When the environment is molested as it is happening in Panrieng area, animals too, not just the people, suffer health consequences that come with oil pollution. Here, a sick cow, apparently after having been consuming crude oil tainted water in Toor oilfield, is pictured.

The locals have no choice but to take their cows to drink in the Produced Water (PW) ponds. Produced Water (PW) is a oily water that is found in the same formation as natural gas and crude oil. When the crude oil is pumped off the ground, it comes with PW which is separated and stored in evaporations ponds. In the countries where oil is extracted in an environmental friendly manner, the PW is stored in ponds that are lined with High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) sheets to ensure that the content of the pond, which is a soup of hydrocarbons, doesn’t seep into the ground to pollute the Groundwater (PW). In South Sudan, none of that is done; there are lakes and lakes of badly constructed PW ponds dotting the landscape, exposing the people and their animals to dangerous petrochemicals that aren’t compatible with humans and animals health.