DAMMAM, 27 March 2003 — An oil spill has been detected near the King Fahd Causeway linking the Kingdom to Bahrain, the Meteorological Environment Protection Agency (MEPA) said. The spill was reported to MEPA by the National Guard.
MEPA said that on receiving the report it immediately activated a special task force to deal with the spill. The task force contacted the relevant departments and began investigating the cause as well as monitoring the direction of the slick.
The agency has already formulated an action plan to combat any kind of pollution, including oil spills, borne out of the on-going war in Iraq. MEPA chief Prince Turki ibn Nasser warned last week that the Arabian Gulf as well as the atmosphere in Eastern Saudi Arabia might be affected due to the war.
He said MEPA had put in place a special contingency plan to combat such pollution.
The principal task before MEPA was to prevent the polluted water from reaching the nearby desalination plant in Aziziyah, just a few kilometers from the Causeway, an official at the agency said. “It is also important to protect the beaches,” he said.
MEPA, in cooperation with the National Guard, immediately surveyed the affected area. The Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Saudi Aramco), which also has a contingency plan for oil spills, began a survey of the Alkhobar beaches to detect any effect of the spill.
Officials at the desalination plant for their part have taken steps to stop polluted water seeping into the plant. Saudi Aramco has, according to latest reports, so far pumped out nearly 30 barrels of oil.
Meanwhile, the MEPA officials said that they were in constant touch with their Bahraini counterparts to exchange information on the movement of the oil spill and set up a joint plan to prevent future oil spills and their movement to Alkhobar beaches.
