This rings bells for me. When I became pregnant with my first child, in 1982, the first thing the OB told me was -- Stop drinking the water. I don't know if he was over-cautious, but I listened and bought bottled water for many years thereafter.

I moved back to the Bay Area after living in toxic Los Angeles for 10 years. My expectation was that my health woukd improve. After all, Los Angeles smog and toxic waste is legendary, and I could smell the toxic waste in the LA river from my bedroom window.

What a surprise I got moving back to Mountain View! I am not allergic to plants, yet I have horrible allergies here, which can only be caused by chemicals. The air is horrible. Open space areas are sold to the highest bidder among Sikicon Valley corporations, so we're listing precious trees that provide oxygen. These businesses are literally poisoning and suffocating us!

Thanks for addressing the Bay Area's dirty little secret!

It is really sad this this the polluted water here has become a secret. When we first moved here in the late 1970s, toxic waste and Superfund sites were big news. Government agencies published maps, newspapers were constantly reporting about them, and real estate agents and buyers paid close attention. We were careful to buy a home far from the Superfund sites. During the Reagan/Bush years, the government apparently stopped publicizing this problem and the newspapers and real estate industry followed suit. Today, most of the Superfund sites are still there, but no one talks about them anymore. A new generation has grown up right on top of the toxic waste without knowing about it. That is scary.

That's just it. It isn't new news, it's very old news and people who have lived here and paid any attention have also known about it for decades.
Also those who have paid attention understand the actual real world risks involved.

Except that the chemical contamination is still there. And nothing *really* has been done to deal with it.

But I guess that's old news.

Yes, Another Neighbor, I suppose it's old news that nothing's been done. But they sure give the impression with all the monitoring that something's being done. I guess monitoring is different than cleaning up.

I know the old GE and Fairchikd sites were "cleaned up" . Back in 1997, they removed tons of dirt from these sites before they were allowed to build. But I guess, they still have to put the dirt somewhere.

I'd like the two posters above me to detail their experience with dealing with TCE remediation in contaminated soil. Tell me which process you favor to clean it up. Do you favor thermal oxidation? Why or why not.