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Water contamination fears after farmer pierces NATO pipeline
Brussels (AFP) May 22, 2008 Thousands of litres of aviation fuel could have contaminated ground water in Belgium, after a farmer pierced a NATO pipeline, authorities in southern Belgium said Thursday. Firefighters working overnight Wednesday siphoned up to 30-40 cubic metres of spilt fuel at Saint-Symphorien, near Mons. After staunching the flow, Belgian defence ministry specialists managing the NATO pipeline began excavation work to fully repair the pipe and clean up the ground. However Wallonia region environment minister Benoit Lutgen said the fuel leak may have contaminated ground water. An alert was to be issued to surrounding areas, including in France whose border is just 10 kilometres (six miles) south of the incident, to check the quality of water in weeks to come. Relevant services held a hastily organised meeting where the minister blamed NATO and invoked the "polluter pays" principle. An enquiry is under way at the request of Belgian Defence Minister Pieter De Crem, said his spokesman Olivier Severin, stressing that NATO had taken the requisite security and environmental measures. He said the path of the NATO pipeline was available through the national land survey service and even on the Internet. However, according to Belgian RTBF television, the presence of the pipeline is not indicated on the ground and the farm worker who caused the rupture was not the owner of the field, which could help explain the accident. A NATO official told AFP that the damaged pipeline serves the Florennes airbase in southern Namur, and that Belgium, as the host nation, should take the necessary measures "then present us with the bill". Lutgen said that the problem was a more general one because, with time, the ground tends to compress around the NATO pipelines -- which have operated for 50 years, notably in France and the Benelux countries -- increasing the risk of exactly the kind of farming accident seen in this case. "The problem is more general and a more precise study is required. NATO has a responsibility in the matter," the minister said, recalling a similar incident south of Brussels in 2005. NATO has a network of pipelines totalling 5,100 kilometres, including 800 kilometres in Belgium, bringing fuel to allied air bases in western Europe. Community Email This Article Comment On This Article Share This Article With Planet Earth
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