[Mb-civic] Extraordinary Problems, Difficult Solutions - Washington Post

[William Swiggard]

Extraordinary Problems, Difficult Solutions
Massive Floods, Pollution Make for 'Worst Case'

By Guy Gugliotta and Peter Whoriskey
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, September 1, 2005; Page A10

First they have to pump the flooded city dry, and that will take a 
minimum of 30 days. Then they will have to flush the drinking water 
system, making sure they don't recycle the contaminants. Figure another 
month for that.

The electricians will have to watch out for snakes in the water, wild 
animals and feral dogs. It will be a good idea to wear hip boots and 
take care of cuts and scrapes before the toxic slush turns them into 
festering sores. The power grid might be up in a few weeks, but many 
months will elapse before everybody's lights come back on.

By that time, a lot of people won't care because they will have taken 
the insurance money and moved away -- forever. Home rebuilding, as 
opposed to repairs, won't start for a year and will last for years after 
that.

Even then, there may be nothing normal about New Orleans, because the 
floodwater, spiked with tons of contaminants ranging from heavy metals 
and hydrocarbons to industrial waste, human feces and the decayed 
remains of humans and animals, will linger nearby in the Gulf of Mexico 
for a decade.

"This is the worst case," Hugh B. Kaufman, a senior policy analyst at 
the Environmental Protection Agency, said of the toxic stew that 
contaminates New Orleans. "There is not enough money in the gross 
national product of the United States to dispose of the amount of 
hazardous material in the area."

Kaufman and other experts from around the country agreed yesterday that 
there will be no quick fix for New Orleans. But they acknowledged that 
even their sobering estimates for final "recovery" may be too 
optimistic, for nothing in their own personal and professional 
experience could compare with the abuse that Hurricane Katrina heaped 
upon the stricken city.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/31/AR2005083102758.html
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