Oil Slick Makes Its Way to Baghdad

Oil and water do not mix: this the residents of Baghdad found out the hard way, as gallons of crude oil made its way down the Tigris and into the city this week.

The oil slick came from a burst pipeline in northern Iraq and forced authorities to closedown three municipal water treatment plants, Reuters reported Tuesday.

According to engineers near Baiji, a pipeline in the country’s biggest refinery burst on April 28, spewing crude into the Tigris for over a day until its ultimate repair on April 30.

The four-kilometer slick reached Baghdad on Monday, forcing the municipality to shutdown the water treatment plants. Hoping to avoid contaminating the city’s drinking water supply, two of the plants remained closed on Tuesday.

After two wars, years of UN imposed sanctions and minimal returns on oil investment, neglect and time have left many of the countries oil pipelines rusted and corroded.

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Sources: Reuters