DDT Blanket Treatment Appears To Be Successful

Date: September 26, 2002

Source: News Room

A blanket of sand over a giant underwater deposit of the pesticide DDT off the coast of California appears to be working, a study shows. A recent report showed the sand cap installed two years ago over four test areas remained largely free of DDT residue. From 1947 to 1971, the DDT manufacturer Montrose Chemical Corp. discharged the pesticide into sewers that flowed into the ocean. An estimated 1,800 tons of DDT settled on the sea floor over 17 square miles. In 1996, the Environmental Protection Agency declared the deposit off the Palos Verdes Peninsula a Superfund site. EPA officials expect to make a proposal next year to cover about 3 square miles of sea floor with clean sediment dredged from the nearby harbor.

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