Dark clouds blocked the sunlight for months, the air temperature of the atmosphere decreased by an average of 10 degrees centigrade, and the water temperature of the sea decreased by several degrees. The war had killed more than 1,000 people and injured more than 1,700. After the fighting stopped, the first priority was to extinguish the 613 oil well fires and reclaim the land, air, water, and industry of the country. The burning and gushing oil from hundreds of oil wells has led to an unprecedented disaster that has left huge areas of Kuwait polluted. Even though the less contaminated areas show signs of recovery, the situation in the oil lake areas worsens each year as the contamination goes deeper into the desert soil.
Water contamination is the greatest concern.
This scarce resource is seriously threatened by contamination from the oil lakes. Forty percent of Kuwait's fresh water reserves are no longer of drinkable quality and there is no scientific proof that a technical solution will solve or even improve the problem in the future. Alternative renewable sources of fresh water residing in the wadi subsurface aquifers are also threatened by 120 km of oil trenches along the Saudi Border. Brackish water seems to have escaped oil contamination for now. However, potential leaks in oil well casings threaten this.