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To assess the feasibility of recovering water from the unsaturated zone, the soil data from this zone at three sites in an agricultural research station in Kuwait and the meteorological data from the station at the nearby location were analysed to investigate the variation of soil properties with depth and any relationship that might exist between these and some of the meteorological parameters. Automatic sensors were set at several depths within the three boreholes installed at the sites, to record the soil water content, temperature, and electrical conductivity (EC) at one-hour intervals. The results of the grain size analysis of the drill cuttings from different depths of these boreholes were used to determine the lithology of the sediment sequence penetrated. The extracts from the drill cuttings were chemically analysed. Graphical and statistical methods were used for the analysis of these data. It was concluded that down to the depth investigated (25 m), the depth and meteorology did not have much influence on the quantity and quality of the soil water content. A continuous increase in the soil water content with time was, however, observed over the monitoring period that was surmised to be related to the infiltration of winter rain and the irrigation water that might lead to water mounding. It was further concluded that there would be sufficient quantity and quality of soil water in the unsaturated zone of the study area that could be profitably recovered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Kuwait, an arid country, wants to have a reserve of water for emergency use and has planned to create an underground reserve of water through multi‐well artificial recharge at Kabd area. Numerical modeling of different recharge–recovery scenarios was carried out to chalk out an optimum strategy for implementation of the project. These scenario runs suggested that apart from the aquifer parameters and the quality of the groundwater and the recharge water, the well spacing and well construction, orientation of the field with respect to the prevailing hydraulic gradient, and the injection and the pumping schedule would determine the overall recovery efficiency of the setup. For the selected site, following strategies were found to have positive impact on meeting the goals of the creation of a reserve of water for use in an emergency: (1) during the reserve creation stage, simultaneous recharge and pumping through alternate wells; (2) the compensation of the water lost from the reserve created due to the flow down the hydraulic gradient during the waiting period; and (3) the orientation of the long axis of the field perpendicular to the regional hydraulic gradient. The adoption of cyclic injection and recovery option for the creation of the reserve eliminates the need of the first two steps but calls for several cycles of injection followed by recovery and adequate and consistent supply of water for injection over that period. An optimum field design and two alternative recharge options have been suggested based on the above observations. Article impact statement: The article highlights the importance of field design and operation plan on recovery efficiency of a multi‐well artificial recharge system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the 1991 Gulf War, oil wells in the oil fields of Kuwait were set aflame and destroyed. This resulted in severe crude oil pollution of the countries only fresh water aquifers. Here, for the first time the natural attenuation and biodegradation of the persisting groundwater contamination was investigated to assess potential processes in the aquifer. Biodegradation experiments were conducted under aerobic and multiple anaerobic conditions using microcosms of the contaminated groundwater from Kuwait. Under the conditions tested, a portion of the total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH) component was degraded, however there was only a slight change in the bulk concentration of the contaminant measured as dissolved organic carbon (DOC), suggesting the presence of a recalcitrant pollutant. Changes in the associated microbial community composition under different reduction-oxidation conditions were observed and known hydrocarbon degraders identified. The results of this study indicate that lingering contaminant still persists in the groundwater and is recalcitrant to further biodegradation, which presents challenges for future remediation plans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Laboratory and field experiments have been carried out to find an optimum method for the treatment of hydrogen sulfide-rich groundwater that often occurs at comparatively shallow depths (15-40m from the surface) in the urban areas of Kuwait City and is pumped to the surface during dewatering of the construction sites. The treatment would be necessary to remove the gas from the pumped groundwater before its disposal, either on the surface or to the stormwater network, to avoid health and environmental hazards created by the release of the hydrogen sulfide gas, which is toxic, to the atmosphere or to the sea. Based on these experiments, it has been recommended that an economic and reliable hydrogen sulfide treatment facility for groundwater pumped at the study area should consist of sand filters, followed by aeration units for the removal of major part (60-70%) of hydrogen sulfide. Chlorination or activated carbon adsorption can be utilized as a polishing process to remove the residual hydrogen sulfide, depending on its concentration in the water after the aeration treatment and the rate of groundwater pumping. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Protecting the quality of groundwater is a necessity that requires significant restrictions on land use. Because such restrictions are of complex socio-economic consequences, they should be carefully adjusted to the spatially varied protection needs. This paper describes the development of a series of maps designed to facilitate groundwater protection decisions according to land surface zoning. The zoning was based on attributes descriptive of the basic elements of risk (hazard, exposure and consequences) to groundwater quality in Kuwait to provide basis for adjusting the protective regulations to the needs. Standardized maps of the major categories of potentially hazardous activities were prepared using ArcGIS. A country scale map combining and ranking all the hazardous activities was prepared using the USEPA's hazard ranking system (HRS). The intrinsic vulnerability of the groundwater was mapped using the DRASTIC model. The relative value of the groundwater was mapped according to the three-component criteria of current and future dependence on groundwater, as well as interaction with environmental resources, which were adapted from USEPA criteria for prioritizing the protection/remediation funds. Agricultural activities and oil-related industries were ranked the most hazardous activities in Kuwait. The patterns of the intrinsic vulnerability seemed to be dictated by the depth to the groundwater and the material of the unsaturated zone. Decision making tools were produced by combining the above maps as follows: (1) vulnerability and hazard maps to produce the risk map, (2) risk and value maps to produce the value weighted risk map, and (3) vulnerability and value maps to produce release consequences map. The produced maps should serve the purposes of identifying all potential monitoring targets, prioritizing of funds allocation for monitoring or other corrective actions, and adjusting the land use restrictions to the needs as well as allocating future potentially hazardous land use, respectively. Benefits of including the groundwater value in the criteria for protecting the resource were illustrated by comparing the decisions that would be logically made based on schemes with and without groundwater value as part of the criteria. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hydrogeophysical methods are presented that support the siting and monitoring of aquifer storage and recovery (ASR) systems. These methods are presented as numerical simulations in the context of a proposed ASR experiment in Kuwait, although the techniques are applicable to numerous ASR projects. Bulk geophysical properties are calculated directly from ASR flow and solute transport simulations using standard petrophysical relationships and are used to simulate the dynamic geophysical response to ASR. This strategy provides a quantitative framework for determining site-specific geophysical methods and data acquisition geometries that can provide the most useful information about the ASR implementation. An axisymmetric, coupled fluid flow and solute transport model simulates injection, storage, and withdrawal of fresh water (salinity ∼500 ppm) into the Dammam aquifer, a tertiary carbonate formation with native salinity approximately 6000 ppm. Sensitivity of the flow simulations to the correlation length of aquifer heterogeneity, aquifer dispersivity, and hydraulic permeability of the confining layer are investigated. The geophysical response using electrical resistivity, time-domain electromagnetic (TEM), and seismic methods is computed at regular intervals during the ASR simulation to investigate the sensitivity of these different techniques to changes in subsurface properties. For the electrical and electromagnetic methods, fluid electric conductivity is derived from the modeled salinity and is combined with an assumed porosity model to compute a bulk electrical resistivity structure. The seismic response is computed from the porosity model and changes in effective stress due to fluid pressure variations during injection/recovery, while changes in fluid properties are introduced through Gassmann fluid substitution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Groundwater was found to be contaminated by the infiltration of the off-specification seawater, used for injection in oil reservoirs, and brines produced with oil that were disposed in lined or unlined pits in the oil fields of north Kuwait. To observe any changes in groundwater salinity due to the discharges to the pits, four monitoring wells were drilled around one of the lined pits and one monitoring well was completed in the vicinity of an unlined one. The salinity of the water samples recovered from these wells was monitored. The peak values of total dissolved solids (TDS) in the monitoring wells to the north of the lined pit reached 57,000 mg/L and that for the well to the north of the unlined pit 45,000 mg/L. During the observation period of almost one year, the values came down to 3000-5000 mg/L and 37,600 mg/L, respectively. The measurements, thus, suggested that the water disposed in both pits was infiltrating the water table. Numerical modeling has indicated that saline water plumes created by this infiltration move 80-85 m northeast down the prevailing hydrodynamic gradient over a period of 5 yrs. If, however, high-rate pumping from the nearby freshwater field of Raudhatain to the west is to reverse the direction of the hydraulic gradient in the future by lowering the prevailing potentiometric head at the western boundary of the modeled area by 1.5 to 2m, these plumes will move towards the freshwater body by about 100 m over a period of 5 yrs and pose a danger to the integrity of the resource. It has, therefore, been recommended that all disposal pits within the perimeter or in close proximity to the freshwater basin (depression) be closed down and that new ones be located outside and away from the depressions. Adoption of other environment-friendly means of disposal (e.g., injection in deep aquifers) should also be considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Helicobacter pylori is one of the most genetically diverse of bacterial species, and since the 5'-end of cagA gene and the middle allele of vacA gene of H. pylori from different populations exhibit considerable polymorphisms, these sequence diversities were used to gain insights into the genetic affinities of this gastric pathogen from different populations. Because the genetic affinity of Arab strains from the Arabian Gulf is not known, we carried out genetic analysis based on sequence diversities of the cagA and the vacA genes of H. pylori from 9 ethnic Arabs in Kuwait. The analysis showed that the Kuwaiti isolates are closely related to the Indo-European group of strains, although some strains have a tendency to form a separate cluster close to the Indo- European group, but clearly distinct from East Asian strains. However, these results need to be confirmed by analyses of neutral markers (house-keeping genes in a multi-locus sequence typing [MLST]) platform. The profiling of virulence-associated genes may have resulted from ecologically distinct populations due to human migration and geographical separation over long periods of time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A study, aimed at characterizing the nature of anthropogenic and biogenic hydrocarbon contamination in the groundwater of Kuwait, was carried out using fluorescence spectroscopy and other analytical techniques. The results of these analyses have demonstrated that the groundwater in certain areas of northern Kuwait has been significantly impacted by contamination originating from the oil-contaminated surface soils. The study revealed that a water-soluble fraction (WSF) of the crude oil surface contamination appeared to be slowly leaching into the freshwater lenses located in the area. The study also showed that hydrocarbon pollutants were practically absent in the brackish water areas of central and southern Kuwait, except for a few isolated sites. However, nonpetroleum hydrocarbons, with ultraviolet-visible absorption characteristics and fluorescence characteristics typically associated with humic substances, were observed at a few sites in the brackish water fields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A large number of oil wells in Kuwait were damaged and ignited by the retreating Iraqi troops during the 1991 Gulf War. The resulting spillage of huge volumes of crude oil on the surface gave rise to oil lakes and crude oil–impregnated soil. Moreover, products of crude oil combustion had spread over a large tract of the ground surface, causing widespread contamination of soil. Hydrocarbon contamination of ground water by the infiltrating runoff water carrying the contaminants from the surface soil to the water table and/or through direct contact with the crude oil leaking through the damaged casing in the subsurface was feared. This preliminary study was carried out to investigate the extent and nature of this possible contamination of ground water. The results indicate that the shallow fresh water lenses present under the Umm Al-Aish water field and in the southeastern parts of the Raudhatain water field in North Kuwait were affected by hydrocarbon pollution. Standard methods like the determination of the contents of the total petroleum hydrocarbon by the Fourier transform infrared method and 16 polyaromatic hydrocarbons using the gas chromatography-mass spectrometry method did not work well, possibly due to the environmental degradation of the crude oil over time. The fluorescence methods and the total organic carbon and total organic matter gave better indications of the intensity and the extent of ground water pollution. The brackish water fields of South and Central Kuwait were, however, free of any indications of hydrocarbon contamination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hydrogen sulfide occurs in high concentration (10–200 mg/l) in different parts of Kuwait City and its suburbs at relatively shallow depths (15–40 m from the surface). This was revealed by drilling through the aquifer system underlying the city and sampling and analyzing the ground water at the drilled locations. The near-absence of coliform bacteria in the sulfide-rich zones, the presence of sulfur-reducing bacteria in the deep (>80 m) Dammam Formation aquifer and a linear positive relation between the concentration of hydrogen sulfide and the total dissolved solids content suggested non-anthropogenic origin of the sulfide in the ground water of Kuwait. The upward movement of sulfide-rich water from depth and its differential flushing by surface recharge through outcrops of the aquifers appear to have given rise to the present distribution of hydrogen sulfide in the aquifers underlying the Kuwait City. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Kuwait depends on desalination plants for the bulk of its freshwater needs. Brackish groundwater (salinity <5000 ppm) is used for irrigation. The current rates of water consumption are very high (473 l/c/d and 150 l/c/d for fresh and brackish water, respectively). The demands for both types of water are increasing at rapid rates. If these trends continue unchecked, by the year 2025, the demand of fresh and brackish water may reach 3036 Mm3/y and 280 Mm3/y, respectively. In such an eventuality, a large investment will be necessary in the near future to augment the desalination capacity of the country. The aquifers yielding the brackish water are already under great stress and will be stressed further if the withdrawal rates are further increased. Scaling down of the rising demands is, therefore, an urgent necessity. Various steps to achieve this objective in the near future have been proposed and discussed in this article. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A laboratory investigation of the compatibility of the Kuwait Group aquifer of Kuwait with desalinated seawater and reverse osmosis processed treated wastewater was carried out in anticipation of the artificial recharge of the aquifer in future. Even with the use of wax coating and freezing with liquid nitrogen, no core plugs could be extracted from the unconsolidated sections, and only the consolidated to semi-consolidated sections could be studied. The aquifer consists of silty and gravelly sand, and is often highly calcareous. The clay minerals present in the aquifer mostly belong to the montmorillonite and illite groups, with some palygorskite. Mercury injection porosimetry experiments on core plugs from the more cemented parts of the aquifer suggest that, to avoid significant clogging from suspended solids, particles down to a diameter of 8 μm should be filtered out of the injection water. Core flow experiments suggest that, for the samples examined, loss of permeability due to clay swelling is not very important. The blocking of pore throats by moving fines may be a more serious problem during injection. The geochemical simulation indicates that the possibility of scale formation when the injection waters come in contact with the Kuwait Group formation water is remote. Rather, there is a possibility of dissolution of carbonate minerals in the aquifer in contact with the injection waters. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) techniques, based on streak camera detection, were used to determine the level of hydrocarbons in the groundwater aquifers of Kuwait. An appropriate classification algorithm, involving discriminant analysis, was used as a rapid in situ screening tool. Forty-two wells distributed throughout the country were sampled and included in the study. These were subjected to analysis by the standard USEPA 418.1 infrared method as well as the LIF method. The infrared analysis focused on the measurement of total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH). Samples from wells showing high levels of hydrocarbons were also subjected to gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GCMS) analysis for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current distribution and level of hydrocarbon in the groundwater of the Kuwait Group and the Dammam Formation in Kuwait were investigated using water samples from a total of 42 wells. The presence of some amount of hydrocarbon compounds was indicated in many of the samples analyzed with a Fourier transform infra red (FT-IR) instrument and using a laser-induced fluorescence technique. The polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) contents of all the samples analyzed with the gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy (GCMS) method were, however, very low. The presence of non-oil hydrocarbons was thought to be responsible for the relatively high readings obtained from the FT-IR and fiber optics methods. Comparison of the laser-induced fluorescence spectra of water samples spiked with known pollutants with those of groundwater samples indicated that 36 of the latter were free of petroleum hydrocarbons. The remaining six were thought to contain contamination originating from an oil-based source. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The pattern of freshwater consumption in Kuwait has been studied. The increase in population, introduction of piped water to most of the residential areas of Kuwait, and the development of new residential areas appear to be responsible for the rapid rise in consumption over the period 1970-98. The annual consumption of freshwater has increased from a little over 6600 million imperial gallons ( > 30 million m[sup 3]) in 1970 to near 78 500 million imperial gallons ( ≅ 357 million m[sup 3]) in 1998. The average per capita water consumption has increased from 25.3 IG/d (113 l/d) in 1970 to 104.1 IG/d (464 l/d) in 1998. This rather high consumption rate, combined with the scarcity of water in arid Kuwait, brings the issues related to the management of available water resources to the forefront. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents a study which investigated the application of artificial neural network technology for the transmissivity of the Dammam Formation Aquifer in Kuwait. Selection of input neurons; Development of neural networks; Comparative assessment of the networks developed; Conclusion.

The article describes two cases of Vibrio cholerae O1 imported from Iraq to Kuwait in 2015. It says that the first case was in a 19-year-old Kuwaiti man who traveled to Najaf and Karbala in Iraq in September 2015 and the second case was in a 52-year-old Kuwaiti woman who traveled to the same two locations in October 2015.

The article looks at the gastronomic scene in Kuwait. It notes that people from the area are demanding a restaurant scene that corresponds with their brand awareness and increasingly global palate. The impact of the rapid development of mall culture, with the emergence of international commercial franchising, on the gastronomic awakening in Kuwait is discussed.

During the First Gulf War (1991) a large number of oil wells were destroyed and oil fires subsequently extinguished with seawater. As a result Kuwait's sparse fresh groundwater resources were severely contaminated with crude oil. Since then limited research has focused on the microbial community ecology of the groundwater and their impact on the associated contamination. Here, the microbial community ecology (bacterial, archaeal and eukaryotic) and how it relates to the characteristics of the hydrocarbon contaminants were examined for the first time since the 1991 event. This study was conducted using 15 wells along the main groundwater flow direction and detected several potential hydrocarbon degrading microorganisms such as Hyphomicrobiaceae , Porphyromonadaceae and Eurotiomycetes. The beta diversity of the microbial communities correlated significantly with total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH) concentrations and salinity. The TPH consisted mainly of polar compounds present as an unresolved complex mixture (UCM) of a highly recalcitrant nature. Based on the proportions of TPH to dissolved organic carbon (DOC), the results indicate that some minor biodegradation has occurred within highly contaminated aquifer zones. However, overall the results from this study suggest that the observed variations in TPH concentrations among the sampled wells are mainly induced by mixing/dilution with pristine groundwater rather than by biodegradation of the contaminants. The findings make an important contribution to better understand the fate of the groundwater pollution in Kuwait, with important implications for the design of future remediation efforts. Image 1 • Bruckberger et al. Highlights. • First investigation of microbial communities in 1st Gulf War impacted aquifers. • Community structure correlated with contaminant (TPH & EC) concentrations. • Biodegradation extent of the recalcitrant contaminant has remained minimal. • Contaminant more impacted by dilution rather than significant biodegradation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]