Environmental experts in the United States, including the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), are warning that flood waters in New Orleans is 10 times more toxic than safety levels. There are reports of widespread bacterial contamination, lead pollution, and natural gas pollution in the flooded city. State and federal workers have stated that they cannot treat the contaminated water and that it will likely be pumped untreated into Lake Pontchartrain or the Mississippi River where, according to some estimates, it may kill significant numbers of fish and plant life.
Already, five people have died from disease related to Hurricane Katrina. The five are believed to have died from bacteria that entered their bodies through open wounds that came into contact with contaminated flood water. However, Katrina’s environmental impact will be long-term and just as Katrina most dramatically affected people of color, it will be people of color who will continue face environmental racism in the wake of Katrina. The poor residents of New Orleans will be the ones who will move back into neighborhoods that will likely retain various levels of contamination and will directly face the environmental impacts of Katrina.
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