Dioxin-contaminated waste dump

[Neil Tangri <ntangri@essential.org>]

HI Folks,

This is from one of our allies in Japan, who is working on a site in
Wakayama prefecture (state). It's an open dump in a ravine with a water
course that leads to drinking water sources downstream and eventually to a
major fishing ground. The ravine is filled to a depth of over 20 meters
with miscellaneous trash including large quantities of incinerator ash. Now
the government wants to simply cap it. What can we recommend in terms of
remediation? Are any of you familiar with the Vertac case?

Neil



>Reply-To: n-ikd@yodoyabashi-sogo.gr.jp
>Organization: Yodoyabashi  sogo  Law  Offices
>
>Dear Neil:
>Hello. It was nice to see you in Hashimoto with Dr. Connet.
>I would like to ask you something.
>The Wakayama prefectural government has implied that they will cover the
>contaminated site with soil without cleaning up the underground. They
>have tested the site only once with a 10m boring and six 3m borings, not
>even reaching the bottom of the valley.  Among 23 samples taken from
>this test, two samples showed 1200 pg and 1400pg of dioxin. However,
>citing a case in the USA, they say the best measure to be taken is to
>cover the dumping site. The case cited by the government is Vertac site
>in Jacksonville, Arkansas. They say in Vertac, the soil with more than
>10,000pg of dioxin was removed and the remain was covered by
>non-contaminated soil.
>Even if this is the case, they need to continue to do necessary tests
>and I guess in Vertac, many contamination tests were done before the
>coverage.
>Would you please check this information or tell me where I can find
>relevant information?
>Naoki Ikeda
>