GREEN CLEAN MACHINES: A site near the city of Varennes, Quebec, where researchers on the Genome Canada project tested the efficacy of various willow cultivars to remediate soil polluted by petroleum hydrocarbons PHOTO COURTESY OF MICHEL LABRECQUE
Despite the enactment of comprehensive regulations, soil contamination remains widespread in much of the industrialized world. Researchers have estimated there are more than 160,000 sites in Western Europe alone that contain pollutants at levels above acceptable thresholds (J Environ Public Health, 2013: 158764, 2013), and the problem is just as significant in the United States (Environ Sci Technol, 39:5567-74, 2005). Owing to the cost of ex situ remediation, many contaminated sites are left untreated, allowing toxic chemicals to leach into nearby ground or surface waters and be taken up by plants and animals. Ultimately, soil contamination poses substantial risks for human health, and much work remains to significantly remediate lands that are known to be contaminated. (See “Drugging the Environment” here.)
Over the past 20 ...
