New landfill will reduce health risks
Sunday, November 05, 2006 00:01
“As an open dump method is practiced for waste disposal, rain water drainage through refuse can carry harmful substances to nearby streams and to water used for drinking,” stated Jamil Kassim Abdullah, a Dahuk engineer, in a study he submitted to the local Dahuk government.
Other hazards he mentions include the potential dangers to the population from inhaling the landfill gases released during the burning of the trash, such as methane and carbon monoxide.
“Burning of waste is a hazard to the people,” said Khalid Hussan, an engineer with the director general of municipality for the city of Dahuk. “The current site has a very bad impact on the city as far as health and environment,” he said through an interpreter.
Besides the obvious health reasons, the current site is not enough to keep up with increase in garbage coming from the influx of Iraqi Kurds fleeing terrorism in the south of Iraq.
“They have a system but it cannot keep up with the demand,” said U.S. Navy Lt. Kim DaCosta, team leader for Civil Affairs Team A-2 (CAT) with Company C of the 403rd Civil Affairs Battalion out of Mattydale N.Y.
Based on Abdullah’s report, the CAT A-2 team has joined the local Dahuk government in building a new landfill. Sunday team members visited the site for the proposed Shcaft Hinark Sanitary Landfill.
“Twenty to thirty years ago when the old landfill site was built, it was outside city limits,” said Hussan. Now it is within a few hundred meters of housing and right across the street from a cemetery.
The multi-million dollar project for the new landfill will be completed in three phases.
The first phase is the construction of the landfill site. The second phase will involve the procurement by the Dahuk local government of segregation equipment. This involves separating recyclables, metal, household furniture and such from the rest of the garbage. The third phase gets more sophisticated. Officials will attempt to separate the waste items and turn remaining compost into fertilizer. It is in this phase where the government intends to start making a profit.
“We will segregate and sell usable materials” said Abdullah, through an interpreter. Abdullah acknowledges that it is a modern idea for the people of Dahuk but “We’ve got to be with the new world,” he said. CAT A-2 is funding the first phase. “We are doing phase one, and they are covering down on phase two and phase three,” said DaCosta.
“The government has already set aside four million dollars for completion of the project,” she said.
Not only is the local government taking the lead on the project, which has a significant impact on the confidence of the Dahuk people in their public officials, but also the impact extends to the economy. The contractor hired to construct the first phase is based in Dahuk.
“We’ve been nothing but impressed with his work,” DaCosta said, “(the company) is reputable and has enough capital to support itself. They are doing a great job.” What the CAT A-2 team is doing is giving the project a jump start, with the local government driving it to completion.
“This is the first phase, it is very important,” said Hussan. He said the landfill can be used while his government tries to finish the last two phases, something that he is determined to see done. “We will find ways, we will never give up,” said Hussan. He is especially determined because the American team believed in the project. Hussan said that at first he was amazed CAT A-2 was willing to subsidize the first phase. “We were knocking on a lot of doors and nobody would listen,” he said.
But the CAT A-2 team enjoys working with the Kurdistan Regional Government, for the Iraqi-Kurdish people. “We get to contribute to something that has a very large impact on the area,” DaCosta said.
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