Diyala River.. Pollutants and the inability of “Al-Rustamiya” destroy life in the river and its surroundings

Only a few days had passed since Murtadha was born in Al-Zafaraniya Hospital, south of the capital Baghdad, until his parents brought him back and admitted him to the premature infant ward, hoping that his breathing would return to normal after a suffocation attack that struck him due to the emissions generated by the “Al-Rustamiya” project to treat sewage water in the Diyala River, which their home is located near it.

Five years later, the father say with angry expression appears on his face: “Murtadha escaped certain death at the time, but he did not emerge from his ordeal completely healthy. Today, he suffers from delayed growth and his movement is slow compared to his peers due to that suffocation, as the doctors told me.”

Murtadha was not the only one affected by the Al-Rustamiya project and the pollution of the Diyala River’s waters. Dozens of cases of respiratory, skin, and digestive system diseases were recorded among residents living in the vicinity of the project or along the eastern and western sides of the river.

beginning of the journey

The pollution of the Diyala River, which is one of the tributaries of the Tigris River, is clear, as the observations in videos and photos of the residents of the (Al-Zawiya) area of ​​the Diyala Bridge district, which is the area adjacent to the old Rustumiyah station project, and is one of the areas most affected by pollution, reveal that the water coming out of the station into the river is black in color, with foam and scum appearing in the place where the treated water meets the Diyala River bank, as well as pollution of the river banks .

Another video shows a sewage pipe pouring directly into the Diyala River, at the bend where the river meets the gate of the First Military College located west of the station, and according to the residents of the area, this pipe is the college’s sewage outlet, in addition to part of the drainage channel of the so-called Police Canal, where black spots can be seen spreading around this outlet.

Numerous wastes and pollutants are being observed on the river caused by concrete companies and factories spread on the Diyala River, as the area of ​​the river has been reduced by filling in large areas of the river, while most of the wastes of these companies are being discharged directly into the river. A video clip shows how the area of ​​the river has been obliterated in the curve near the old Rustumiyah station, as well as the waste spread on the river bank.

Rustumiyah North Project Outfall into the Tigris River

Rustumiyah Wastewater Treatment Project consists of four phases, the first three of which are within the old Rustumiyah Project, while the fourth project is within the third expansion of the northern Rustumiyah Project.

1- The old phase (zero) project was established in 1963 with a design capacity of 40,000 m3/day.

2- The first expansion phase project was established in 1975 and includes the southern Rustumiyah Project with a design capacity of 45,000 m3/day.

3- The second expansion phase project that took place in 1985 with a design capacity of 90,000 m3/day.

4- The third expansion phase project includes the northern Rustumiyah Project that was established in 1988 with a design capacity of 300,000 m3/day.

The combined area of ​​the two projects, “the southern and northern ones,” is (407) thousand square meters, divided into (400,000) m2 for the northern Rustumiyah project, and (7,000) m2 for the southern Rustumiyah project.

Health Questionnaire

Abdullah Kazim, a 70-year-old Mukhtar of the Al-Zawiya area, lives near the Rustumiyah project. He lost his wife due to her suffering from many diseases, some of which, according to him, are due to chest diseases caused by the pollutants accumulated in the Diyala River and its surroundings.

Kazim says, pointing towards the river: “Dozens of families from our tribe live on both banks of this river.” He pauses for a moment as he recalls the past of his village, sadness etching his features, then continues: “I have lived here since my youth. We used to eat the vegetables and fruits we grew in this land, but the situation has changed a lot over the years. The quality of the water has deteriorated, along with the crops, and we have lost many people due to the diseases caused by the pollution of the river.”

Kazim notes with emotion that the people of Jisr Diyala in general and Al-Zawiya in particular: “were exposed to a complex disaster, as they were caught between the pincers of two major polluters that shocked the residents of the area, the first being the Rustumiyah project that polluted the river, and the second being the Tammuz nuclear reactor.”

The investigator conducted a health questionnaire of (100) samples, entitled “Health Survey.. People of the Diyala River/Al-Rustamiyah” which included six fields starting with the family name/surname, the number of individuals, age according to category, and the diseases that the residents of the region suffer from, including a field for skin, internal, respiratory, and cancerous diseases.

70% of the questionnaires were distributed randomly to residents of houses adjacent to the Diyala River, reaching the (old) iron bridge south of the Rustamiya station, while 30% of them were distributed to families living on the western side of the Diyala River in the Zaafaraniya area.

By analyzing the data contained in the questionnaires, it became clear that residents of these areas are exposed to four main types of diseases, with respiratory diseases taking the lead, internal diseases coming in second place, skin diseases coming in third place, and finally cancerous diseases.

In detailing the diseases, according to the questionnaire, they included pharyngitis, bronchitis, pneumonia, sinusitis, lung damage and (eczema), followed by (chickenpox) and (warts – fish eye -), with less severe cases of (gangenia).

Also colon diseases, intestinal diseases, severe diarrhea, appendicitis, and hepatitis, while a number of cases of cancer were recorded, including colon and lung cancer. The investigator was able to speak with doctors at Al-Zafaraniya Hospital, who revealed that “the majority of the cases coming to the hospital are from the area adjacent to the Diyala River.” The statement of one of the doctors, who stressed the anonymity of his name, was consistent with the questionnaire conducted by the investigator.

Diyala River Pollutants

The length of the Diyala River from the northern outlet of the Rustumiyah Station (third expansion) to the Tigris River is about (15) km.

The Diyala River suffers from serious environmental problems, which have made its water, according to specialists, unfit for drinking and irrigation due to its pollution with industrial waste, which includes industrial activities.

The second includes service activities represented by government hospitals, the number of which reaches 31 hospitals on the Rusafa side, 28 of which discharge their waste directly into the sewers that end up in the river, while only three of them contain a treatment unit, in addition to more than 30 private hospitals.

The expert and academic in environmental sciences, Muhammad Al-Taie, says that “fecal pollution leads to the introduction of types of intestinal bacterial pathogens, including salmonella, shigella, E. coli, and cholera into the water,” and these organisms may cause diseases that vary in severity, as proven by laboratory tests conducted by the investigator.

Baghdad Basic Design

The population of the capital in 2023 is estimated at about nine million people, and the population density is higher on the Rusafa side than on the Karkh side, while the figures indicate that the population of Baghdad in 1945 was only (500) thousand people.

After the establishment of the first Iraqi government in the twenties of the last century, it worked on developing a basic design for the capital, Baghdad, as the basic designs dealt with the population numbers at that time, and it was assumed during the following fifty years to update the designs to keep pace with the rapidly increasing population, as the design was based on a slight increase of barely more than two million individuals until the year 2000.

Absorption capacity

The population increase in Iraq has caused many problems, not only in the housing and electricity sectors, but also in the sewage sector, as the quantities of heavy water left behind by all commercial and residential activities in the capital are estimated at more than two million cubic meters per day, according to statements by the former Minister of Water Resources, Hassan Al-Janabi, 60% of which is on the Rusafa side, which is equivalent to (1.2) million cubic meters of heavy water on rainy winter days, and (650) thousand cubic meters on dry days. These quantities of wastewater far exceed the combined capacity of the two Rustumiyah stations (northern and southern), despite the increase in the design capacity of the project from (45) thousand m3 in 1975 to (300) thousand m3 in 1988, reaching (450) thousand in 2023. There is also a large disparity between the design and operational capacity of the project, which is why it suffers from a large deficit in accommodating the quantities of water reaching the stations, and thus the accumulation of pollutants in the river with all the health and environmental risks they entail. According to a responsible source at the Rustumiyah station, who requested not to be named, the maximum design capacity of the old station is estimated at (150) thousand cubic meters, while the station discharges (250) thousand cubic meters of wastewater, and the maximum capacity of the third expansion (northern) is (350) thousand cubic meters, while (450-500) thousand cubic meters of water are discharged daily through the station.

The annual report of the Central Statistical Organization/Environmental Statistics Department issued in 2022, under the paragraph (Analysis of the Sewerage Sector), indicates that “the percentage of treated wastewater to that generated by wastewater treatment plants in Iraq reached (71.5%), and this percentage means that (28.5%) of wastewater is discharged without treatment.” Returning to the report of the Ministry of Environment (State of the Environment in Iraq), it indicates that Iraq in general “treats (1.5) million m3 per day of wastewater, according to the design capacity of (25) treatment plants, which represents “27% of wastewater, while the largest part is discharged into water sources without treatment,” according to the ministry. The ministry confirms in the same report that there are problems in the treatment plants, including that they operate beyond their design capacity, and always suffer from “malfunctions in the digesters, sand and fat remover, and a section of the screens, and that the odor removal system is only present in the northern station,” which represents an admission by the ministry that “the station’s discharge into the Diyala River and then into the Tigris is done without treatment.” The report also explains that the Rustumiyah station “receives sewage in quantities greater than its design capacity, so the treatment process is inefficient and heavy water is discharged without treatment into the Diyala River (overflow), in which the concentrations of variables are mostly higher than the effective environmental determinants, such as (TSS, BOD, COD), and thus cause significant pollution in the river,” according to the report. According to another source in the Rustumiyah project, an employee who requested anonymity to avoid accountability, the northern and southern stations “always suffer from work stoppages due to the frequent interruptions of the national electricity grid, which leads to the cessation of filtration operations in the various stages of the project, in addition to the lack of modern testing requirements in the private laboratories within the project, which does not give accurate and real results at all. He also pointed out the frequent “depletion of chlorine, which affects the treatment stages.”

Pollution Tests and Signs

According to specialists, wastewater contains pollutants, suspended matter, biodegradable organic matter, pollution-resistant organic matter, living organisms, and materials such as nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, and minerals, all of which pose a risk to human health, especially because they contain microscopic organisms and bacteria that cause diseases.

They confirm that (model) wastewater treatment plants operate on a triple treatment system, which includes biological, physical, and chemical treatment, with the aim of ensuring the release of water suitable for irrigation and other activities at the very least, while both stations of the Rustumiyah project operate on secondary treatment only, and lack chemical treatment.

The wastewater entering the northern and southern Rustumiya station is treated in eight stages through which the heavy water passes before being discharged into the river. The first stage includes the screens (screens), the second is the primary treatment (removal of sand and fats), the third is the primary aeration, the fourth is the primary sedimentation units, the fifth is the main aeration units, the sixth is the final sedimentation units, the seventh is the chlorine sterilization units, and the last is the sediment treatment unit (active sludge). According to the professor of environmental engineering, Dr. Haider Hamed, the fourth stage is one of the most important stages in the station, which is “biological treatment”, as organic materials are oxidized and converted into stable compounds consisting of bacteria and some microorganisms that can be separated from the water, then the mixture of bacteria is aerated using aeration basins, thus obtaining water that is not biologically polluted.

In order to investigate biological pollutants in the Diyala River, the investigator conducted laboratory tests on the water within the area between the Rustumiyah “Southern” station and the confluence of the Diyala River with the Tigris, and followed scientific methods in the process of obtaining samples from Diyala water, where three points or stations were chosen to collect samples, the first at the mouth of the southern station in the river, the second under the Diyala Iron Bridge, and the third, less than 200 meters before the confluence of the Diyala River with the Tigris.

These samples were collected in March 2024, in sterile glass bottles with a capacity of 150 ml, the lids of which were opened to a depth of (20) centimeters under the water and closed there, and were transferred to the laboratory to conduct cultivation operations and isolate bacteria (Bacteria Culture Test) and fungi from the sample.

The results of the bacterial examination of the three water samples showed the isolation of (7) main types of bacteria, as the presence of bacteria (Escherichia coli) was diagnosed, causing bloody diarrhea, and bacteria (Pseudomous aeruginosa) that causes urinary tract infections.

With higher concentrations of bacteria (Salmonella sp) that causes typhoid and paratyphoid, cholera bacteria (Vibrio cholera) appeared, which causes severe watery diarrhea, and bacteria (Aeromons sp) that causes skin diseases such as cellulitis, pimples and boils.

In small proportions, bacteria (Shigilla sp) was isolated, which is one of the causes of dysentery and causes severe diarrhea in children. The results also showed the presence of bacteria (Klebsiella pneumoniae) that causes respiratory infections and directly affects the lungs.

These pollutants varied in the Diyala River sample, between high pollution with a type of bacteria and low pollution, and this appeared through the numbers of bacteria present in the samples, and ranged between 24 x 105 cells/100 ml and 10 x 104 cells/100 ml. The results of the laboratory examination came out with the isolation of four genera of aquatic fungi, which are Saprolegnia)) which was the most widespread genera, in addition to (Achlya, Dictyuchus, Leptomitus), as the presence of these genera is definitive evidence of water pollution, according to Dr. Imran Ali, a specialist in life sciences.

Diyala pollutes the Tigris

The Diyala River flows into the Tigris River, and thus the river pollution process will inevitably affect all areas along the Tigris River’s path, extending from Madain and Suwayra to Kut in southern Iraq.

The investigator conducted a river tour at the confluence of the Tigris and Diyala Rivers, where it is clear how the color of the Tigris River’s water differs from that of the Diyala, with the latter being predominantly black, while the Tigris is tinged with the color of mud.

Air Pollution

Most passersby on the new Diyala Bridge leading to the Kut Road try to hold their breath as much as possible due to the bad smells caused by the Rustumiyah Project. The sedimentation basins and other areas secrete waste and expose it to ventilation, which leads to the release of gases directly into the atmosphere.

Reports indicate that the prevailing wind direction around the Rustumiyah Project is always towards residential areas, which is contrary to the environmental and locational requirements required for the establishment of such a project.

According to experts, the Rustumiyah project produces many gases, including hydrogen sulfide H2S, which has the smell of rotten eggs. Exposure to this gas for more than eight hours can cause eye inflammation and its danger increases, leading to breathing problems if the amount of gas reaches between (25-100) mm. If this amount exceeds (125) mm, the person will feel difficulty breathing, which may lead to fainting and even death. This is in addition to carbon monoxide gas CO, which is one of the dangerous gases that can only be sensed by gas detection devices, in addition to methane gas, which is generated from waste residues. The Rustumiyah project in the Diyala River was not limited to biological pollutants only, but also caused an increase in the concentrations of suspended solid salts and (COD) Chemical Oxygen Demand and Oxygen Demand (BOD).