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Chuck Burdette 1 Dr. Langston English 1101 April 30, 2003 The Effects of Industrial Pollution Industrial pollution wreak havoc on the living things around it. Many times people are not aware of the dangers lurking in the air we breathe or in the drinking water flowing into our homes. Industrial pollutions ranges from factories purposely burying toxic chemicals underground to contaminated industrial sewage mixing with residential drinking water. Chemical contamination is often times the result of industrial water pollution. Industries sometime poison their workers with chemical contaminants they helped make. It is not uncommon for industries to massively contaminate a region with a single mistake. According to Brownstein, industries pre-treat their sewage, yet toxic contaminants still make it to surrounding land areas by way of the municipal water treatment center. Municipal water treatment facilities are not always capable of detecting harmful 2 contaminants in the water supply. Some of these undetected contaminants are carcinogenic, which means they are cancer causing agents (Brownstein 21). Upon leaving the water treatment center, the contaminated water is on it way to residential homes and businesses. This is where industrial pollution really becomes a problem. In Who’s Poisoning America, the authors explain the Love Canal catastrophe in which 22,000 tons of chemical waste were buried under a large field called Love Canal. Hooker Chemical and Plastics Corp. was responsible for the toxic cocktail brewing beneath Love Canal. The buried chemicals were first placed into 55-gallon metal drums before being placed into the ground. This underground toxic lake remained a dormant entity for many years, for in time it would literally resurface (Mokhiber and Shen 268). According to Michael Kronenwetter, metal drums will disintegrate over time (Kronenwetter 60). The local school board knowingly bought the contaminated land from the Hooker plant for a dollar. 3 The Hooker attorneys entered a clause in the deed, which relieved Hooker from all liabilities in respect to Love Canal, yet the school board still bought this chemical graveyard. This is why the land was so cheap. The board’s attorney warned them of the possibility of dangerous chemicals buried under the land, and they should have the land checked out by the proper authorities. The board felt that the Hooker plant was basically giving a donation, and they felt as though they were in no position to challenge such a generous gift. Besides, the local schools were already over crowded, and the school system really needed the land for a new school.