Flame on: Water well in Chamchmal spouts fire

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Residents and experts are weighing in on the ramifications of a water well in Chamchmal north of Kirkuk catching fire.
 
Some locals say the government should be pressed into harvesting the natural gas that seems to be the source of the fire, but others are worried that that same natural gas and hydrocarbons may be polluting the drinking water for those living in the area.  
 
“We predict that the water is mixed with sulfur and hydrogen sulfide,” Fuad Muhammad, an oil expert, told Rudaw. “It is possible that it also mixed with some hydrocarbon gas that burns hotter.”
 
“I believe we should not let this natural resource be wasted. It is part of national wealth. There are several other wells down there that have been closed,” one of the town’s residents told Rudaw, insisting there was a potential for profit to be made from the gas.
 
Others, however, said the flames and the gas producing them posed dangers to the community. Locals have been burnt in the past by getting too close to the flames, and the natural gas has the potential to pollute drinking water.
 
“We ask the government to come and close the well that has so far caused nine people to be burnt who came to see it. One of them was my cousin,” another local told Rudaw.
 
The Department of Geology at Sulaimani University has started to study the water and natural gas found in the area to eventually make a report to the Kurdistan region’s ministry of natural resources. More on the well and its controversy can be found in the above video.