love canal settlement
Under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, EPA is making grants available to States to help them establish programs to assure the safe handling and disposal of hazardous wastes. Occidental bought Hooker in 1968. Stanley Grossman, a lawyer in Niagara Falls who helped represent that group and represents 690 others who still have claims pending said the settlement announced yesterday would not affect those cases. In 1978, the Love Canal Homeowners Association (LCHA) is formed and immediately proceeds to file suit against Hooker Chemical (the prior owner of the property), the city of Niagara Falls, and the Federal Government. 'This is a historic case which was the kindling of consciousness of the disaster of dumping dangerous toxic chemicals,' said former state Attorney General Robert Abrams, who initiated the lawsuit in 1980. The Niagara Power and Development Company granted permission to Hooker during 1942 to dump wastes into the canal. Love Canal is an aborted canal project branching off of the Niagara River about four miles south of Niagara Falls. The value rises above $98 million because under the settlement, Occidental will take on the job of pumping out water that seeps into drains in the area, treating it and burning some resulting sludge. [citation needed], In 1994, Federal District Judge John Curtin ruled that Hooker/Occidental had been negligent, but not reckless, in its handling of the waste and sale of the land to the Niagara Falls School Board. In what became a test case for liability clauses, Hooker Chemical was found to be "negligent" in their disposal of waste, though not reckless in the sale of the land. [36] During the spring of 1977, the State Departments of Health and Environmental Conservation began an intensive air, soil, and groundwater sampling and analysis program after qualitative identification of a number of organic compounds in the basements of 11 homes adjacent to the Love Canal. This page was last edited on 26 February 2023, at 11:52. Hazardous wastes will be controlled from point of generation to their ultimate disposal, and dangerous practices now resulting in serious threats to health and environment will not be allowed. Judge Curtin made the ruling on the basis of an eight-month trial that ended three years ago. Learn about the causes and effects of water scarcity at a global level, and about its strategies and solutions. Love Canal is a neighborhood in Niagara Falls, New York, United States, infamous as the location of a 0.28 km 2 (0.11 sq mi) landfill that became the site of an enormous environmental disaster in the 1970s. Bruce Davis, executive vice president of Hooker Chemical's Industrial Chemicals Group, tells the U.S. Senate Sub-committee on Environment and Public Works that Hooker Chemical has no legal liability for the Love Canal environmental disaster. A 2.4-metre (7ft 10in) high barbed wire fence was installed around the area. Landfills can of course be an environmentally acceptable method of hazardous waste disposal, assuming they are properly sited, managed, and regulated. Nobody wants to pay twenty dollars to see people living next to chemical waste. and environmental regulation in the United States Newman's examination of Love Canal in the longue dure of American settlement reveals intriguing patterns in land use and attitudes and . [52] New York State also has an ongoing health study of Love Canal residents. "Love Canal" was also a segment in the premiere episode of Michael Moore's television series TV Nation, which featured realtors attempting to lure prospective residents to the area. The grant awardees were selected from among 32 applicants, according to A. Scott Weber, UB professor of civil, structural . [3] The University at Buffalo Archives house a number of primary documents, photographs, and news clippings pertaining to the Love Canal environmental disaster; many items have been digitized and are viewable online. Anyone can read what you share. [64] Had the residents of Love Canal been aware that they were residing on toxic chemicals, most would not have moved there in the first place. Do you know about the threats facing nonhuman life on Earth? Love Canal's notorious history began when Hooker Chemical Co. used the abandoned canal from 1942 to 1953 to dump 21,800 tons of industrial hazardous waste. The notorious case led to the passage of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation & Liability Act of 1980, known as Superfund. Niagara County Legislature angers Love Canal residents by refusing to join the proposed Love Canal Revitalization Authority. Numerous other chemicals seeped through the ground. [74] It has been calculated that 248 separate chemicals, including 60 kilograms (130lb) of dioxin, have been unearthed from the canal. Gibbs's strategies emphasized concerns for children and families of the affected area, with women taking the most prominent public and active roles. The company, the Occidental Chemical Corporation, said that by settling for a reduced amount, the state was acknowledging that a sewer that it built in 1969 had been improperly installed and had contributed to the spread of the chemicals. Chemical sales in the United States now exceed a mind-boggling $112 billion per year, with as many as 70,000 chemical substances in commerce. Government decision makers are seldom held accountable for broader social goals in the way that private owners are by liability rules and potential profits. In 1953, the canal (which had previously been widened to hold more waste) was nearly full, so it was covered over with clay to seal it. In January 1954, the school's architect wrote to the education committee informing them that during excavation, workers discovered two dump sites filled with 55-US-gallon (210l; 46impgal) drums containing chemical wastes. [citation needed] Men who were hesitant to oppose Hooker Chemical openly for example, were able to contribute to the movement through increased contributions to family labor in the absence of their activist wives. [41] Some of the chemicals and toxic materials found included benzene, chloroform, toluene, dioxin, and various kinds of PCB. [26] The school board then relocated the school site eighty to eighty-five feet (24 to 26m) further north. Rep. L0134, New York State Archives. [32] Before the public revelation of the environmental crisis, developers were planning to expand the area with additional homes. Corroding waste-disposal drums could be seen breaking up through the grounds of backyards. The latest history of Love Canal is Paradise Falls: The True Story of an Environmental Catastrophe, written by journalist Keith OBrien, published by Pantheon in 2022. The area around Love Canal was excavated in the late 19th century for an abandoned hydropower project. "[16][21] During April 1952, after discussing the sale of the land with Ansley Wilcox II, Hooker's in-house legal counsel, Klaussen then wrote to the company president, R.L. Koppel credited that decision, coupled with the judge's admonition to Occidental that it would be liable for other damages, with moving both parties to the settlement. [10][12], The Panic of 1907 combined with the development of the transmission of electrical power over great distances, creating access to hydroelectric power far from water sources, proved disastrous. Throughout the legal battle, residents were unable to sell their properties and relocate. 1: Public Health and Hazardous Wastes, Love Canal Collections in the University Archives, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Love_Canal&oldid=1141711115, Environmental disasters in the United States, Forcibly depopulated communities in the United States, Waste disposal incidents in the United States, Wikipedia articles needing page number citations from August 2020, Wikipedia articles needing page number citations from November 2021, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles with unsourced statements from August 2020, All articles with vague or ambiguous time, Vague or ambiguous time from November 2017, Vague or ambiguous time from February 2023, Articles with unsourced statements from October 2021, Articles with unsourced statements from March 2019, Articles needing additional references from August 2018, All articles needing additional references, Articles with trivia sections from October 2021, Articles lacking reliable references from October 2021, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0. The state Department of Transportation moved approximately 1,600 cubic yards (1,200m3) of material from the Love Canal landfill to Niagara Sanitation. Ten of the most prevalent and most toxic compounds - including benzene, a known human carcinogen - were selected for evaluation purposes and as indicators of the presence of other chemical constituents. The school district sold the remaining land, resulting in homes being constructed by private developers, as well as the Niagara Falls Housing Authority. Kenny was the first president and is now vice . After protracted litigation, 1,300 former residents of Love Canal agreed to a $20,000,000 settlement of their claims against the Occidental Chemical Corporation, which had taken over Hooker in the late 1960s, and the city of Niagara Falls. The state accepted the settlement to cover not only its costs but also its claim of natural resources damage, for which it had been seeking $250 million. A former resident of the Love Canal area present in the courtroom in Buffalo this morning when the settlement was presented, Joann M. Hale, said: "The settlement is good. This group's action sought to address the needs of the (largely, but not exclusively, African-American) renter community, whose interests were at times perceived to be in conflict with those of some members of the (predominantly white) property owners represented by the LCHA. It is within our power to exercise intelligent and effective controls designed to significantly cut such environmental risks. State University of New York at Buffalo. The agreement does not resolve the federal government's lawsuit against Occidental for costs incurred by the United States at Love Canal or lawsuits pending by private citizens.NEWLN: (Edited by Tracy Connor in New York). Gibbs had learned from Brown that her neighborhood sat atop the buried chemical waste.[62]. Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act, 42 U.S.C. Only the occasional scientist recognized the dangers of chemical waste in the 1940s. They also talked about the larger issues associated with toxic cleanup and the budget for environmental programs, especially ones concerning enforcement. and settlement around the site proceeded. Also present was dioxin (polychlorinated dibenzodioxins) in the water, a very hazardous substance. All that was left to commemorate Love's hope was a partial ditch where construction of the canal had begun. NEW YORK, June 21 -- Occidental Chemical Corp. has agreed to pay New York state a record $120 million to settle a lawsuit over Love Canal, the ill-fated Niagara Falls, N.Y., housing development. Last year, Occidental. But no doubt this question will be addressed effectively in the future. [citation needed], With the project abandoned, the canal gradually filled with water. Beck was Administrator of EPA Region 2, 1977-1979. But that's not the most disturbing fact. Publisher. Such events included "controversial" methods such as mothers protesting while pushing strollers, marching by pregnant women, and children holding protest signs. It was proximate to the school and newly constructed churches, it was conveniently located just a few miles from the city center, and the expressway provided access to shopping and leisure opportunities. In the 1920s, the canal became a dump site for municipal refuse for the city of Niagara Falls. His book on toxic wastes, Laying Waste: The Poisoning of America By Toxic Chemicals, was the first written on the subject of toxic wastes and created a national firestorm, as did articles of his in The New York Times Magazine and The Atlantic Monthly. He also discovered a huge dump called the Hyde Park landfill (or Bloody Run) and the "S-Area," which was leaking into the water supply for Niagara Falls. An award-winning documentary by Lynn Corcoran titled In Our Own Backyard was released in the U.S. in 1983. [37], Numerous contaminants dumped in the landfill included chlorinated hydrocarbon residues, processed sludge, fly ash, and other materials, including residential municipal garbage. [citation needed] Many men also helped women in these efforts, though not always publicly. Out-of-Court Settlement Reached Over Love Canal, https://www.nytimes.com/1994/06/22/nyregion/out-of-court-settlement-reached-over-love-canal.html. [49] Voles in the area were found to have significantly increased mortality compared to controls (mean life expectancy in exposed animals "23.6 and 29.2 days, respectively, compared to 48.8 days" for control animals). Wrong. [59] In addition to the Love Canal Homeowners Association (LCHA), other major organizations involved included the Ecumenical Taskforce (ETF), National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), and the Concerned Love Canal Renters Association (CLCRA). On that same day, President Carter approved emergency financial aid for the Love Canal area (the first emergency funds ever to be approved for something other than a "natural" disaster), and the U.S. Senate approved a "sense of Congress" amendment saying that Federal aid should be forthcoming to relieve the serious environmental disaster which had occurred. It is also the name of a fifteen-acre, working-class neighborhood of around 800 single-family homes built directly adjacent to the canal. [11] Only one mile (1.6km) of the canal was dug, about 50 feet (15m) wide and 1040 feet (312m) deep, stretching northward from the Niagara River. The first structure built on the Love Canal site after the land was acquired by the Niagara Falls School Board in 1953. The school was closed and demolished, but both the school board and the chemical company refused to accept liability. Agenda setting The community expressed their concerns by marching into the streets on Mother's Day, carrying symbolic coffins to the state capital. In the following years, the site was filled in and given by the company to the growing city of Niagara Falls, which allowed housing to be built on it. Quite simply, Love Canal is one of the most appalling environmental tragedies in American history. That same year, a twenty-five-foot area crumbled exposing toxic chemical drums, which then filled with water during rainstorms. She and other residents made repeated complaints of strange odors and "substances" that surfaced in their yards. by Eckardt C. Beck In early 1952, when it became apparent that the site would likely be developed for construction, Hooker ceased use of Love Canal as a dumpsite. Also, EPA recently proposed a system to ensure that the more than 35 million tons of hazardous wastes produced in the U.S. each year, including most chemical wastes, are disposed of safely. Hale, a legal assistant who lives in nearby Grand Island, would have preferred that money be set aside for comprehensive, long-term health studies on the area's former residents and genetic studies on their children. A tragedy, unfortunately, has now called upon us to decide on the overall level of commitment we desire for defusing future Love Canals. Of the chemicals which comprise the brew seeping through the ground and into homes at Love Canal, one of the most prevalent is benzene -- a known human carcinogen, and one detected in high concentrations. Learn about global activism that have changed the ways we interact with our precious planet for the better. President Carter declares Love Canal a national emergency paving way for relocation of another 710 families. Personal Injury Payments. [16][21], While the school board condemned some nearby properties, Hooker agreed to sell its property to the school board for $1. The children were born and raised in the Love Canal community. Finally the city acted and hired a consultant, Calspan Corporation, to do a far-reaching study. Closing a major chapter in one of the nation's most notorious environmental disasters, the company that buried chemical wastes at Love Canal reached an out-of-court settlement with New York. The older daughter developed a benign tumor on her eye and arthritis, and the younger one has asthma, among other health problems; both are learning disabled, she said. Rcupr le 3 Fvrier, 2007. Both sides claimed victory in the 14-year-old case, which prompted Congress to enact the Superfund law. Shortly thereafter, the leaching began. Over 800 families were relocated from the area by the federal government and later, the Superfund program was created . At first, the Suez Canal Authority had demanded $916 million in compensation, which was later lowered to $550 million. read more, Attorney General Janet Reno and EPA Administrator Carol Browner briefed reporters on the final settlement with Occidental Chemical Corporation over the Love Canal toxic waste site in New York. Love Canal was the first Superfund site on that list. Some of these puddles were in their yards, some were in their basements, others yet were on the school grounds. The settlement does not affect a suit against Occidental by the Federal Government, which is seeking to recover $198 million in cost. How Does the Paris Climate Agreement Work. Love abandoned the project after an economic depression, leaving behind a partially dug section of the canal, sixty feet wide and three thousand feet long. [42] Geologists were recruited to determine whether underground swales were responsible for carrying the chemicals to the surrounding residential areas. Sustainability is the long-term viability of a community, set of social institutions, or societal practice. [3] The kindergarten playground also had to be relocated because it was directly on top of a chemical dump. These organizations are often overlooked in the story of Love Canal, according to research by Elizabeth Blum in Love Canal Revisited. The New York Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) contends there is no proof the landfill leaks. Love Canal Lawsuit Settles-- NPR's Madeline Brand reports that Occidental Chemical Corporation has agreed to pay the city of Niagra Falls, New York for the cost of evacuating residents in 1977 . "When you go back to your people at EPA, please don't use the phrase 'only five cases.' Love Canal: A Toxic History from Colonial Times to the Present by Richard S. Newman 5.0 Paperback $29.95 Hardcover $35.95 Paperback $29.95 eBook $14.99 View All Available Formats & Editions Ship This Item Qualifies for Free Shipping Buy Online, Pick up in Store Check Availability at Nearby Stores Instant Purchase Additional images can be found below. 9613(f)(2) (2006). I recall talking with the father of one the children with birth defects. [39], Laboratory analyses of soil and sediment samples from the Love Canal indicate the presence of more than 200 distinct organic chemical compounds; approximately 100 of these have been identified to date. The state and Federal governments declared an environmental emergency at Love Canal in 1978, moving 239 families from the neighborhood, and they agreed to buy more than 500 more homes from fleeing families in 1980. [80], The legacy of the disaster inspired a fictionalized 1982 made-for-TV film titled Lois Gibbs and the Love Canal. [74], In 1998, Elizabeth Whelan, founder of industry advocacy group American Council on Science and Health, wrote an editorial about the Canal in which she stated that the media started calling the Canal a "public health time bomb", an editorial that created minor hysteria. The entire Love Canal Images collection can be found here. The Love Canal area was originally the site of an abandoned canal that became a dumping ground for nearly 22,000 tons of chemical waste (including polychlorinated biphenyls, dioxin, and pesticides) produced by the Hooker Chemicals and Plastics Corporation in the 1940s and '50s. By 1910, the dream was shattered. He was also to discover that toxic dioxins were there. The first structure built on the Love Canal site after the land was acquired by the Niagara Falls School Board in 1953. In May 1894, work on the canal began. But the case had not reached the point of determining how much Occidental should pay. In the early 1990s New York state ended its cleanup and declared parts of the Love Canal area safe to live in. In an article prepared for the February, 1978 EPA Journal, I wrote, regarding chemical dumpsites in general, that "even though some of these landfills have been closed down, they may stand like ticking time bombs." [42] This was the first time in American history that emergency funds were used for a situation other than a natural disaster. [71], Houses in the residential areas on the east and west sides of the canal were demolished. [6], In 1890, William T. Love, an ambitious railroad entrepreneur, prepared plans to construct a preplanned urban community of parks and residences on the shore of Lake Ontario, believing it would serve the area's burgeoning industries with much-needed hydroelectricity. It was a case of gross corporate and municipal negligence. The 93rd Street School was closed some two years later because of concerns about seeping toxic waste. He advised the local residents to create a protest group, which was organized by resident Karen Schroeder, whose daughter had many (about a dozen) birth defects. 'I think it's basically a pretty good settlement, but there isn't any provision in it at all for any type of health studies, which is the original reason we were all moved out of Love Canal -- for health reasons.'. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. It sold the land, and a developer built tract houses on the site. Which gases play an important role in climate change? As guidance for such programs, we are working to make sure that State inventories of industrial waste disposal sites include full assessments of any potential dangers created by these sites. Love Canal was not an accident. That's the fairest way to state it." By the 1950s, the city of Niagara Falls was experiencing a population increase. Occidental Petroleum reported earnings last year of $283 million on sales of $8.1 billion. [42] They were willing to remain as long as they were guaranteed that their homes were in a relatively safe area. Both sides will also drop all other claims against each other. When the film was set, in 1993, litigation for Love Canal was still ongoing, despite coming to public and government attention in the late 1970s. The entire Love Canal Images collection can be found. During the following years, Gibbs organized an effort to investigate community concerns about the health of its residents. Brown, who wrote more than a hundred articles concerning the dump, tested the groundwater and later found the dump was three times larger than originally thought, with possible ramifications beyond the original evacuation zone. [7] He named the project Model City, New York. "Love Canal" is the name of a 7" single released by the noise-punk band Flipper in February 1981. And then there were the birth defects. Love Canal was a small town in Niagara Falls, New York, located between two bodies of water: the Bergholtz Creek to the North and the Niagara River to the South. In a typical population, chromosomal damage affects 1% of people. The next Board meeting will be held Friday, November 11, 2022. Science, v. 212, le 19 Juin, 1981: 1404-1407. Tactics included protests and rallies, which were intentionally timed and planned in an effort to maximize media attention. Britannica botanist Melissa Petruzzello explores what keeps the world green or not. "Had the land been condemned and seized, says Hooker, the company would have been unable to air its concerns to all future owners of the property. Two of this woman's four grandchildren have birth defects. The last of the first string of the Love Canal State cases was resolved in 2005, stemming all the way back to 1978. It was also revealed that the standards at the time did not require the installation of a liner to prevent leaching; this became very common among companies. In his remarks, Mr. Srolovic noted that the funding for the Program originated from the State's Love Canal settlement, stating that "it is fitting that monies arising from the tragedy of Love Canal are being used to sustain Niagara County's legacy of social and environmental advocacy." His daughter also suffers from a congenital defect. They can see that in New Jersey. This is a digitized version of an article from The Timess print archive, before the start of online publication in 1996. Mr. Koppel's predecessor as Attorney General, Robert Abrams, who filed the lawsuit 14 years ago, appeared with Mr. Koppel at a news conference in Manhattan and said: "You can go anywhere on the globe where English is not spoken, and you mention the term 'Love Canal,' and there will be a nod of recognition. The entire Love Canal Images collection can be found, Love Canal Homeowners Association Timeline, Ecumenical Task Force of the Niagara Frontier Timeline. Occasionally the digitization process introduces transcription errors or other problems; we are continuing to work to improve these archived versions. This maintenance will be required for decades, and Mr. Koppel said that its value to the state was $22 million, but the company put the value at $8 million. 1983: Occidental Chemical, which has bought Hooker, offers a $20 million lump sum settlement to 136 Love Canal residents - about 95 percent of the more than 1,400 residents who have sued the . Hooker spread toxins through the community, in the air, in sewers and in streams, especially when it joined with other firms in burying waste in Love Canal. "I heard someone from the press saying that there were only five cases of birth defects here," he told me. The following year the company settled with the federal government as well, agreeing to pay $129 million over three years. I-III. More than 170 grants totaling more than $2.6 million have been distributed by the NCEF since 1998. [20], As "a means of avoiding liability by relinquishing control of the site", Hooker deeded the site to the school board in 1953 for $1 with a liability limitation clause. TimesMachine is an exclusive benefit for home delivery and digital subscribers. [49] Several studies reported higher levels of low-birth weight babies and birth defects among the exposed residents[50] with some evidence the effect subsided after the exposure was eliminated. In the early 1900s, a man named William Love dug a canal between the . *This text was compiled from uncorrected Closed Captioning. close. Not long after having taken control of the land, the Niagara Falls School Board proceeded to develop the land, including construction activity that substantially breached containment structures in a number of ways, allowing previously trapped chemicals to seep out. [63] Although city officials were asked to investigate the area, they did not act to solve the problem. During March 1951, the school board prepared a plan showing a school being built over the canal and listing condemnation values for each property that would need to be acquired. NEW YORK, June 21 -- Occidental Chemical Corp. has agreed to pay New York state a record $120 million to settle a lawsuit over Love Canal, the ill-fated Niagara Falls, N.Y., housing development that became a worldwide symbol of the disastrous consequences of toxic waste dumps. The 99th Street School, on the other hand, was located within the former boundary of the Hooker Chemical landfill site. Learn more about this important treaty to address global warming. U.S. Representative John J. LaFalce (Democrat, Town of Tonawanda) and the Environmental Protection Agency begin investigating problems at Love Canal. [54] The matter became quiet for more than a year and was then revived by reporter Michael Brown, who then investigated potential health effects by performing an informal door-to-door survey during early 1978, writing a hundred news items on toxic wastes in the area and finding birth defects and many anomalies such as enlarged feet, heads, hands, and legs. "The truth of the matter is the state gave up a great deal of money and Occidental's paying a lot of money. Love Canal "become the symbol for what happens when hazardous industrial products are not confined to the workplace but 'hit people where they live' in inestimable amounts". Initially seeking evacuation, area activists soon found that they were engaged in a far larger battle over the meaning of America's . With further investigation, Gibbs discovered the chemical danger of the adjacent canal. During October 1893, the first factory opened for business. And no secure mechanisms are in effect for determining such liability. In the 1920s the seeds of a genuine nightmare were planted. See the article in its original context from. In Gibbs' neighborhood, there was a high rate of unexplained illnesses, miscarriages, and intellectual disability. Love Canal remains one of the most talked about chemical catastrophes in this country. The Carter Administration reveals plans for a $1.63 billion Superfund for hazardous waste clean-ups across the country. [16] During its 10-year lifespan, the landfill served as the dumping site of 21,800 short tons (19,800t) of chemicals, mostly composed of products such as "caustics, alkalines, fatty acid and chlorinated hydrocarbons resulting from the manufacturing of dyes, perfumes, and solvents for rubber and synthetic resins". Dozens of groups tour the site every year, hoping to better understand how it happened and hoping history. Robert Whalen, then-New York's Health Commissioner, also visited Love Canal and believed that the Canal constituted an emergency, stating: "Love Canal Chemical Waste Landfill constitutes a public nuisance and an extremely serious threat and danger to the health, safety and welfare of those using it, living near it or exposed to the conditions emanating from it, consisting among other things, of chemical wastes lying exposed on the surface in numerous places pervasive, pernicious and obnoxious chemical vapors and fumes affecting both the ambient air and the homes of certain residents living near such sites. Effective controls designed to significantly cut such environmental risks Canal state cases resolved! Miles south of Niagara Falls was experiencing a population increase homes built directly to... Community concerns about the larger issues associated with toxic cleanup and declared parts of Niagara! 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Botanist Melissa Petruzzello explores what keeps the world green or not other than a natural.... Years later because of concerns about the larger issues associated with toxic and... The legacy of the Hooker chemical landfill site Gibbs discovered the chemical company to. The 1950s, the city acted and hired a consultant, Calspan Corporation, to a! Reveals plans for a situation other than a natural disaster `` substances '' that surfaced in their yards, were... Up through the grounds of backyards about four miles south of Niagara Falls Transportation moved approximately 1,600 yards! Paying a lot of money and Occidental 's paying a lot of money Occidental. That & # x27 ; s not the most appalling environmental tragedies American... The causes and effects of water scarcity at a global level, about!: 1404-1407 recall talking with the father of one the children with birth defects the... 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