Arch Chemicals' HTH Water Products business has supplied more than 200 metric tons of its CCH and HTH calcium hypochlorite products to the U.S. Department of Defense and to UNICEF (the United Nations Children's Fund) for use in sanitizing drinking water in Iraq.
Widely used to sanitize swimming pool water worldwide, these granular, chlorine-based products can also be used to treat drinking water and to make disinfecting solutions to decontaminate medical and food preparation equipment.
Arch Chemicals supplied 165 metric tons of CCH calcium hypochlorite for use by the Department of Defense (DOD) in purifying drinking water and for other sanitizing purposes related to its efforts in Iraq and Kuwait. The products were forwarded to the DOD by Telechem International, Inc., a chemical wholesale distributor based in Sunnyvale, California, that provides various chemicals to federal and state agencies.
UNICEF in late April picked up 51 metric tons of HTH calcium hypochlorite that had been shipped to Istanbul, Turkey, and this shipment is on its way to Iraq. The UN children's agency has stated that chlorine-based sanitizers are critically needed to prevent outbreaks of water-borne diseases such as cholera, typhoid and dysentery. In addition to other relief efforts in Iraq, UNICEF has been using Arch's calcium hypochlorite products since 1998 to sanitize water in Kurdish refugee camps in northern Iraq as part of the UN's food and medicines for oil program.
"We at Arch Chemicals are proud that our chlorine-based sanitizers are being used to treat drinking water and to save lives in Iraq," said Arch Chemicals' Chairman Michael E. Campbell. "This marks the latest example of our efforts to help governments and international relief agencies supply clean, safe drinking water in crisis-stricken regions worldwide."
Source: Arch Chemicals