Of Woburn (Mock trial) - Case Study Example

History and Political Science: A Case Study This paper presents an argument from a hydrologist point of view for charging the defendant in the Woburn area with the pollution of water well that caused children in the Woburn area to contract leukemia, cardiac arrhythmias, and various immune and neurological disorders. Why the Defendant Has To Be Charged from the Hydrologist View The hydrologist determines that people in Woburn area use water from wells G and H to drink and do other home activities use the water from the wells in question.

From the hydrological point of view, well G and H are integrated in the general distribution and circulation water system in the area. As a result, hydrologists determined that there was a high possibility of water in these wells mixing with water from other sources, thus contaminating it. The hydrologists also established that the soil, sand, and rocks around the two wells and the entire region were highly permeable and therefore could allow the infiltration of contaminated water from other parts to substantial amount to health hazard levels.

In addition, hydrologists established that wells G and H drew their water from the Aberjona River thus escalating the possibility that contaminated water from these two wells is the primary cause leukemia, cardiac arrhythmias, and various immune and neurological disorders among children in the Woburn area. After the analysis of water distribution systems in the region, I found that the system is very much integrated with one another so that it is possible for contaminated water to move from one point to the other easily.

The highly permeable rocks further aid this and soil in the region, which does not require physical systems to see that water from one region mixes with the other in another region. From the findings of hydrological analysis of distribution, circulation, and quality of water bodies in Woburn area together with the study on the infiltration level of the soils, rock, and sand in this region, I concluded that W.R. Grace and Beatrice Foods Company polluted two water wells in East Woburn. This was done through irresponsible disposal of solvents that allowed them to infiltrate into wells G and H.

Hydrological Evidence The evidences presented herein first consent that a chemical testing of ground water from wells G and H showed that the water was polluted as a result of improper disposal of wastes on land by industries and other waste producing agents. The hydrological analysis of the quality of water from wells G and H indicated that there were high levels of chemicals in the water. The chemical composition of chemical detected in water from these wells corresponded to the chemicals that were disposed off by W.R. Grace and Beatrice Foods Company.

By all definition of the hydrological meaning of pollution, the hydrologist found that water from well G and H were polluted to dangerous levels that could easily cause a health hazard. The hydrological definition of pollution used in this case was “any unsightly and inconvenient nuisance or it can be an invisible, but deadly, threat to the health of people, plants and animals” (Gehrels, 56) From the research on the way water systems were integrated in Woburn area, the hydrologist found out that the interflow in the area allowed for runoff water from other sources to mix with any other water body either as shallow or perched water on the ground.

This finding is attested to by Alley (35) who indicated that a region was more likely to lose its geological formation owing to the presence of chemicals in water. This condition was exacerbated by lack of regulation by Woburn authorities on the disposal of watercourses that discharges wastewater. Subsequently, the hydrologists have evidence that over 90% of wastewater from W.R. Grace and Beatrice Foods Company ended up in the Aberjona River, which circulates its water to the water systems in the region by way of infiltration.

The normal precipitation of water conditions was carried out basing on a 30-year average that was computed at every end of ten-year period. The hydrologist established ground water conditions in this region were highly affected during the last ten years that W.R. Grace and Beatrice Foods Company has been in this region. The results of this analysis indicate that the defendant is responsible for deteriorating conditions of ground water in Woburn due to high rate of chemical infiltration that has not only contaminated ground water, from which wells G and H draws a large percentage of water, but also interfered with the geological structure of the region.

The rocks, sand, and soils in Woburn has become more permeable during the last ten years. The research in this area revealed that there were many sources of ground water coming from the ground. Nevertheless, the analysis of the composition of the water revealed that this water came from a different source other than the ground water. This is in agreement with the hydrological principle that any form of water coming from the ground does not necessarily become ground water (Davie, 19). The only logical presumption in this phenomenon is that other sources, which were contaminated, were allowing water to circulate through infiltration in the rocks and sands in this region.

Again, this brings about the issue of weakening geological formation in this region, which ultimately allowed wells G and H to contaminate with wastewater from other sources. Finally, there were presence of spring boxes and water pipes from the determined contaminated water bodies including wells G and H to indicate that water from these sources was being used for consumption in homes around Woburn area. There is no other supply of water in the region and a study in the shops revealed that bottled water was less used for drinking by the residents of Woburn.

Works Cited Alley, William M. Regional Ground-Water Quality. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons, 1993 Davie, Tim. Fundamentals of Hydrology. New York: Taylor & Francis, 2012 Gehrels, Hans. Impact of Human Activity on Groundwater Dynamics. The Netherlands: IAHS, 2001