In January 1991, Iraqi forces started and began pumping the oil from storage tanks and tankers directly in to the sea. They released 11 million barrels of oil. The temperature of the sea had decreased by several degrees. In February 1991, Iraqi forces destroyed 1,164 Kuwaiti oil wells. The oil also had damaged the desert such that there were oil lakes in the desert, which had covered 19km2 that affected the ground water. The water pollution after the invasion had a lot of effects such as; the marine had been damage and polluted by oil, 11 million barrels had pumped into the sea, a lot of fish died, and 30,000 seabirds were killed because the took the oil spills as water source.
http://usinfo.state.gov/regional/nea/iraq/focus/environment.htm