Blog 5: Toxic dumps flowing under your feet

     The investigative news site, Pro Publica, has done some research on the dumping of toxic waste underground  and found a growing number of hazardous leaks being injected into the earth.  The pumping of waste water has been nothing new, the oil and gas industry has been doing it for over 70 years.  The pumping of water into fields is a popular way of taking fossil fuels out, it keeps the pressure in the reservoir high.  After decades of squeezing waste water back into the ground,  the waste is starting to make its way up to the surface. Over 150,000 wells has been inspected, 17,000 of them have violated regulation, over 7,000 had casings, and 140 cases were found that companies were injecting waste unlawfully.  To cover up, companies managing injection wells have been known to install dummy casing tubes so inspectors will not know their inspection failed. Ten trillion gallons of waste waters being pumped back into the ground contain more than just salt and water, the range of hazardous chemical has grown dramatically.  Pushing disposal problems underground is usually the easiest way but in the future it can lead to problems.  With some of the injection wells showing high levels of failure, the underground drinking water may not be safe.  While some environmental regulation has helped reduce pollution in the air, seas, rivers, and streams, we still fail to realize the toxic waste underground.
     This article on toxic dump really makes individuals pay attention to the toxic waste underground because most people are focus of pollution above ground.  The article gives people a lot of information about were the hazardous waste is coming from.  The best way to reduce the toxic waste underground is to first, get the oil and gas company to reduce the amount of waste they put under ground and also to not inject waste beneath the ground unlawfully because it creates even more hazardous waste. There also needs to be workers that can clean up the waste weekly.

Source:
http://www.earthtimes.org/pollution/toxic-dumps-flowing-feet/2190/