Tag: chlorine

  • Liability for Asbestos

    environmental Strategist, between the lines:  The California Supreme Court ruled unanimously that Employers who use asbestos can be held responsible for illnesses suffered by members of their workers’ households.

    If you are not familiar with Libby Montana, it is to asbestos what Flint Michigan has been to lead contaminated water.  In Libby, asbestos miners came home with asbestos on their clothes, so it was released into the air and breathed in by local residents and family members who contracted asbestos related illnesses.

    Most people do not realize how much asbestos is still used by U.S. business.  For those using asbestos in their business operations, share the following information with them on the California court because it has set a precedent.

    More than 1,000 tons a year for asbestos containing products

    by: Steven Kazan

    Asbestos hasn’t been mined in the U.S. since 2002. However, the country still imports the mineral from nations like Brazil, which still mines it. During the last three years, the U.S. took in more than 1,000 tons of asbestos annually.

    So where does it all go? The U.S. Geological Survey lists the chloroalkali industry as the leading user of asbestos, consuming 57 percent of mineral sources. This business uses asbestos for devices that convert brine into chlorine because the material is strong and resistant to acids and bases.

    As for the rest of the asbestos that comes into the U.S., unfortunately, some industries are still allowed to manufacture certain asbestos containing products. These include, but are not limited to:

    • Cement corrugated sheets
    • Cement flat sheets
    • Cement pipe
    • Pipeline wrap
    • Vinyl floor tiles
    • Automatic transmission components
    • Clutch facings
    • Disk brake pads
    • Drum brake linings
    • Gaskets
    • Roof coatings
    • Roofing felt
    • Clothing

     

    Liability for asbestos goes beyond workplace:

    http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Liability-for-asbestos-goes-beyond-workplace-10658229.php

  • San Mateo Creek: Water leak kills fish

    environmental Strategist™, between the lines:  What is a pollutant?  In this case fresh drinking water. environmental Strategist (eS) define a “Pollutant” as a material, substance or product that gets introduced to an environment for other than its intended use or purpose.  In other words, something that ends up where it does not belong, like fresh drinking water.

    Water leak kills fish –  Tuesday, February 12, 2013

    A broken pipe sent thousands of gallons of drinking water cascading into San Mateo Creek over the weekend, killing scores, possibly thousands, of fish from chlorine poisoning.

    The dead fish began floating to the surface Saturday when a thousand gallons a minute of chlorinated water flowed down a forested hillside into the creek about a half-mile below Crystal Springs Reservoir, according to utility officials and residents.  Utility officials located the break in a 60-inch-diameter pipe next to a concrete bridge.  It took them eight hours to cut off the flow along a 4-mile section of pipeline, but water was still leaking out Monday at a rate of 200 gallons a minute, officials said.

    The exact death toll has not yet been determined.  Rare steelhead trout, which have been listed as threatened along the Central Coast under the Endangered Species Act since 1997, were believed to have been killed.

    The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission oversees the sprawling network that supplies drinking water to 2.5 million people in San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara and Alameda counties.

    Aging pipes, “We don’t know if it was corrosion or a seal or what,” said Steven Ritchie, the assistant general manager for water at the utilities commission. “There are joints in pipes. Sometimes they shift. We don’t know exactly why it broke, but it was undoubtedly related to its old age.”

    “One of the challenges with drinking water is that the things we need to add to it to make it safe can be toxic out in the environment,” Ritchie said. “The chlorine is what makes it safe for us to drink, but it doesn’t do very well in a stream. It’s basically bleach and it kills fish.

    Besides trout, sculpin, stickleback and suckerfish were killed. Ducks, great blue herons and other wildlife were feeding on the dead fish, which range in size from 6 inches to a foot. “I don’t know if it killed all the species,” Rogers said, “but the creek looks sterile. It could take years for it to recover.”

    “As far as I’m concerned, any fish that we kill is a problem,” Ritchie said. “We pride ourselves on taking care of the environment, so this is

    really of great concern to us. Our job now is to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

    Peter Fimrite and Kevin Fagan are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers.