The Price of Progress

THAR JATH, SUDAN — German aid agency Sign of Hope has reported that tests of water sources serving at least 300,000 people in Unity state, a main oil-producing region in southern Sudan, have revealed “alarming pollution levels,” the AFP news service reported November 16.

The group said its survey found that an oil consortium in southern Sudan has caused heavy-metals contamination of water supplies. The survey indicated that contamination has affected the health of people and livestock, and threatens what is considered the world’s largest inland wetlands, the 11,500-square-mile Sudd tropical wetlands.

Klaus Stieglitz, the agency’s vice-chairman, said in a November 16 BBC News report that the agency was startled by its own findings. “The chemical composition of water samples we have taken from oil well drilling pits is nearly the same as we found in the contaminated water boreholes the people are using for drinking water supply,” he told BBC News.

The German aid agency has called on the operators of the oil-producing facility to step up water treatment processes, and is petitioning the state’s government to improve the safety of drinking water.