Arsenic-treated lumbar a major post-disaster threat
Researchers at the University of Miami find 1,740 metric tons of arsenic strewn about the Gulf Coast; problem is traced to now-banned practice of treating lumber with chromated copper arsenate to prevent pest infestation
April showers bring May flowers, so they say, but a hurricane is much more likely to bring arsenic poisoning, a malady typically confined to the Third World. After Hurricane Katrina, for instance, huge amounts of construction debris was strewn across the Gulf Coast region, with much of it finding a final resting place in areas close to groundwater sources. This is a problem because until 2004, when the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a ban, chromated copper arsenate (CCA) was commonly applied to lumber to prevent pest infestation. In one recent study by researchers at the University of Miami, fifty-two out of 225 pieces of wood retrieved from seven different locations contained arsenic, with a mean concentration of 1.24 grams per kilogram of wood. All told, they estimated the region is contaminated with 1,740 metric tons of arsenic.
Sadly, the disposal of arsenic-treated wood is “way down the list” of priorities, according to professor John Schert of the University of Florida in Gainesville. Disposal of this wood “is a really difficult, complicated waste-management problem,” he says. One thing we can mention, however, is that a number of scientists are developing ways to test for the presence of arsenic in water, a process that may help mitigate the effects of hurricanes. (Existing fluorescence techniques, which were used in the University of Miami study, are too expensive and time consuming for first responders.) We mentioned one of the techniques earlier this month: According to chemists at Edinborough University, E. coli can be used to test for trace amounts of arsenic in water.
-read more in Aimee Cunningham’s Science News report
