No matter where you are in the USA or the world contamination of the life-giving resources is ubiquitous. Whether it is Air, Food, Soil, and Water nothing is immune. During a stint as a citizen oversight commission for the water supplier for most of Southern NJ we took a tour of a ground water well facility. It had just been totally rebuilt for millions of dollars. They had added an air stripper and several other “scrubbers” into the first point processing operation. They explained that the well had been the last one that was “online” in NJ that was not contaminated. Then during periodic tests, the “raw” water tested dangerously high in TCE; TriChloroEthene. TCE is a powerful and highly toxic degreasing agent. They showed up photos of a metal 5-gallon industrial bucket that had been hanging by the wire handle on a passing truck. The handle broke and the bucket bounced on the street and rolled off into the woods. It landed within 100 feet of the wellhead. The bucket contained a product with high levels of TCE which leached into the ground contaminating the well forever.
Contamination is all around us every day. We are the best protection against the initial contamination and also mitigating the effects on human, namely, us.
This Category consists of several articles on the varying contaminants that impact the world around us.
