-
Text:Everybody
’
s
Problem
—
Hazardous Waste
每个人的问题——危险废物
Every year ,billions of tons of solid
wastes are discarded in the United Stastes.
美国每年丢去
10
亿吨的固体废物。
These wastes range in nature from common
household trash to complex
materials in
industrial wastes ,sewage sludge ,agricultural
resideus ,mining refuse and pathological
wastes from institutions such as
hospital and laboratories.
这些废物的变化范围在平常
家庭产生的垃圾到工业废物的复合材料、
污水、
农业废渣、
矿渣
和像医院、实验室这种大型机构产生的病理废物。
The U.S Environmental Protection
Agency(EPA) estimated in 1980 that at least 57
million
metric tons of the
nation
?
s total waste load
can be classified as hazardous. 1980
年
EPA
估计一个
国家负载的全部废物的至少
5700 0000
公吨会被列为危险废物。
< br>Unfortunately,many dangerous
materials that society has
“
throw
away
”
over recent decades
have endured in the
environment-making
household words of
“
Love Can
al
”
and
”
Valley of the Drums.
”
不幸的是在最
近几十年中社会持续扔掉了许多危险物，
从而产生了
“爱河”
和
“桶谷”<
/p>
的家用词。
These two
incidents are not EPA has on file
hundreds of documented cases of damage to life and
environment resulting from the
indiscriminate or improper management of hazardous
wastes.
这
两起事件并不是唯一的，
< br>EPA
有数百起对生命和环境造成损害的案例，
他们都是
由于不加区
别地或不适当地处理有害废物所造成的。
The
vast majority of case involve pollution of ground
water
——
the source
of drinking water for about half of the U.S.
population
—
from improperly
sited or operated landfills and surface
impoundments (pits,ponds and lagoons).
大量的例子中包
括了地面水的污染——大约半个美国人口的饮用水资源——从不合适的选
址或正在运转的
垃圾堆和地面上的蓄水（水坑、池塘和咸水湖）
。
In addition to polluting ground water,
the
improper handling or disposal of
hazardons waste can cause several other kinds of
environmental
damage, as illustrated by
these case histories (often involving more than
one form of damage)
from EPA records. <
/p>
除了地面水的污染之外，还有像
EPA
所
记录的资料里的这些案例所阐述
的对危险废物的不正确处理或处置可能会引起许多其他种
类的环境危害。
Hazardous
Waste
Can
Pollute
Ground
Water
危险废物能够污染地下水
?
The water
supplies of Toone and Teague, Tennessee, were
contaminated in 1978 with organic
compounds when water leached from a
nearby landfill . 1978
年当
Tooe
,Teague
和
Tennessee
附近的垃圾场溶出废液时，
这三个地方的供水就被有机化合物污染了。
< br>When the landfill
closed, about six
years earlier ,the site held some 350,000
drums,many of them leaking
pesticide
wastes.
大约
6
年前，这个垃
圾场关了闭以后，这个地方仍有
350000
桶，而且
许多会泄露出有毒的废物。
Because the towns no
longer have access to uncontaminated
ground water, they must pump water in
from othrer locations.
因为这个城镇已经没有机会
用无污染的地下水，他们必须从其他地方抽水用。
?
Ground water in
a 30-square-mile area near Denver was contaminated
from disposal of
pesticide waste in
unlined disposal ponds.
在
Den
ver
附近的一个
30
平方英里范围的
地下
水受到了污染，
这个污染来自没有围起来的处理池塘的有毒
废物的处理。
The waste, from
manufacturing activities of the U.S.
Army and a chemical company, dates back to the
1943~1957 period.
从美国军队和一个化学
公司生产过程产生的废水追溯到
1943
年—
< br>1957
年这个时期。
Decontamination
, if possible, could take several years and cost
as much as
$$80 million.
如果有可
能的话，要花几年时间和花费
500
万美元才能达到净化。
Hazardous Waste Can
Contaminate River, Lakes, and Other Surface
Water
危险废物能污染河流、湖泊和其他地表水
At least 1500 drums containing waste,
primarily from metal-finishing operations, were
buried near
Byron, Illinois,for an
unknown number of years until about 1972.
< br>直到
1972
年为止不知多少年
了，有至少
1500
桶主要来自金属加工操作的废物埋藏在伊利
诺斯的拜伦附近。
Surface
waters (and soil and ground water as well) were
contaminated with cyanides, heavy
metals, phenols and miscellaneous other
materials.
地表水（还有土壤和地下水）被氰化物、重
金属、
苯酚和其他混合材料给污染了。
Wildlife,
stream life and local vegetation were destroyed.
The disposal site suffered long-range
damage from the toxic pollutants that drained into
the soil.
野生生物、
溪
水中得生物和当地的植被被破坏了。
流入土壤中的有毒的污染物使处理场所遭
到了长期的破坏。
?
About 17,000 drums littered a 7-acre
site in Kentucky which became known as
?
Valley of the
Drums
?
.
在
Kentucky
一个
7
英亩的地方大约有
17000
桶乱丢弃的废物
，这个地方现为
垃圾谷。
Some 6000 drums
were full, many of them oozing their toxic
contents onto the
ground.
大约
6000
桶的废物就已经达到饱和了，很多都慢慢地渗出有毒的
内含物到地
面上。
Tn addition, an
undetermined quantity of hazardous waste was
buried in drums and
subsurface pits.
另外，有不定量的危险废物被埋在桶里或地下的坑里。
In1979,EPA
analyses of soil
and surface water in the drainage area about 25
miles south of Louisville
identefied
about 200 organic chemicals and 30metals. 1979
年，
EPA
对在
Lou
isville
南部的
大约
25
英里的排水系统的土壤和地面水的分析鉴别出大约
200
种有机化合物和
30
种金
属
。
Hazardous Waste Can
Pollute the air
危险废物能污染空气
?
In 1972, waste
containing hexachlorlbenzene (HCB), one of the
family of toxic organic
compounds that
contains chlorine, was disposed of in a landfill
near Darrow and Geism. 1972
年，
含氯的有毒有机化合物的成员之一的含六氯苯的废物在
Darrow
< br>和
Geismar,Louisiana
附近的一个垃圾
堆里被处理掉了。
The HCB vaporized
and subsequently accumulated in cattle over a
100-square-mile area. Some
cattle had
to be destroyed.
在超过
100
平方英里的地区，六氯苯蒸发后堆积在牛的身体里。一
些牛必须被处理掉，<
/p>
This
incident
represented
direct
and
indirect
economic
losses
of
over
$$380,000.
Elevated, although subtoxic, levels of HCB in
blood plasma were found in some area
re
sidents.
这件事造成的直接和间接的经济损失超过了
3
8000
美元。
在一些地区的居民的血浆
中发现了提高的，但低毒的
HCB
水平。
A truck driver was killed in 1978 as
he discharged waste from his truck into one of
four open pits
at a disposal site in
Iberville Parish,Louisiana. 1978
年，
一个卡车司机死于非命，
当时他从卡车
上卸垃圾到
Iberville
Parish,Louisiana
的一个敞开了
4
个垃圾坑的处置场中的一个
垃圾坑。
He was asphyxiated by hydrogen
sulfide produced when liquid wastes mixed in the
open pit. The
area was surrounded by
water and had a history of flooding.
他是被
液体废物在敞开的坑里混合
时产生的氢闷死的，这个地区被水包围，而且有洪水泛滥的记
载。
Hazardous Waste Can Burn
or Explode
危险废物会燃烧或爆炸
A
fire broke out in 1978 at a disposal site in
Chester, Pennsylvania, where 30,000 to 50,000
drums
of
industrial
waste
had
been
received
over
a
3-year
period.1978
年，在宾夕法尼亚的
chester
的处置场发生了一起火灾，那里在
3
年多的时间里已经接收了
30000~50000
桶的工
业垃圾。
The
smoke
forced
closing
of
the
Commodore
Barry
Bridge
and
45
firemen
required