Water Contamination and Chemical Reduction

I was at Camp Lejeune Marine Corps Base today. http://www.lejeune.usmc.mil/ I love going to see the Marines because they are so sharp, well trained, and polite. Naturally I was talking with people about the water there. They have a story that is too common on all military bases and industrial areas. The drinking water is contaminated with chemicals that were thought to be safe in the past. http://www.tftptf.com/5801.html I wonder, how many chemicals we are using today will be banned in the future?

It would be better to reduce all the chemicals we use as soon as we can. We should also eliminate the chemicals that have safer alternatives where ever possible.

I know cheaper chemicals are better in the short term for business. But in the long run businesses and other tax payers have to pay the long term costs for every toxic chemical we have used.

How much have we had to pay for cheap and easy to use chemicals in the long run. In cooling water treatment no chemical ever worked better than chromates. Chromates were phased out in the 80's and 90's because of some niggling little problem about causing cancer. Another wonderfully useful chemical that was more popular was asbestos. This wonderful material was used in every industry. How much did it cost us to remove it or encapsulate it in all of our old schools. At the time there were alternatives to asbestos, but they were not thought to be as cost effective. We can't go back in time and give a bill for the cleanup and the cancer treatments to the people who made the short term economic decisions to use these chemicals in the past, but we can demand better thinking in the future.

Today, engineers and designers are looking are long term and Life cycle costs of the buildings and facilities they design. However there is still a strong business tradition of building it the cheapest way now and taking the lowest initial cost. The sooner we eliminate the initial cost consideration in our purchases and projects and start looking at the life cycle cost the sooner we can reap the returns on these investments.

2 comments:

  1. I do not believe that the chemicals in use today in the cooling tower industry have been chosen because they are "cheap" rather then taking other safer alternatives at a higher cost. Is that the position you are taking?

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