[Time]

My wife, a long time MDC member asked me to post about this from work, as our home computer is down.

Making a Wasteland
http://www.bergenrecord.com/page.php...Y3dnFlZUVFeXkz

Quote:

Tests commissioned by the newspaper found lead, arsenic and xylenes in the sludge - some at 100 times the levels the government considers safe. The tests indicate the contamination is spreading.

Quote:

The contamination presents a threat to the region's drinking water, The Record's investigation found. Although officials responsible for the purity of North Jersey's water are confident it is safe today, they worry the poisons may eventually work their way into the drinking water of 2.5 million people.

Quote:

In June, a consultant hired by The Record tested a chunk of sludge dug from Angie Van Dunk's driveway at Peters Mine Road and Margaret King Avenue. It contained lead at 100 times the state safety standard for soil. Antimony, a silvery-white metal that can cause heart and lung problems, was also 100 times the level considered safe. Arsenic was nearly nine times the safety standard. Chromium was double the safety level. Volatile organic compounds like xylenes and ethylbenzene were also present in hazardous concentrations, according to the analysis of the testing company, Aqua Pro-Tech Laboratories of Fairfield.

Archives on this story begin on October 2. See link below.
http://www.bergenrecord.com/topic.ph...d2cWVlRUV5eTM=

 

[Deirdre]

 

[WanderingWombat]

After all that, I was waiting for a big red logo and the words "Drink Coke". I know there's places like that all over the US (there's 200 sq. miles in some part of the midwest that used to be a chemical plant where the water is the same pH level as paint thinner, 1.3 or something...) but you never see it so close to populated areas and drinking aquifers. Unfortunately, it may be beyond cleanup... plutonium has a half-life of a hundred years, but arsenic is forever.