forbin (10/28/82)
I have just finished reading an article in this weeks Newsweek about ground water pollution in the USA. I am really frightened at the magnitude of the problem. According to the article all three of the underground water aquifers on Long Island are polluted as are most of the aquifers in New Jersey. Unless you know what to look for you may be drinking water that is polluted even though it has passed some quality test. The article also states that it can be very costly to test your water for all the possibilities but that you can limit the search range by doing a survey of what there is in the area that could pollute the water and look for the chemicals associated with those sources. Having just purchased a home in N.J. I am very concerned by the problem in N.J. in particular and in the world in general. It seems that our industrial society is bent on elimination, even if only from ignorance. When I was an undergrad a Professor of mine used to say that a little knowledge was dangerous. At the time he was referring to our knowledge in circuit theory but I think that his statement is most definitely applicable to this situation. As long as companies or groups of individuals continue to dump on the environment because of the lack of proper research we will suffer *even more than we are or looks like we will be*. I think that ecological awareness, like many of the awareness trips of the recent past has become blaise' to most however this is one subject that ignorance of could cost us all too dearly. Due to the nature of the problem and the way the body stores some of these chemicals, even if we cleaned up the act now some will never be free of the effects. At least if we really cleaned up (what we could,for some of the pollution is not reversible for a long time) we would be able to say that one day people would not have to suffer because of our mistakes. As that about finishes this windy session I apologise to all those who I may have bored and invite the rest to engage this network in a discussion of such topics. This network is a very powerful tool and if used properly can strive to fulfill the lofty goal of increasing the awareness of the populace. Brian Rich BTL-WH floyd!forbin