The Mystery of Newtown Creek - The Ripple Effect: The Fate of Freshwater in the Twenty-First Century - page 9

the highest incidence of certain kinds of cancer, such as leukemia in children and stom-
ach cancer in adults. Anecdotal evidence suggests unusual cancer clusters are nearby.
Tom Stagg, a retired police detective who lives there, told NewYorkmagazine that he
had counted thirty-six people with cancer on the block he was raised on. “It's not nor-
mal,” he said. “I'm sure it's because of the oil spill.”
Awareness of the toxic stew in Brooklyn has grown, and anxiety about its effects—on
human health, the ecosystem, and property values—has ratcheted up, leading to numer-
ous investigations, new regulations, a record settlement, and two class-action lawsuits.
But the enduring mystery of Newtown Creek is, how could such a disaster occur in the
heart of the nation's most densely populated city and remain hidden in plain sight for
over a century?
To put this question in context, it helps to understand that Americans did not have a
reliable supply of clean water, or even a legal right to it, until the twentieth century. For
most of the nation's history, people drank whatever water could be found and suffered
the consequences.
QUESTIONS OF QUALITY
Waterqualityrefers to the concentration of different constituents found in water, such
as oxygen, sediments, nutrients, organisms, toxins, organic matter, and the like.
Freshwater comes from two main sources: surface water (rivers, lakes, and reser-
voirs) and groundwater (wells or subterranean aquifers). The quality of surface water
depends on the composition of the river or lake bed it is in, what substances are washed
into the water, and how the water is used. The quality of groundwater depends on the
nature of the aquifer from which it is sourced, and what flows into it from the surface.
Many other things can affect water quality. The rate of water flow, for instance, affects
the physical and chemical aspects of water. Temperature is a key factor: if water becomes
too warm or cold, plants and animals die, and as they decompose, water quality is affec-
ted—one reason why climate change will affect the purity of drinking supplies almost
as much as it will their availability.
Water pollution can be naturally occurring—from microorganisms in soils and wild-
life; radionuclides in underlying rock; and fluoride, nitrogen, and heavy metals such as
lead, cadmium, arsenic, and selenium. But in many cases, water quality is most affected
by what human beings put into it.
In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries towns grew up along lakes or rivers,
and by 1860 a dozen large American cities had substantial water systems, often fed by
wooden or clay pipes. But overcrowding and lack of drainage led to outbreaks of lethal