Buried, burned cows could pollute England's water

"Aquathin OP-ED Commentary"

       Need another reason to own an Aquathin ? Please read the article regarding the forthcoming severe water issues in England. It takes a year or better for planning and preparing a landfill site. I will bet that the cow sites do not have the new liners used in today's landfills. Note: more than 80% of landfills that have been built over the years in the U.S. that are monitored do NOT have liners, which are a recent mandated enhancement.

Buried, burned cows could pollute England's water 

LONDON -- Britain's water supplies could be comtaminated from the hundreds of thousands of animals burned and buried during last year's foot-and-mouth epidemic, the British Environment Agency has said.

The pollution watchdog said the effects of the disease appeared to be ``short term and localized'' but it could not rule out potential long-term effects.

Detailed monitoring of the water supply in the worst-affected areas would be needed for a considerable time because of the potentially dangerous consequences of the burial of the carcasses and pyre ash, it said.

The document highlighted water pollution, odor from mass burial and licensed landfill sites, and smoke from pyres as the most frequent environmental problems.  It was released as farmers went on alert for the possibility of another outbreak after two suspected cases of the highly contagious disease were found at a northern England farm.

Livestock movements were banned within a five mile radius of the farm as laboratory tests were being carried out.

More than 4 million animals were slaughtered throughout Britain after the wasting disease, which affects cloven-hoofed animals, was first detected in southern England on Feb. 20.  Britain has had no cases of the disease since Sept. 30, 2001, and was declared foot-and-mouth free on Jan. 23.

The Environment Agency said 61,000 tons of carcasses were dumped at four mass burial sites while more were destroyed on 95 pyre sites.

It recorded more than 200 water pollution incidents, with three classified as serious.

"Overall, the immediate environmental impact of the foot-and-mouth outbreak appears to have been limited, but we are left with a legacy of mass burial sites that will require management and monitoring well into the future,'' Environment Agency chairman Sir John Harman said.

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Edited from Tech Bank 3/7/02