Climate Change Threatens Superfund Contamination
The Washington Post recently reported that Hurricane Harvey threatens to release substantial pollutants into the Houston area as floodwaters inundate Superfund sites across Harris County.
This is a serious problem not only for Houston, but also for the Bay Area. In fact, “Silicon Valley is home to more Superfund sites than anywhere else in the country”. Many of these sites in Santa Clara are polluted with toxic chemicals used to make semiconductors. Other sites around the Bay Area are contaminated from Naval shipyards and industry.
As flooding events become more frequent with climate change, these Superfund and brownfield sites become dangerous reservoirs that threaten to leak toxins into our neighborhoods. This is also a serious social justice issue as disadvantaged families are often forced to live in poor neighborhoods close to contaminated areas.
Recently, FifthArch worked with Nicole Lambrou from Tinkercraft, Thomas Auer of Transsolar Energitechnik and Isaac Brown from the Institute of the Environment and Sustainability at UCLA to propose a “Wetscape” that deals directly with this Superfund and sea-level rise problem.
In this collaboration, we propose reclaiming these sites, transforming them into a “wetscape” infrastructure for phytoremediation and greywater reuse. In addition, hovering paths can create a productive landscape with oyster farming, urban agriculture and sustainable fishing.
Finally, educational centers can reveal these new processes to the general public. We hope that thinking along these lines can reduce the significant risk of Superfund contamination associated with likely future flood events.
