(VitalNews.org) – Toxic soil has become an issue in many places as it can be difficult without technology to help see if the soil under crops and plants is toxic or not.
In Taylor Yard in Los Angeles, volunteers found themselves tending to plants in a plot. However, these volunteers didn’t know that the soil they were looking into by the Los Angeles River was toxic and filled with materials like hazardous heavy metals and lead, as well as cadmium, diesel, and benzene.
The volunteers worked through the soil and pulled up plants that had roots that ran up to twelve feet deep. They were wearing protective gear and made sure not to get exposed to any of the soil as any small exposure could cause a lot of harm.
Brownfields are a huge problem especially in California right now. Brownfields are considered large pieces of land that are abandoned or underutilized due to industrial pollution. There are almost half a million registered brownfields in the United States alone.
As of now, Taylor Yard is going to be turned into a park using a nine-billion-dollar investment from the city. However, before this is possible the soil needs to be cleaned from all its contaminants which can be a lengthy process.
Volunteers found out that some of the weeds and vegetation in these areas were still growing despite the chemicals in the soil. Experts have said that there is a lot of studying and more information needed in order for them to be able to understand these soil issues.
“After the conclusion of her study, we were excited to see the results show promise,” the office of the brownfields program said in a statement.
The office said that although this process might be difficult in certain areas, that they are open to it and hope to see improvement using this method.
With this said, there are difficulties when it comes to cleaning up sites that may have immense contamination. One place in the former Santa Susana Field Laboratory was used for rocket tests, Liquid Metal research, and even nuclear experiments.
This new method could help people to prove the point that the soil can help itself and that there is hope for soil that is unusable at the moment due to these contaminants.
Copyright 2024, VitalNews.org
