Trading Mosquitoes for Toxic Waste
By Nick Solari
The problems began years before those who have been working to eradicate the waste were even born.
Old industrial areas, such as the Newhall Street neighborhood in Hamden, are full of historical toxic contamination – dating back to the late 1800’s. Toxins weren’t a public concern during this time, but diseases like malaria were.
During the 1880’s, according to Newhall project manager Ray Frigon, local residents sought to eradicate malaria in the community by filling in local wetlands where mosquitoes would breed.
The residents began burning trash in the town’s wetlands. When that wasn’t enough, Winchester Repeating Arms helped out in the effort. The American firearm maker, located on Winchester Avenue in New Haven, began trucking large amounts of ash from its furnaces to the wetland area.
After filling the wetland until it was dry, members of the community leveled it off and sprinkled soil over the top. They added roads and schools, and built a neighborhood over the wetland that had been a community garbage site for years.
The problems began years before those who have been working to eradicate the waste were even born.
Old industrial areas, such as the Newhall Street neighborhood in Hamden, are full of historical toxic contamination – dating back to the late 1800’s. Toxins weren’t a public concern during this time, but diseases like malaria were.
During the 1880’s, according to Newhall project manager Ray Frigon, local residents sought to eradicate malaria in the community by filling in local wetlands where mosquitoes would breed.
The residents began burning trash in the town’s wetlands. When that wasn’t enough, Winchester Repeating Arms helped out in the effort. The American firearm maker, located on Winchester Avenue in New Haven, began trucking large amounts of ash from its furnaces to the wetland area.
After filling the wetland until it was dry, members of the community leveled it off and sprinkled soil over the top. They added roads and schools, and built a neighborhood over the wetland that had been a community garbage site for years.
The contamination represents just a portion of the pollution that occurred in the neighborhood.
Ron Curran, environmental analyst with the Connecticut DEEP since 1989, recalls growing up in the midwest during the 1960’s, where he says it was commonplace for people to burn garbage right in their own back yard. He says he can even remember people using waste oil from the gas station to keep the dust down on our local roads.
“The waste practices of earlier generations, there were no requirements,” said Curran, current project manager of the Raymark federal superfund site in Stratford. “Making money was the only requirement, they would cut corners to make money, most businesses and people knew what they were doing.”
And for Curran, the Newhall Street area represents an even larger threat than most sites due to the amount of people who were once endangered.
“The scariest part is when you find situations like this," he said. "Where they actually taint the property and then put houses on it and made it residential without making sure there were protections from the previous generation’s waste.”
Ron Curran, environmental analyst with the Connecticut DEEP since 1989, recalls growing up in the midwest during the 1960’s, where he says it was commonplace for people to burn garbage right in their own back yard. He says he can even remember people using waste oil from the gas station to keep the dust down on our local roads.
“The waste practices of earlier generations, there were no requirements,” said Curran, current project manager of the Raymark federal superfund site in Stratford. “Making money was the only requirement, they would cut corners to make money, most businesses and people knew what they were doing.”
And for Curran, the Newhall Street area represents an even larger threat than most sites due to the amount of people who were once endangered.
“The scariest part is when you find situations like this," he said. "Where they actually taint the property and then put houses on it and made it residential without making sure there were protections from the previous generation’s waste.”