Flood-hit Derna’s water sources contaminated with bacteria of decomposed corpses

After being called the “city of blossom” due it its flowers, roses and jasmine, Libya’s Derna has become contaminated by bacteria due to the decomposition of corpses that were killed in the devastating flooding caused by Storm Daniel on September 10.

Libya’s Tripoli-based Government of National Unity (GNU) announced that “bacterial contamination” had been detected in all groundwater sources across the city after sewage water mixed with germs and bacteria of the decomposed bodies, Sky News reported on September 28. 

Teams from the General Administration of Environmental Sanitation Affairs in the GNU’s Ministry of Local Government also analyzed samples from water sources like boreholes and seawater, which is used for the main seawater desalination plant in this affected city. 

The process of analyzing water sources would last for several weeks to take the necessary measures depending on the analysis results, the statement said.

To contain this issue, the administration’s teams continue to add chlorine to disinfect water, as well as guide citizens on how to use water in safe ways, the statement added.

Additionally, sanitation teams are spraying, disinfecting and sterilizing the affected areas to prevent the spread of diseases in places where bodies are recovered, cemeteries, abandoned homes, streets, public buildings, and vital facilities such as schools, hospitals and public squares.

GNU Environment Minister Ibrahim Al-Arabi Mounir pledged to solve the problem of groundwater pollution in Derna by mid-October.

Mounir added in comments to the Arab World Press (AWP) on September 29 that all wells in Derna are now out of service due to the bacterial contamination in the city, which relies on water coming from outside the city.

“The most important thing for us is to control any epidemic spreading as a result of drinking contaminated water,” he said, revealing that 200 cases of infected people were reported on the fourth and fifth days of the catastrophe, but when vaccinating the relief workers afterward, no cases were reported since then. 

The European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO) said that half of the boreholes for drinking water (9 boreholes) became out of service due to the flooding, and the sewage network was also damaged.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and the World Health Organization (WHO) said that the death toll as of September 25 reached more than 4,000 people. Meanwhile, more than 8,540 others remain missing and 43,059 are displaced, including 17,000 children, according to UNICEF.