Love Canal was an environmental tragedy that occurred on the
eastern edge of Niagara Falls, New York. The Love Canal was created by William
T. Love. Love began by digging a short canal between the upper and lower
Niagara Rivers, as to produce power for a low price to fuel industry and homes.
This process came to a halt in 1910, the only thing Love accomplished was a
partial ditch where construction of the canal had begun.
There
the ditch sat for 10 years until in the 1920s the canal was turned into a
municipal and industrial chemical dumpsite. Although landfills can be an
appropriate method of hazardous waste disposal, the Love Canal is a perfect
example of how not to run a landfill.
In
1953, the Hooker Chemical Company covered the canal with soil and then
proceeded to sell it to the city for one dollar. The city decided to build
about 100 homes and a school on top of the site. It became a working-class
community neighborhood.
An
article was written in 1978 by the EPA Journal about how “even though some of
these landfills have been closed down, they may stand like ticking time bombs.”
Months after this article was written the Love Canal exploded. The explosion
was triggered by a record amount of rainfall where the leaching started. Just
25 years after the Hooker Chemical Company stopped using the Love Canal here as
an industrial dump, 82 different compounds, 11 of them suspected carcinogens,
have been percolating upward through the soil, their drum containers rotting
and leaching their contents into the backyards and basements of 100 homes and a
public school built on the banks of the canal.
Trees
and gardens were turning black and dying, one entire swimming pool had been
popped up from its foundation, afloat now on a small sea of chemicals. There
were puddles of noxious substances in various places, such as home owners
basements, yards, and school grounds. Even the air had become infected having a
faint, choking smell. Children returned from playing outside with burns on
their hands and faces. This small 3 block town had five cases of birth defects
which is a very high number for such a small physical area. The people of Love
Canal are also being closely observed because of detected high white-blood-cell
counts, a possible precursor of leukemia.
Citizens
of Love Canal were evacuated from their homes and their neighborhood, and among
the first to be evacuated were pregnant women and children. The citizens were
aware that their homes were built above the canal filled with chemicals but
they had no idea that the chemicals would invade our homes. This caused them to
worry about the future of their people, two of this woman’s four grandchildren
have birth defects. Such defects are, deaf, cleft palate, an extra row of
teeth, slight retardation, and an eye defect. Of the many chemicals in the soil
below, one of the most prevalent is benzene- a known human carcinogen, and one
detected in high concentrations.
The New
York Governor Hugh Carey announced to the residents that the state government
would purchase the homes affected by chemicals. President Carter approved
emergency financial aid for the Love Canal area. A plan is being set in motion
now to implement technical procedures designed to meet the seemingly impossible
job of detoxifying the Canal area. The plan calls for a trench system to drain
chemicals from the Canal. It is a difficult procedure, and we are keeping our
fingers crossed that it will yield some degree of success.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.