Environmental Health Center

EnvironMinute Health Scripts

A bed of polluted sand and soil lurks at the bottom of many harbors and waterways. Aside from the usual litter and wreckage are PCBs, mercury, or other toxic chemicals. Get to the bottom of the story on today's EnvironMinute. [:12]

In January, the Environmental Protection Agency released its first-ever national report on the quality of sediments in U.S. rivers, harbors, and coastal waterways. Sixty-five percent of the nation's watersheds were tested. The study revealed that 96 sites posed a risk to wildlife and to people who eat fish from the polluted areas. Harmful effects were probable at hundreds of other sites. The EPA is working on a strategy to manage the contaminated sediment that will include reducing sediments, removing the polluted sandy soil by dredging, and issuing public health warnings to people who fish in those areas. Because what you don't see can harm you. [:36]

The EnvironMinute is produced in cooperation with the National Safety Council and made possible by the Teresa and H. John Heinz III Foundation. [:10]

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