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05:40 PM EST on Thursday, February 2, 2006

Reported by: Mike Gooding

Some of America’s military men and women in Iraq could have been drinking tainted water.

As the U.S. Senate holds hearings on claims from Halliburton employees that water at Camp Junction City in Ramadi was tainted, a local woman is furious that her son may have been exposed.

Houston-based Halliburton is in charge of water quality in Iraq and Kuwait.  For possibly a year, military personnel there were allegedly exposed to tainted water, said to be two times the normal contamination of untreated water from the Euphrates river.

Vice President Dick Cheney's former company is in charge of water quality at the post through its subsidiary, Kellogg, Brown and Root.

According to internal company documents, e-mails and congressional testimony, KBR was “apparently taking the waste water from the waste water treatment process and using it as a non-potable water supply."

So, while bottled water was used by troops for drinking, the tainted water containing micro-organisms and bacteria, was used for virtually everything else, including hand washing, laundry, bathing, shaving, brushing teeth and making coffee.

While the military maintains the allegations "appear to not have merit," a Halliburton employee testified there were "numerous instances of diarrhea and stomach cramps.

Here at home, Cindy Daniels is outraged.  Her son spent at year at Camp Junction, from 2004-2005, and he’s due home soon from his new post in Colorado.  The Newport News mother accuses the company of endangering the troops.

“Definitely.  I mean, they’re over there defending your country and the jokers in the water business – they should be helping them, not kill them,” said Daniels.

House Armed Services Committee member Thema Drake (R-2^nd District) said in a statement, "The health our troops in the field is an ultimate concern and I will continue to have discussions with the military regarding this issue and to ensure that the conditions in theatre meet the highest standard."

Daniels hopes Halliburton is forced to clean up its act.

"Just because they may not have kids over there, doesn’t mean they can’t look out for somebody else’s child. We’re all God’s children, you know, so we need to look out for everybody,” she stressed.

Daniels said her son isn’t showing any ill effects of his time at Camp Junction City.  She says he’ll be returning to Iraq and hopes the situation is cleared up by then.