Today I went to Battery Park, hoping to go to the Fresh Kills preview. While I was there I saw the Sphere, a sculpture by Fritz Koenig, that once stood near the World Trade Center and had been partially destroyed during the September 11th attacks. The sculpture was originally created to represent peace, and has since been placed in Battery Park with a constant flame in front to honor the victims. After seeing this, I thought about the attacks and what environmental consequences they had, particularly on the Hudson River. With some research I found that a large amount of the debris from the site was shipped to Fresh Kills landfill. Since this landfill had not been designed for toxic or hazardous material, which some of the World Trade Center debris contained, there was fear that it would leach into the surrounding waterways. Additionally, an immeasurable amount of airborne debris entered the water as well as contamination flowing in the run-off from fire hoses, washing the streets, and from rainstorms. Tests of the water showed high concentrations of dioxins, furans, PCBs, asbestos, mercury, and other metals. Although the amount of PCBs present was much higher than previous levels, the EPA determined that the effects of all factors on the water quality were very minimal.
Information from nrdc.org
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