It’s always important to be thinking about your health and it’s easy to put some precautions in place to ensure the water you and your family drinks is safe. First, two huge corporations — W.R. Grace and Beatrice Foods — owned the property where pollution seemed to have occurred; this meant potential "deep pockets" to pay any damages that might be won. A Civil Action, by Jonathan Harr (Vintage Books, 1995). Most of the workers refused to testify; the owner and employees of one parcel consistently perjured themselves; the defense attorneys hid critical evidence of a secret clean-up of contaminated soil that would have significantly strengthened Schlichtmann's argument. The wells were used during periods of peak demand even after residents on the east side of Woburn complained that the water smelled and tasted bad, and that it corroded pipes. At that time the area included present day towns of Woburn, Winchester, Burlington, and parts of Stoneham and Wilmington. To learn more about what happened--and how you can continue to keep your home water supply safe and pure--keep reading…. Getting a passing grade from the federal government does not mean the water meets the latest health guidelines. Dan Kennedy, a reporter who covered the case for years, notes that "the Superfund law makes property owners responsible whether or not they actually contaminated their land." But a 1958 engineering study concluded that that the ground water was so polluted that well water would not be safe to drink. The safety of Woburn's drinking water had long been a contentious issue. This landmark case centered on the alleged contamination of two municipal supply wells (G and H) in Woburn, Massachusetts, by three local industries. But law firms were reluctant to sign on. The judge then threw out the verdict against Grace on the grounds that the jury's written decision was confusing and contradictory. You can never be too safe when it comes to purifying your drinking water. Most of the information in this section was abstracted from the report by Professor Joel Tarr at the University of Pittsburgh (Tarr, 1987). Anne Anderson and a group of other victim's families hired a personal injury law firm to pursue a civil case against the polluters of the well. And, if you do manage to survive that long without water, you’re likely to face serious health consequences due to dehydration. On February 5, 2014, The United States Department of Justice (DOJ) received on behalf of the EPA approximately $54 million from W.R. Grace to resolve environmental liability claims associated with thirty-nine Superfund sites under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA, commonly referred to as "Superfund"). non-fiction account of a water contamination case in Woburn, Massachusetts. Brief History. • The suit alleged that serious health effects (childhood leukemia, cardiac arrhythmias, disorders of the immune and neurological systems) were caused by exposure to contaminated water from public supply wells G & H. This timeline focuses on the city's case and all the legal aspects that came about from this harmful pollution. He called a meeting for families who had been affected by leukemia and other cancers. By the time the case went to trial, Schlichtmann and his partners were exhausted and so deeply in debt that they had mortgaged their homes to the firm's creditors. On May 14, 1984, he filed the first complaint in the case. Aug 25, 2014 [click to view] [4] Woburn: A Legacy of Waste, The Lawsuit. Now the federal Center for Disease Control and the Environmental Protection Agency began to take notice. The victims' families became convinced that the town's polluted drinking water was to blame. Last but not least, one of the biggest lessons we learned from this event is to pay attention to what’s happening in your community. Woburn was the scene of a high-profile water contamination crisis. In May of 1979 a major story broke in Woburn. A group of families hired personal injury lawyer Jan Schlictmann to find the responsible parties and bring them to justice. Although the settlement laid to rest the claims that the original eight families had been pursuing since 1982, it left untouched the mystery of a larger cluster of cases of the rare blood-cell cancer called leukemia —26 in all — that has afflicted Woburn residents since 1964. The risks of congenital abnormalities and birth defects were also pretty high during that period. At first … The families nevertheless asserted a victory in their campaign to "send a message to corporate America.". In an effort to prove that corporate pollution was responsible for the illnesses, the affected families utilized two new ap-plications of science: popular epidemiology and clini-cal ecology. Woburn, Massachusetts; Serves: 38,120; Data available: 2012—2017; Source: Purchased surface water; Contaminants Detected. But we should be. Woburn Hydrogeology Data Home Page. Woburn's industrial history began in the late 1600s when the first leather tanning company was formed. His mother Anne suspected her son's illness was caused by contaminated drinking water in their hometown of Woburn. Schlichtmann worked doggedly to collect the necessary depositions; he sank all of his firm's assets into a $3,500,000 "discovery" process that required expensive engineering studies and expert witnesses. Before we dive in, it’s essential to discuss the history of a contaminated water epidemic that took place in Massachusetts during the 1970s. Woburn, he concludes, caused "a sea change in attitude" among government officials. Mass Moments is a project of Mass Humanities, whose mission is to support programs that use history, literature, philosophy, and the other humanities disciplines to enhance and improve civic life throughout the Commonwealth. Despite that warning, in the early 1960s the town went ahead and drilled two new wells — identified as Wells G and H — on the east bank of the Aberjona. Activity 2: New Opportunities in Education, Lesson D: The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850: A Case Study of Resistance, Activity 1: Analyzing the Fugitive Slave Act, Activity 2: Comparing and Contrasting Two Points of View in Newspaper Reports, Activity 3: Anthony Burns—Slave-Catchers Come to Boston for the Last Time, HS Unit II: Women's Struggle for Equal Rights, 1825 - 1930, Activity 1: The 1840s—How Things Stood for Women, Activity 2: Advocates for Female Education, Activity 1: Nineteenth-Century Women Activists, Activity 2: The Difference One Individual Can Make, Activity 3: Fifty Years’ Worth of Gains, Activity 4: The “Anti’s’” Efforts, Activity 2: The Work of a Nobel Peace Prizewinner, HS Unit III: Voices of Labor - Working People Organize, 1925-1930, Activity 1: Early Years in the Lowell Mills, E/MS Unit I: Two Cultures Collide: Early Relations Between English Settlers and Indigenous People in Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay Colonies, Lesson A: Native American Tribes and English Colonists in Early Massachusetts, Activity 1: Mapping Native American Tribes and English Settlements, Activity 2: Reading Early Settlers’ Accounts, Activity 4: Examining Historic Maps for Information, Activity 5: Creative Extension - County Maps, Activity 1: Examining the Puritans’ Goals in Relation to Native Peoples, Activity 2: Establishing "Praying Towns" and Educating Indian Youth, Activity 1: Accounts of King Philip’s War, Activity 2: The Fate of Indian “Praying Towns”, Lesson D: William Apess and the “Mashpee Revolt”, Activity 1: The Rev. They said they did not want money; they wanted to have someone take responsibility for the pollution, apologize, and clean up the water. Tanneries used toxic compounds to cure leather, and other factories sent what one reporter called "a toxic brew" down the local Aberjona River. "I really didn't want to go through that any more," Anne Anderson, the mother of one of the victims, said during a subsequent news conference at a Woburn church. At first the family thought it was a fluke--until 7 other children in the same town were also diagnosed with Leukemia and later passed away. And the illness seemed concentrated among families that had drawn most heavily from the two polluted wells. Woburn, Massachusetts was first settled in 1640 and was incorporated as a town two years later. Second, he was moved by the plight of the victims' families; they had suffered so grievously that he felt compelled to help them. Unfortunately, this is only one of many communities that has been affected by industrial contamination. Industrial solvent is the reason causing the water pollution of the river in Woburn Massachusetts. After viewing the film, students assume the role of environmental scientists and apply their knowledge of water and hazardous waste contamination to create a plan to help lawyer, Jan Schlichtmann, try the case. The EPA, with the resources of the government behind it, pursued the issue. During the mid to late 1970s, the local community became concerned over the high incidence of childhood leukemia and other illnesses, particularly in the Pine Street area of east … A large crowd turned up; when they finished mapping the location of their homes, there were few doubters left in the room. …At their news conference, members of the original eight Woburn families made it clear that while they had accepted the terms of the settlement, their anger continued. Neither W.R. Grace nor Beatrice ever admitted responsibility for the elevated rate of leukemia in Woburn. Contamination of municipal wells G and H was discovered in 1979 and was statistically linked by epidemiological studies to leukemia cases that occurred in Woburn, Massachusetts in the late 1960’s through the early 1980’s. Source area detection using groundwater model at Woburn, Massachusetts Tanzeer Hasan (Department of Geology, University of Dhaka, Bangladesh) Abstract: Groundwater contamination in the City of Woburn, Massachusetts, was first suspected when water from two municipal wells (G and H) caused illness in a number of residents. They identified Beatrice's 15-acre property as a source of contamination to Woburn's Wells G and H. Today both Grace and Beatrice are paying for the largest and most expensive toxic cleanup in U.S. history, with costs already topping $68,000,000. Welcome! A Civil Action is a 1995 non-fiction book by Jonathan Harr about a water contamination case in Woburn, Massachusetts, in the 1980s.The book became a best-seller and won the National Book Critics Circle Award for nonfiction.. After expenses, the victims' families received several hundred thousand dollars each, but no admission of guilt, no apology, and no clean up. If you get one of these test tubes, please do as directed, fill the tube, and mail it back in. The water from Wells G and H was mixed with water from other water sources in Woburn, so the degree of contaminated with TCE and PCE varied. Woburn played host to the first religious ordination in the Americas on Nov. 22, 1642. Rev. ...there’s a higher chance of your water supply accidentally becoming contaminated and dangerous to drink. VOCs associated with the tanning industry would come to be associated with severe illness and death in the Woburn … Schlichtmann himself moved to Hawaii for several years of soul-searching. After Jimmy and seven other children died and many others fell seriously ill, tests proved that the water in two public wells was, in fact, seriously polluted with toxic chemicals from industrial waste. In fact, it took residents in the town of Woburn, Massachusetts years to discover that polluted water was causing unusual numbers of childhood Leukemia cases. After viewing the film, students assume the role of environmental scientists and apply their knowledge of water and hazardous waste contamination to create a plan to help lawyer, Jan Schlichtmann, try the case. In both towns, engaged community members were primarily responsible for bringing … VOCs were also the suspected villains in an unusual number of childhood leukemia cases in Woburn, Massachusetts, between 1969 and 1986. She was convinced that the cluster of leukemia cases in her neighborhood was far from a random occurrence. Twelve families agreed yesterday to settle for a reported $8 million and to withdraw their claim that chemically-contaminated Woburn drinking water caused the leukemias that killed five children and one adult. EXCEED EWG HEALTH GUIDELINES. environmental hazards in Woburn, and specifically with the contamination of drinking water supplies, is neither supported nor refuted by the study findings. Contamination (defined as the changes in average stream water caused by humans) of the Aberjona River in Massachusetts began as early as 1648, when Woburn's first tannery opened. NUS Data. 866.229.0927 11AM-8PM EST Mon-Fri, Sat 11AM-3PM. William Apess Presents a Different Point of View, E/MS Unit II: Building a New Society: Life in Colonial Massachusetts, Lesson A: The First English Settlements in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, Activity 1: Creating Big Maps Showing Early Towns, Lesson B: Religious Intolerance in Seventeenth-Century Massachusetts, Activity 1: The Puritans’ Promise to God, Activity 2: High Cost of Following Other Religious Beliefs, Activity 4: How the Puritans Celebrated Christmas, Lesson C: A Young Colony Faces Challenges, Using Mass Moments in Third Grade Classrooms, Contamination in Our Communities: A Case Study of Woburn, Massachusetts. This is part of the water testing process as water quality can differ from neighborhood to neighborhood. In 1850 the Woburn Chemical Works began operation in north Wob… The postage should be already paid for on the envelope. While no amount of apologies or monetary compensations could account for the lives of the children lost, it was a major learning lesson for our country about dumping chemicals and polluting water sources. Dear Customer, I am pleased to share with you the annual results of our water quality testing. It was discovered that several barrels of chemicals had been dumped near the Aberjona River. You might like: Historia de la Calidad. Although the trial would eventually yield a best-selling book and a movie (A Civil Action), the story would have no happy Hollywood ending. On this day in 1984, lawyer Jan Schlichtmann filed the first motion in the case made famous by the book and film "A Civil Action." USGS Study. Mandy Spence and Amanda Stephenson . The location of your water source is directly related to the potential of your water source becoming contaminated. Woburn got its name from Woburn, Bedfordshire. In 1973 three-and-a-half-year-old Jimmy Anderson was diagnosed with leukemia. Home . They identified Beatrice's 15-acre property as a source of contamination to Woburn's Wells G and H. Today both Grace and Beatrice are paying for the largest and most expensive toxic cleanup in U.S. history, with costs already topping $68,000,000. Please consider helping us towards our goals with a donation today. In more recent years, well-publicized water contamination events appeared in Hinkley, California (the Erin Brockovich city) and Flint, Michigan. Massachusetts Water Resources Authority and the Chicopee Water Dept., South Hadley F.D. Feb 23, 2016 [click to view] [3] Woburn: A Legacy of Waste, Contamination. [1] Complaint Filed on Toxic Pollution in Woburn - May 14, 1984 [click to view] [2] Wells G & H Fact Sheet. Since 1969 to 1979, there were 12 incidence of childhood leukemia happening in this area. In Liberty, Grant Miller, My Patriot Supply, ← Older Post Each year, MWRA takes hundreds of thousands of tests to ensure your water is safe and of the highest quality. As mentioned earlier, we are a privileged nation that doesn’t often have to be concerned with where we are getting our water. Wells G & H were two municipal groundwater wells developed in 1964 and 1967 to supplement the water supply of the city of Woburn. Something was causing the residents of Woburn to develop leukemia at a rate four times higher than the national average. Woburn Massachusetts Water Contamination. EPA to conduct aerial survey of Olin Superfund Site in... - Woburn, MA - EPA to conduct aerial survey of Olin Superfund Site in Wilmington, The … United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) … Two other notable communities include Toms River, New Jersey and Woburn, Massachusetts, both of which experienced increased incidences of childhood leukemia due to TCE and other contaminants in drinking water. This started the beginning of a landmark trial, as well as a new era of concern and accountability about the effects of toxic waste. The city's Daily Times Chronicle publicized a state study conducted in December of 1979 that confirmed that Woburn had a "statistically significant" number of leukemia cases. Links. For over a decade, children in Woburn had been falling ill and dying of leukemia in unusually high numbers. 11. That bring me to my next point... Thankfully, we now have laws in place that ensure our drinking water is tested on a regular basis. The City of Woburn’s water supply comes from five wells from the underground aquifer within the Horn Pond area, which is then filtered and treated at the Horn Pond Treatment Plant. Woburn was first settled in 1640 near Horn Pond, a primary source of the Mystic River, and was officially incorporated in 1642. In 1982, eight families from Woburn, Massachusetts filed a lawsuit against W.R. Grace Co, Unifirst Corporation and Beatrice Foods. The two wells in east Woburn were immediately shut down, and the EPA began testing the area's ground water to determine the origin of contamination. The maps below examine the spatial relationships between TCE and PCE levels in the water supply to various parts of Woburn … Dan Kennedy, a reporter who covered the case for years, notes that "the Superfund law makes property owners responsible whether or not they actually … "We have lost a lot more than anybody can pay us for," said Richard Toomey, whose son, Patrick, died of leukemia in 1981, at age 11. So, how do you ensure your water remains safe to drink? You need to be logged in to add comments. Th towe n is located ten miles north of Boston and fifteen miles sout ohf Lowell. It was the beginning of a landmark trial; it was also the beginning of a new era of concern and accountability about the effects of toxic waste. The Woburn toxics case • In May 1982 a lawsuit was filed on behalf of eight Woburn families by Jan Schlichtmann. Woburn, Massachusetts: A Water Quality Case Study. According to MassMoments.org, in 1973, a little boy named Jimmy Anderson who lived in Woburn Massachusetts was diagnosed with leukemia. Without it, most can’t live longer than 3-5 days. He was out-spent and out-maneuvered by the high-powered defense attorneys hired by corporate giants W.R. Grace and Beatrice Foods. 2nd semester music . Some 30 years after a 1982 lawsuit involving eight Woburn families and a public water supply contaminated by toxic chemicals, the wells that supplied both … Yet today, nearly 30 years after that landmark court case, the wells that supplied both toxic drinking water and a legacy of cancer to Woburn remain contaminated despite a … Water is one of the single most important elements for survival. Percentage of water from Woburn’s sources: 51% WOBURN. 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