Soil in the United States
Encyclopedia
Soil
in the United States
The dust bowl
s of the 1930s was a period of severe dust storm
s resulting in the loss of soil.
/CERCLA established strict rules on legal liability for soil contamination. Not only did CERCLA stimulate identification and cleanup of thousands of sites, but it raised awareness of property buyers and sellers to make soil pollution a focal issue of land use and management practices.
While estimates of remaining soil cleanup in the U.S. may exceed 200,000 sites, hundreds of new sites are identified each year, and in other industrialized countries there is a lag of identification and cleanup functions. Even though their use of chemicals is lower than industrialized countries, often their controls and regulatory framework is quite weak. For example, some persistent pesticides that have been banned in the U.S. are in widespread uncontrolled use in developing countries. It is worth noting that the cost of cleaning up a soil contaminated site can range from as little as about $10,000 for a small spill, which can be simply excavated, to millions of dollars for a widespread event, especially for a chemical that is very mobile such as perchloroethylene.
and others by more expensive high-tech soil vapor extraction or air stripping
. Efforts proceed worldwide to identify new sites of soil contamination.
Soil
Soil is a natural body consisting of layers of mineral constituents of variable thicknesses, which differ from the parent materials in their morphological, physical, chemical, and mineralogical characteristics...
in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
The dust bowl
Dust Bowl
The Dust Bowl, or the Dirty Thirties, was a period of severe dust storms causing major ecological and agricultural damage to American and Canadian prairie lands from 1930 to 1936...
s of the 1930s was a period of severe dust storm
Dust storm
A dust / sand storm is a meteorological phenomenon common in arid and semi-arid regions. Dust storms arise when a gust front or other strong wind blows loose sand and dirt from a dry surface. Particles are transported by saltation and suspension, causing soil to move from one place and deposition...
s resulting in the loss of soil.
Reguatory framework
Until about 1970 there was little widespread awareness of the worldwide scope of soil contamination or its health risks. In fact, areas of concern were often viewed as unusual or isolated incidents. Since then, the U.S. has established guidelines for handling hazardous waste and the cleanup of soil pollution. In 1980 the U.S.SuperfundSuperfund
Superfund is the common name for the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 , a United States federal law designed to clean up sites contaminated with hazardous substances...
/CERCLA established strict rules on legal liability for soil contamination. Not only did CERCLA stimulate identification and cleanup of thousands of sites, but it raised awareness of property buyers and sellers to make soil pollution a focal issue of land use and management practices.
While estimates of remaining soil cleanup in the U.S. may exceed 200,000 sites, hundreds of new sites are identified each year, and in other industrialized countries there is a lag of identification and cleanup functions. Even though their use of chemicals is lower than industrialized countries, often their controls and regulatory framework is quite weak. For example, some persistent pesticides that have been banned in the U.S. are in widespread uncontrolled use in developing countries. It is worth noting that the cost of cleaning up a soil contaminated site can range from as little as about $10,000 for a small spill, which can be simply excavated, to millions of dollars for a widespread event, especially for a chemical that is very mobile such as perchloroethylene.
Soil contamination
The United States, while having some of the most widespread soil contamination, has actually been a leader in defining and implementing standards for cleanup. Each year thousands of sites complete soil contamination cleanup, some by using microbes that “eat up” toxic chemicals in soil, many others by simple excavationEarthworks (engineering)
Earthworks are engineering works created through the moving or processing of quantities of soil or unformed rock.- Civil engineering use :Typical earthworks include roads, railway beds, causeways, dams, levees, canals, and berms...
and others by more expensive high-tech soil vapor extraction or air stripping
Air stripping
Air stripping is the transferring of volatile components of a liquid into an air stream. It is a chemical engineering technology used for the purification of groundwaters and wastewaters containing volatile compounds....
. Efforts proceed worldwide to identify new sites of soil contamination.
See also
- List of U.S. state soils
- USDA soil taxonomyUSDA soil taxonomyUSDA Soil Taxonomy developed by United States Department of Agriculture and the National Cooperative Soil Survey provides an elaborate classification of soil types according to several parameters and in several levels: Order, Suborder, Great Group, Subgroup, Family, and Series.- Example of...
- List of Superfund sites in the United States
- Agriculture in the United StatesAgriculture in the United StatesAgriculture is a major industry in the United States and the country is a net exporter of food. As of the last census of agriculture in 2007, there were 2.2 million farms, covering an area of , an average of per farm.-History:...