Ability of Asbestos Fibers to move from Soil to Groundwater, and then to Inhalation Risk
The article is entitled “Mobility of asbestos fibers below ground is enhanced by dissolved organic matter from soil amendments.” The importance of this 2021 article by Sanjay Mohanty and her co-authors published in the Journal of Hazardous Materials Letters is best stated in the Abstract as follows:
“To prevent exposure of millions of people living near thousands of contaminated sites to asbestos, the sites are typically capped with soil amendments, assuming asbestos mobility underground is negligible in all conditions. Here, we disprove this long-standing assumption.”
The best practices used today do more than just cap the asbestos with soil, including requirements such as multiple containment bags, disposal sites working to not disturb the sealed bags, etc. Just an example, you can find the required handling processes for the State of Minnesota at https://theasbestosblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/MN-Landfill-Rules.pdf.
However, these best practices are fairly recent and not followed globally. We have the issues surrounding asbestos in many locations, whether current ship breaking beaching locations in South Asia or legacy dumps throughout the world which are at risk of asbestos getting into the ground water, migrating long distances, and then getting back into the air with a risk of inhalation to people in the area. This page has an excellent picture of one potential transport pathway.
Although this exposure can never be completely eliminated, a good starting point is for those people in charge to adopt best practice rules, to compel enforcement of those rules, and to set up monitoring systems in areas at risk — just in case. Certainly to eliminate illegal dumping and, as they say in the U.K., fly-tipping.
As stated in the article:
“These results may have profound consequences on the asbestos mobility in soils and groundwater, which in turn could increase asbestos exposure to millions of people living near asbestos-contaminated sites.”
Legacy asbestos exposures continue in today’s society, in both developed and developing countries. Further, even in the United States we are at risk of new uses of asbestos. As an example, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in 2018 attempted to increase the ability to use asbestos in consumer products: https://www.congress.gov/116/meeting/house/109414/documents/HHRG-116-IF18-20190508-SD005.pdf. As stated in this document:
“The new approach raises significant concerns about the potential health impacts,” wrote Sharon
Cooperstein, an E.P.A. policy analyst, in one of the emails. She, along with a veteran E.P.A.
scientist and a longtime agency attorney, said the proposal as designed left open the possibility
that businesses could start using asbestos in some cases without getting the government’s
assessment, putting the public at risk.”
That is actually hard to believe but, remember, it was only a short 4 years ago.
Let me know what you think, either by leaving a comment or emailing me at TheAsbestosBlog@gmail.com. Thank you. Marty
3 Responses
Clearly, the EPA political appointees of 2016-2020 had an agenda much less focused on health and well-being and more skewed toward greasing the skids for their business interests, to which they returned after government service. This, in conjunction with a similar corruption of the Florida DEP and malfeasance of the Army COE (the people who brought you Katrina levy collapses) was seen with catastrophic results in Florida when they allowed big sugar to dramatically increase nutrient emissions to the Everglades and three major rivers flowing to the Atlantic and Gulf resulting in massive red tide outbreaks. Outbreaks so bad that fishing captains have to take patrons out 25 miles to find anything alive and the City of Naples has to use front end loaders to remove the dead fish from the beaches.
Red tide used to be 2 weeks every few years. Now it is 3 to 5 months, every year. Warmer gulf water temperatures also contribute to the problem. The state, under current leadership, has no plan for mitigation. They are however, continuing to spend Billions of beach restoration in high income areas, even though, the sand quickly washes away with the tide.
The EPA over the years has blown hot and cold on asbestos related issues, with the changes primarily based on the people involved and not the science. That being said, both the EPA and the USGA have written some very comprehensive summaries that I have found extremely useful.
Clearly, the EPA political appointees of 2016-2020 had an agenda much less focused on health and well-being and more skewed toward greasing the skids for their business interests, to which they returned after government service. This, in conjunction with a similar corruption of the Florida DEP and malfeasance of the Army COE (the people who brought you Katrina levy collapses) was seen with catastrophic results in Florida when they allowed big sugar to dramatically increase nutrient emissions to the Everglades and three major rivers flowing to the Atlantic and Gulf resulting in massive red tide outbreaks. Outbreaks so bad that fishing captains have to take patrons out 25 miles to find anything alive and the City of Naples has to use front end loaders to remove the dead fish from the beaches.
Red tide used to be 2 weeks every few years. Now it is 3 to 5 months, every year. Warmer gulf water temperatures also contribute to the problem. The state, under current leadership, has no plan for mitigation. They are however, continuing to spend Billions of beach restoration in high income areas, even though, the sand quickly washes away with the tide.
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