Environmental Implications of a Massive Oil Spill and

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moves east past Balirain and Qatar. Under the combined influence of the
winds and currents, oil in this area would tend to move toward the
southeast and impact the shorelines of northern Bahrain and Qatar. `1Cross
Gulf" currents in this area have significant mixing effect and previous
spills occurring north of Bahrain have resulted in some oil drifting over to
the Iranian coastline when westerly winds were present. Gulf waters
around and south of Balirain have sluggish circulation that would tend to
accumulate floating oil for longer periods. It should be noted however,
that previous spills have not entered the area south of Balirain, and in the
absence of sustained strong winds from the north, impacts in this area are
not likely.


8. How might desalinization plants in the area be ~ected?

Much of the drinking water in the region is provided by desalinated water.
Kuwait, for example, gets over three-fourths of its water supply from this
source. A large percentage of the drinking water for Riyadh comes from
desalination plants on the Gulf. The same plants also supply the majority
of the power needs for the region. In Kuwait during the Nowruz spill, it
was estimated that an extended summer interruption of power for air
conditioning would lead to a large number of fatalities.

Relatively small amounts of oil can affect desalinization plant operations.
During the Nowruz oil spill, the Aziziyah desalinization plant in Saudi
Arabia was temporarily closed as a precaution~ary measure i?ecause of oil-
fouled sediments near its intake. Due to shallow water, the desalinization
intakes in many cases are close to the surface.

In the case of a large spill near Kuwait, the -three major desalinization
plai:\ts~ Doha, Al Shuwaik, and Al Shuaiba, would be at risk. The first two
are m Kuwait harbor and would be at risk from a localized spill in the
area. Al Shuaiba is on the southern Kuwait coast and is more exposed, as is
the small Saudi plant at Khaf~i, although the large spill at Nowruz did not
reach them.

By the time the spill were to reach the larger Saudi plants at Jubail and
Khobar, or the ones in Bahrain and Qatar, it would have weathered
substantially with most of its water soluble components removed. The
plants in this region have contingency plans to provide protection of the


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