine in Boston, scoffed at that assertion.

" You don't shower with water that's not chlorinated †" at least, "

Griffiths

said. " It's called common sense. "

_david.ivanovich_ (david.ivanovich)

 

 

 

 

 

 

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