A Halliburton Co. expert warned in an internal report last year that the contractor had failed to ensure safe washing water for U.S. troops throughout Iraq, and the Pentagon's internal watchdog said Thursday it will investigate the matter.
WASHINGTON — A Halliburton Co. expert warned in an internal report last year that the contractor had failed to ensure safe washing water for U.S. troops throughout Iraq, and the Pentagon's internal watchdog said Thursday it will investigate the matter.
In a May 2005 report, Halliburton's water treatment manager in the war zone warned that troops and civilians in Iraq were left vulnerable to "mass sickness or death" by a contamination incident at the Ar Ramadi base and that problems existed at other locations across Iraq.
"Countrywide, all camps suffer to some extent from all or some of the deficiencies noted," said the May 2005 report, which was obtained by The Associated Press.
Halliburton said it is confident the water its KBR subsidiary is paid to purify for U.S. troops in Iraq has been safe, and on Thursday it released a followup report, completed last month, that called into question some of the concerns its officials raised last year.
"Since March 2004, KBR has not received any evidence of illness resulting from use of nonpotable water. There is therefore no evidence that the water posed a health risk," Halliburton's new report said.
Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., who has been investigating the issue, released a letter Thursday disclosing that the Pentagon's inspector general is looking into the allegations about Halliburton's water purification work.
The risk to U.S. forces in Iraq "should not include behavior by contractors who cut corners and whose incompetence fails to manage a program that is supposed to deliver safe water supplies," Dorgan said.
Gary Comerford, spokesman for the Pentagon inspector general, said the review would be one of the first two by the inspector general's new office in Qatar. The audit will "look at everything involved in this issue," he said.
The first internal company report was written last May by Wil Granger, the "Theatre Water Quality Manager" for Halliburton's KBR subsidiary.
The report cited confusion between the military and the company over their water treatment responsibilities, a lack of training and the absence of records that might have provided warnings of contamination.
Granger wrote about the discovery in March 2005 of contaminated laundry and shower water at Camp Ar Ramadi in Ramadi, blaming it in part of the company's failure to assemble and use its water purification equipment at the site.
"This event should be considered a 'near miss' as the consequences of these actions could have been very severe resulting in mass sickness or death," Granger wrote.
His report said company water treatment units "had been on site for a considerable amount of time without assembly" due to resistance from a KBR foreman. Granger wrote that the problems were not confined to Ar Ramadi and "will have to be dealt with at a very elevated level of management" to protect the health and safety of U.S. personnel.
Halliburton last month completed a second review, which sought to cast doubt on some of Granger's earlier findings. It said:
--The company water expert at Ar Ramadi who thought he saw larvae in a commode could have been looking at an "optical illusion caused by a leak in the toilet fixture."
--Granger spoke with a "young Army technician" who told him the Ar Ramadi base received raw water from the Euphrates River, when it actually came from a nearby well.
--Granger accepted the young technician's statement that the Army didn't know the nonpotable water was for showers and laundry, when the military was aware of it.
Halliburton said it has "worked closely with the Army to develop standards and take action to ensure that the water provided in Iraq is safe and of the highest quality possible."
Halliburton was headed by Vice President Dick Cheney for several years before he became George W. Bush's running mate. Its KBR subsidiary, also known as Kellogg Brown & Root, works under contract to provide a number of services to the U.S. military in Iraq, including providing water and purifying it.
The contaminated, nonchlorinated water at Ar Ramadi was discovered in March 2005 in a commode by Ben Carter, KBR's water expert at the base.
In an interview, Carter said he resigned after KBR supervisors at the base "told me to stop e-mailing" company officials outside the base and warned that informing the military "was none of my concern."
He said he threatened to sue if company officials would not let him be examined to determine whether he suffered medical problems from exposure to the contaminated water.
Granger's report also said KBR officials at Ar Ramadi tried to keep the contamination from senior company officials.
"The event that was submitted in a report to local camp management should have been classified as a recordable occurrence and communicated to senior management in a timely manner," Granger wrote. "The primary awareness to this event came through threat of domestic litigation."
Beginning last May, Halliburton said it began using its equipment to remove contaminants, bacteria and viruses in Ar Ramadi, and to disinfect the water with chlorine.
Source: Associated Press
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