回顾美国处置危险物品的历史

Historical Overview of Hazardous Substance Disposal in the USA 回顾美国处置危险物品的历史

Hazardous substance disposal practices in the United States have traveled full circle.	在美国，处理危险物品的做法走过了迂回的道路。
Prior to 1978 there were few if any regulations regarding the disposal of these materials.	1978年之前，很少有任何关于如何处置这些物品的法规。
Improper disposal of many of these chemicals resulted in health problems for many citizens, contaminated water supplies, and destruction of wildlife.	这些化学物品的不当处置使市民陷入健康问题，水供应受污染和野生生物死亡。
With the enactment of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) of 1978, manufacturing facilities now have an obligation to account for all waste materials that are generated by the facility.	随着《资源回收法》（1978年）的颁布，工厂有责任处置生产设施所产生的所有废弃材料 。
Implementation of RCRA has been slow.	但是《资源回收法》的实施一直进展缓慢。
From the very early industrial period in the United States, which started about 1920, until several years after the Second World War, there was little concern for the proper methods of disposal of waste materials that were generated as by-products during manufacturing processes.	在美国，从大约1920年开始的早期工业时代，到第二次世界大战结束后几年里，几乎没人关注处理在生产过程中作为副产品产生的废弃材料的合理方法。
Up until the 1960’s it was quite common to find fresh water rivers and streams fouled with waste chemicals from manufacturing, salt water from oil production wells and waste acids from steel mill activities.	直到1920年，随处可见被生产过程产生的废化学品、油井排出的盐水和炼钢厂排出的废酸所污染的淡水河流和溪涧。
Virtually every conceivable waste oil, solvent, or resin waste could be found in the rivers.	事实上，所有能够想象到的废物如废油、溶剂、废树脂都可以在河流里面找到。
The laws of the time were either non-existent or not enforced.	然而当时的相关法律要么不存在，要么是没有被实施。
The literature has many examples of health problems of individuals as well as destruction of fish and wildlife habitat.	文献记载了许多关于个体的健康问题以及鱼类、野生动物栖息地被破坏的例子。
Many other cases occurred that were not reported in the literature.	许多其他发生的事件并未记载在文献上。
Other waste materials were dumped haphazardly in makeshift excavations either at the factory side or throughout the country side.	其他废弃物质被草率地埋在临时挖掘在工厂还有乡村旁边的坑洞里面。
Because of ignorance and lack of economic incentives to do so, the factories made no attempt to prevent contamination of underground water supplies by the chemicals that were disposed of.	因为对环境的忽视以及缺少经济刺激，各企业完全没有意识来保护被化学物质污染的地下水供应。
In fact, knowledgeable scientists of the time accepted land irrigation and percolation into the porous underground formations as methods of waste treatment.	事实上，当代有见识的科学家，已经接受了土地清洗以及过滤可渗透地底层这两种可作为处理废弃物治理的方法。
Although these treatment methods may have been intended for non-hazardous materials, they were employed for hazardous materials as well.	尽管这些治理方法或许用于无毒害的物质，同时也可用于有毒害的物质。
Again, there were no governmental regulations protecting the underground aquifers from these practices.	再者，并没有政府法规因保护地下蓄水层而禁止这些处理方法。
The problem of disposal of hazardous chemicals did not improve with the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the 1996.	处理有毒化学物品的问题并没有因为在1996年环境保护局的成立而有所改善。
The first task of the new agency was to clean up rivers and streams.	此新兴机构的首要任务是清理干净河流水道。
Unfortunately, no one in power in the government at the time had insight into the problems that were to be created by the new agency.	不幸的是，当时政府的执政人员没有一个洞察到那个新兴机构带来的问题。
The EPA was quite successful in those early days in the enforcement of the many water pollution laws that evolved.	环境保护局在早些年的时候，对于强制执行污染法的发展还是做的相当成功的。
As the practice of the dumping of hazardous materials into the rivers and streams was eliminated, those same materials created other disposal problems.	随着往河道排放有毒物质的习惯的消除，但这些相同的物质造成了其他处理问题。
Many of the chemicals saved from the sewer were either worthless or of such a low value as to render recovery uneconomical.	在下水道中回收到的物质不是没价值的就是低廉到不足以恢复利用.
In some cases, recovery was technically impossible. As a result, the waste chemicals were disposed of by any convenient method.	一些情况下,回收在技术层面上是不可能的。 所以,很多废弃的化学药物都被很简单地扔掉了。
The makeshift dumps sites were expanded. Because there were no regulations regarding disposal,	临时的垃圾场已经不得不扩大,因为没有任何关于废物丢弃的法规。
persons with no technical expertise entered into the business of waste disposal. The profits were high because these individuals did not treat the chemicals.	很多不具备专业技术知识的人就进入了废物处理的行业,由于这些人并没有真正处理掉化学药物，所以这个行业的利润相当高。
In most cases, the waste materials were transported to impounding areas located on privately owned land.	很多情况下,废弃的化学物品会被运到私有土地上的贮物地。
The factories that generated the waste felt secure in the belief that the waste transporter was disposing of the materials in an acceptable manner.	那些产生废弃物的厂家之所以感到安心是因为他们相信废物处理者会用一种合理的方法来处置掉废物。
In most cases, this was not a correct assumption.	但很多情况下,事实并非如此。
The unregulated dumps grew both in size and complexity.	乱堆放的大小规模和复杂度上都在增长。
When the dumps were in close proximity to populated areas or public water supplies, a series of problems begin to develop.	当垃圾场很接近居住区或公共水源的话,一系列的问题将会开始产生。
Citizens in the vicinity of some of the dumps began to experience adverse health problems such as skin rashes, paralysis, cancer, and birth defects.	在一些垃圾场附近的居民会开始遇到一些像皮肤疹、麻痹、癌症、先天缺陷等不利的健康问题。
In some cases, these problems have been attributed to contamination from the chemicals.	有时候,这些问题会归属于受到化学药物的污染而产生的。
Because of these concerns, the United States Congress enacted a new legislation that dealt with the issues of disposal of hazardous wastes.	由于这些担心，美国国会通过了一个新的处理有害废物过程中出现问题的法规。
This was the Resource Conversation and Recovery Act of 1987.	这就是1987年的资源回收保护法。
The purpose of the Act was to allow regulation of hazardous substance disposal.	这项法案的目的是同意有害物质处理的方法。
As a result, industries that generated large quantities of these waste materials now had to ensure that the materials were disposed of in the a manner that was safe for the environment.	结果导致产生大量废物的企业现在不得不确保这些物质被以对环境安全的方法处理。
Many of the improper dumps that were created prior to the RCRA legislation were created by persons with little or no financial resources.	在资源回收保护法由很少或者没有经济资源的人确立之前 ，很多不合理的堆放已经造成。
As a result, the cleanup of the old sites has been taken over by the government under legislation.	使得清理旧的堆放点的工作由政府接管。
As of this time, the results of these clean up efforts have been ineffective.	在这一时期，这些清理的努力效率不高。
Because of the abuses and problems of the past, regulations have been enacted that force American industry to be responsible for hazardous waste disposal.	由于过去的这些问题，强制美国工业承担有害物质处理的责任的相关法规已经颁布。
The problems were brought about by a lack of economic indentives to the industrial community.	这些问题是由对工业界缺少经济动力带来的。
The problems were compounded by the inexperience and lack of insight by elected governmental officials and the governmental agencies charged with the task of regulation.	政府官员缺乏经验和洞察力以及政府机构对法规的控制任务使得问题复杂化。
Although sufficient legislation is now in place to solve the problem of hazardous waste disposal, it is unlikely that a true solution will be achieved for 20 years or longer.	尽管现在有足够的法规来解决有害物质的处理问题，但是在二十年或更长的时间内是不可能真正的解决的。
Only through interaction between industry scientists, and government regulators will true solutions be finally realized.	只有通过工业界，科学家和政府部门的共同努力，才能最终得到解决。