Will midwest floods be as toxic as New Orleans?

Alternet, via the Christian Science Monitor: The oil, gasoline, fertilizers, and herbicides swept away by floodwaters in June pose an environmental challenge to the rain-soaked Midwest. But some of the most serious pollution problems may not lie outdoors. Instead, they could well lurk indoors in waterlogged basements and first floors of homes and businesses, where everything from cleaning agents to toxic metals accumulate in silt and mold.

These concerns about indoor toxins, which sprang up in the aftermath of the New Orleans flood in 2005, have led researchers to begin working on tools that could give emergency crews and homeowners a better idea of the risks they face when they step through the front door once floodwaters recede.

Indoor muck following a flood is a common problem, says Nicholas Ashley, a researcher at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge involved in the work. But, he adds, "to the best of our knowledge no one had looked at the effect of interior sediment deposits" on pollution levels until he and his PhD adviser, Louis Thibodeaux, began to tackle the issue after hurricane Katrina flooded New Orleans.

The problem is that flood victims get an OK to return and begin the cleanup based on contaminant levels measured outdoors. But those measurements may significantly underestimate what awaits when people walk inside, he says.

…Now, Ashley and Thibodeaux are working on a model that could give first responders and homeowners a clearer idea of the pollution levels they are likely to face once the water recedes -- particularly in farm country, where organics can form the dominant class of pollutants. A key part of the puzzle still to be incorporated involves how airtight the home is and how long it remains buttoned up before restoration or demolition begins. The duo acknowledges they are operating on sparse data -- two houses. It's crucial, they say, to develop simple water and sediment sampling kits that rescuers and other first responders can use. Such data would allow them to expand their sample of structures and provide information needed to run the model.

“Our Lady of the Lawnmower, " a house in the Katrina-flooded Broadmoor neighborhood of New Orleans. The waters killed the shrubbery. Photo by Infrogmation, Wikimedia Commons, under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation license, Version 1.2