Toxic waste dump site more than twice the size of Manhattan

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Full title: Toxic waste dump site more than twice the size of Manhattan discovered in Pacific Ocean

Sounds like there's a massive DDT dump, 27K barrels known, possibly over 100K, that are on the ocean floor between Los Angeles and Catalina Island. A lot of these barrels are decomposed enough that they can't really move them. Also unknown whether it's all DDT in the barrels or other toxic substances as well.

This one's tough in that I'm not sure what the options are for the scientific community. They'd need some combination of tools to very carefully wrap these barrels before lifting and preventing puncture of the envelopes, there's also just how much has leaked out into the sediment in which case they're perhaps hoping that there are microbes that can be elevated to assist in the cleanup. The biggest risk with anything like this is that they could dredge up more, very easily, into the water supply and make things far worse in the short-term.

As usual a story that extreme relevance and nobody bothers to comment about it.

The issue of waste disposal is a major issue to all of us regarding contamination of air, land and water and the rise in diseases like cancer.

Put aside toxic waste, contamination of drinking water and micro-plastics are never on the news but these things everywhere, in crops we eat, particles in the air we breath and water we drink.

When Greta Thunberg takes a break from climate action she may want to join the campaign for clean food, air and water.

Its a big story. Terrible thing.

I doubt that it would effect Californian "drinking water". Its on the bottom of the ocean. So the DDT isnt going swim upstream into rivers on the land, nor into groundwater on land.

But it might...and seems to be...harming sea life already.

The scientist in the video says that they need more research on this dumpsite, and that bacteria may already being doing its thing to break down the DDT into harmless components.

If not then thats a hell of a clean up job. Lifting 25 thousand, to a 100 thousand rusty and decaying barrels up from the sea bottom- several hundred feet- and putting them onto barges, and then taking them all to...where?

The problem has been festering for a few years (quite literally)
https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/ ... sh/584131/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China%27s ... import_ban

Well that is horrifying, I wonder how many other 'sites' like this exist in the world like I mean if there is the one very possible there are many others, since humanity seems to obsessed with destroying the planet we live on. Like is that what they did with all the banned DDT? just dumped it in the ocean....? I guess just another problem left for us millenials and whatever the younger generation is called. At the very least at least we didn't get exposed to all the leaded gasoline that made the boomers insane and some of the gen Xers or whatever.

But yeah I am convinced some of those older people can't help how they are, because the have freaking lead poisoning which as far as I know does not have a cure.

There are others but there is one in the Irish sea where munitions were dumped after WWII...along with unused Nazi nerve gas and other things. It is very common for phosphorous to wash up and burn when it has dried out enough.

Does that harm the marine life in the area? or like people who might attempt to like swim there? but yeah for sure I figure if they found one dump site like that there are probably tons of others.

The article says nothing about harm to marine life but that doesn't mean it isn't happening;

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beaufort% ... %29%20deep.

There are some shipwrecks out there that *are* active disasters. Two I know of are both lost submarines one (Russian) that has irradiated the sea floor but is so deep it isn't exactly a problem to humans but has probably killed anything that went near it. The other (WWII German) was carrying liquid mercury and is the only example of a sub being sunk by another sub; the fishermen cannot now fish these waters because of the mercury contamination in the wildlife.

I assume in the states local councils use garbage landfill sites as housing estates?

This guy (Crime Pays But Botany Doesn't) wouldn't disagree: