[h=1]A Sea of Health and Environmental Hazards in Houston?s Floodwaters[/h] By
HIROKO TABUCHI and
SHEILA KAPLANAUG. 31, 2017
Officials in Houston are just beginning to grapple with the health and environmental risks that lurk in the waters dumped by Hurricane Harvey, a stew of toxic chemicals, sewage, debris and waste that still floods much of the city.
Flooded sewers are stoking fears of cholera, typhoid and other infectious diseases. Runoff from the city?s sprawling petroleum and chemicals complex contains any number of hazardous compounds. Lead, arsenic and other toxic and carcinogenic elements may be leaching from some two dozen
Superfund sites in the Houston area.
Porfirio Villarreal, a spokesman for the
Houston Health Department, said the hazards of the water enveloping the city were self-evident.
?There?s no need to test it,? he said. ?It?s contaminated. There?s millions of contaminants.?
He said health officials were urging people to stay out of the water if they could,
although it is already too late for tens of thousands....
