3.4 Air Pollution

Air Pollution in Essex County 07112


I decided to use the zipcode where I grew up in Newark, NJ

  • Who and what are the top polluters in your zip code?
Sun Chemical Corp. Newark Plant, Newark, NJ- 

- Air Release Developmental Toxicants, 
- Kidney Toxicants, 
- Gastrointestinal Toxicants, 
- Neurotoxicants, 
- Respiratory Toxicants, 
- Skin or Sense Organ Toxicants

  • What percent of the homes in your zipcode have lead-based paint?
7 Percent

  • Are there Superfund sites in your zip?  (In your BLOG, make sure to tell us what a Superfund Site is)
Yes 2 Superfund sites which are Caldwell Trucking Company and White Chemical Corp. These sites have caused contamination of drinking water sources. 

  • What can you tell us about the Superfund sites that are near where you live?
White Chemical Corp.

There are approximately 12,000 people are estimated to live and work within a one-quarter mile radius of the site, and could have been at risk if a catastrophic event occurred at the White Chemical Corp site. Potentially exposed populations included nearby residents, workers, trespassers, fire-fighting personnel and railway commuters. The predominant route of exposure was inhalation for all of the exposed populations, and direct contact for trespassers or fire-fighting personnel. 

Caldwell Trucking Company

For several years up to 1974, the owners hauled industrial waste and discharged it into four unlined lagoons. The sludge in the lagoons contains, Trichloroethylene, Chloroform, and Lead. About 50 well have been closed because of contamination from this site, and other 50 to 100 are threatened.. Two public wells have been closed. In September 1982, the State required Caldwell Trucking to install monitoring wells and to decontaminate the site, including removing contaminated soil and sludge from the lagoons. Status ( July 1983): Conditions at the site are currently being addressed through a State enforcement action parties responsible for waste at the site. 

  • What did you learn about the air quality in your zipcode?
Carbon monoxide, Nitrogen oxide, and pm-2.5 emissions are at a 90-100 percentile which is considered the dirtiest/worst counties in the US. The air quality index is at 50-60 percentile. The air quality index was at an unhealthy level of 112 once in 2003. 
 
  • How about the water quality? 
The percentage of surface water with impaired or threatened uses are at 90-100% as well as the number of impaired water bodies. A lot of the information for the water quality has not been reported.

Comments

  1. ALI AL AQEELIFebruary 12, 2018 at 10:04 PM

    Hi Brittany, what I found during my review about the air quality, water quality, and lead percent, that all the reports are old and the website doesn't have about the recent reports or updates about the pollutants in our zipcode area, so I am wondering if the air quality, water quality and lead level and al the other pollutants are more or less at time being?

    ReplyDelete

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