Heather Stanavich on fri 31 mar 06
Here is an issue I thought you may be able to help with. We recently had some "men" here doing
work on our home- I had 3 buckets outside the house I was planning on taking to the Ann Arbor
reuse center for disposal because they were my runoff glaze buckets (had various glaze chemicals
in- ie cobalt copper chrome lithium barium etc etc). Anyway- the men took the first bucket and
dumped it in the garden and then used the second to wash his tools off all over our yard and door
step. Besides the bad effects on the water table (which really upsets me) should I forget about
using my newly expanded garden forever? What idiots- why would you dive into a bucket you
have no idea what is in it!! Do you have any idea what I can do- is there hope at all??? I am so
mad I could scream.
W J Seidl on sat 1 apr 06
Heather:
Since that worker performed those actions without your specific approval =
as
to his use of your equipment, you should have an actionable claim =
against
the company he works for. Check with your lawyer.
I would get an estimate or two from a reputable company regarding your
"toxic spill cleanup", and present the bill for that amount to the =
company
that caused it for immediate payment.
Threatening (the company) to call the EPA about it might just get you in
trouble, their requiring inspectors etc. but could also be considered
another option. The company responsible would of course be liable for =
costs
associated.
No, I'm not a lawyer, nor do I have anything to do with them for the =
most
part. But were it me, I would be protesting "vigorously" and =
continually.
In the meantime, I would scrape away about 3 inches of the soil wherever =
the
offensive mix hit the ground, and dispose of it properly. Yeah, it's a =
lot
of work, but I would make them pay for it. Big time.
Best,
Wayne Seidl
-----Original Message-----
From: Clayart [mailto:CLAYART@LSV.CERAMICS.ORG] On Behalf Of Heather
Stanavich
Sent: Friday, March 31, 2006 3:26 PM
To: CLAYART@LSV.CERAMICS.ORG
Subject: Glaze chemical disposal and removal?? Help
Here is an issue I thought you may be able to help with. We recently =
had
some "men" here doing
work on our home- I had 3 buckets outside the house I was planning on =
taking
to the Ann Arbor
reuse center for disposal because they were my runoff glaze buckets (had
various glaze chemicals
in- ie cobalt copper chrome lithium barium etc etc). Anyway- the men =
took
the first bucket and
dumped it in the garden and then used the second to wash his tools off =
all
over our yard and door
step. Besides the bad effects on the water table (which really upsets =
me)
should I forget about
using my newly expanded garden forever? What idiots- why would you dive
into a bucket you
have no idea what is in it!! Do you have any idea what I can do- is =
there
hope at all??? I am so
mad I could scream.
_________________________________________________________________________=
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William & Susan Schran User on sat 1 apr 06
On 3/31/06 3:26 PM, "Heather Stanavich" wrote:
> Anyway- the men took the first bucket and
> dumped it in the garden and then used the second to wash his tools off all
> over our yard and door
> step. Besides the bad effects on the water table (which really upsets me)
> should I forget about
> using my newly expanded garden forever? What idiots- why would you dive into
> a bucket you
> have no idea what is in it!! Do you have any idea what I can do- is there
> hope at all???
I'd suggest simply digging out and removing a layer of soil, until you no
longer see the dumped chemicals, add some new soil & amendments, till it
together and don't worry.
Dispose what you dug out.
-- William "Bill" Schran
Fredericksburg, Virginia
wschran@cox.net
wschran@nvcc.edu
Joseph Herbert on sun 2 apr 06
Heather,
I think I would go with the suggestion to remove the upper soil layer, add
amendments and just go on. You could certainly complain about the actions
of the workers on your property but someone might (rightly) point out that
you had unlabled containers of what you considered to be toxic materials
just sitting around.
We are much more casual about these kinds of issues around our homes and
solo work places than we think the rest of the world of work should be. The
house I moved into contained an unlabled bottle of chlorine gas in the
garage attached to the house. I was surprised but not insensed.
Things cannot be made fool proof as there are a great number of very
talented fool available to confound the best intentions of anyone. It may
be that these workers might have used your buckets, even if labeled.
However, the fact that you did not have them labled makes your a party to
the events, at least in some part.
I think the dirt removal will work. Most of the "chemicals" used in glazes
are insoluble in water. You should be able to identify visually the
"contaminated" dirt and remove it. A few bags of composted manure or other
soil ammendment should make up for the loss and actually improve your
garden.
Finally, studies done in association with the disposal of urban sewage
sludge on farm land show that plants don't pickup heavy metals from the soil
easily. You could do an internet search to confirm this. I believe if you
make an effort to remove the dirt that seems damaged, you should be safe.
Good Luck
Joseph Herbert
steve baker on mon 10 apr 06
I won't even attempt to give you advice on your personal situation, but will tell you that in Ohio, every historic ceramic producing city - Zanesville, Crooksville, Roseville, East Liverpool - have acres and acres of long time raw material dump sites just leaching into the watershed. Many of these sites were used for 100 years or more, so you can imagine the volume of materials from broken greenware and wash buckets and the like that were allowed to just wash away, down the creek, into the next creek, then into the Ohio River. I am not certain, but fritted materials, be they leaded or whatever, would not have near the threat (maybe if any at all) that raw lead or other heavy metals would.
Steve
Heather Stanavich wrote: Here is an issue I thought you may be able to help with. We recently had some "men" here doing
work on our home- I had 3 buckets outside the house I was planning on taking to the Ann Arbor
reuse center for disposal because they were my runoff glaze buckets (had various glaze chemicals
in- ie cobalt copper chrome lithium barium etc etc). Anyway- the men took the first bucket and
dumped it in the garden and then used the second to wash his tools off all over our yard and door
step. Besides the bad effects on the water table (which really upsets me) should I forget about
using my newly expanded garden forever? What idiots- why would you dive into a bucket you
have no idea what is in it!! Do you have any idea what I can do- is there hope at all??? I am so
mad I could scream.
______________________________________________________________________________
Send postings to clayart@lsv.ceramics.org
You may look at the archives for the list or change your subscription
settings from http://www.ceramics.org/clayart/
Moderator of the list is Mel Jacobson who may be reached at melpots@pclink.com.
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