Kuwait has set up a temporary station to pump wastewater while repairs on the Mishref pumping station continue, according to a statement issued by Salah al-Mudhi, director general of the Environment Public Authority, to the Kuwait News Agency.

The Mishref wastewater pumping station malfunctioned in late August.

The Public Works Ministry has since used tankers to transfer some sewage to treatment plants, but local media reports say it has also dumped up to 180,000 cubic metres a day (cm/d) of raw sewage into the sea.

Kuwaiti MPs have called for an investigation into the failure of the pumping station, which is in an affluent area.

The Mishref station was designed to pump 340,000 cm/d of wastewater from the Hawalli governorate in the east of Kuwait to wastewater treatment plants at Riqqa and Sulaibiya as well as a pre-treatment facility at Ardiya.

Kuwait’s United Gulf Construction Company was the contractor on the KD50m ($150m) project.

A team of KEO International, also Kuwaiti, and the US’ Aecom (formerly Metcalf & Eddy) designed the facility.