Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Week #4 January 25-31

Please use this space to share your reflections of our learnings this week. What are the concepts that we discussed? What are the important vocabulary words that you learned? Are there any topics that we have covered that you are still unsure of?

114 comments:

  1. Today in class we learned about how aquifers can be contaminated. They can be contaminated easily if there is an aquifer, of lets say uranium, and it is the same level as the aquifer. To figure out why it is like that is a challenge. You have to find the source and then the plume. You have to drill several wells to find what the shape might look like. Then you can try to stop it. The only problem is that it takes lots of money to get it fixed.

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  2. A Civil Action is a movie about a town in Massachusetts that had wells that were contaminated with toxic chemicals. Residents of the town created a group in order to create a cleaner environment. After children in the town were diagnosed with, and died from leukemia, people believed it was caused by contaminated water. There were suspicions that the local factories had caused the pollution. The children’s parents and other families in the town filed a law suit against the companies W.R. Grace and Beatrice Foods Inc. They hired an attorney named Jan Schlichtmann, a personal injury lawyer to defend them. The movie is about the struggle of the families against the wealthy and powerful companies that polluted their wells with TCE. The trial took all summer and eventually one of the companies was found guilty for dumping chemicals, and the other was let off. They later filed an appeal and though there were even more years of fighting in the courtroom nothing ever came of it. Finally the EPA instituted a cleanup of the water to be payed by the two companies and the families finally won their case.

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  3. today i learned that aquifers can be contaminated in several ways that no one would normally know about. water is a dissolvant and can dissolve almost anything that it somes into contact with. this isent always the best thing for stuff. in one case, a thunderstorm occured and the rain washed manuere into a river, and that river flowed down to other connected rivers, contaminating it all. in order to find the source of the contamination, you have to drill several times around the contaminated water in order to be exact, but you have to be smart where you drill and plan everything out becasuse it is expensive to drill random well holes.

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  4. What I've learned so far is that you have to check water because not all water is clean. We only have so much fresh water. We learned that aquifers can be contaminated with things we wouldn't normally see.

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  5. On Monday we learned about aquifers that can be contaminated. We also talked about the ways to determine where the pollution comes from and which wells, or aquifers, have been polluted. With surface water, it is easier to find the source of the pollution. In a river pollution, you follow the river up and stop when you find live fish and plants. With aquifers, you have to sample water from each and predict which ones are polluted, then sample those.

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  6. This week we learned about water pollution. We did an activity that showed how to make flume of pollution. We learned how certain chemicals can contaminate water and cause diseases such as cancer. Say there's an area where a bunch of people are getting cancer. There would be a strong possibility that the groundwater is contaminated.

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  7. Erin Brockovich is about a single women who fights against this huge corporation. It starts off with her getting hit with a car. She hires this lawyer to sue the person who hit her. After her case, she is desperate for a job and goes to that lawyer to get a job. She gets the job with filing cases. She files a case where this factory is buying this house. She investigates more and finds out that this company is contaminating water and covering it up. It's getting a bunch of people sick. She and the lawyer sue the company and got the people granted 333 million dollars.

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  8. Erin Brockovich:
    Erin Brockovich is an unemployed single mother that needs a job but cannot find one. Later she has a failed lawsuit against a doctor in a car accident she was in. With no better options, she makes her lawyer give her a job in return for their loss. No one at the firm takes her seriously because of her bad clothing and unrefined manners. This changes when she begins to investigate a real estate case involving the Pacific Gas & Electric Company. She discovers that the company is trying to buy land that was contaminated by a toxic waste that the company is illegally dumping. As a result of the dumping all of the residents in the area are poisoned.



    A Civil Action:
    Jan Schlichtmann is a lawyer and is contacted by eight families who have all had children that have died from leukemia in Woburn, Massachusetts. When investigating the case, he finds that a leather production company could be responsible for the deaths/ leukemia. The company unfortunately is the main employer for the area. Schlichtmann and his three colleagues set out to have the company forced to decontaminate the affected areas, and sue for a major sum of damages.

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  9. This week in lab we were looking for contaminated wells. If a well has more than 1 ppb it is contaminated. We also learned that aquifers are what is below a well and supplies water to us. It is easy to find out if surface water is contaminated because you just go up stream and find the contamination. It is more difficult with ground water because it is under ground and you just have to make observations and guess where the contamination is coming from.

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  10. So far this week we talked about contamination of wells and other bodies of water. On Monday we talked about lab and how wells and aquifers contaminated, they get contaminated by several ways. Today we talked about what is in the contaminated water and wells such as mercury, DDT, TCE, and PCB’s. They can kill you and give you serious diseases that in turn can kill you.

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  11. Learning how scientists and environmentalist figure out how wells and streams are polluted is interesting. Especially when the water changes colors. This weeks lab was pretty fun, but I think it could have been a little more interesting.

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  12. when I found out that water has anything that gets flushed, dumped I sick and did not wanted to think about it. some of the organic compounds are Acolein, Benzene, phenol, and Touene. useing dry cleaners and in manufacturing is one examal that is toxis for us and anials. when a toic kills you,makes you sick is a way that you have too much of it.

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  13. This week in class we learned about aquifiers and how they can get contaminated. In lab we had to be detectives and test well water and draw a plaume of Fruitvalle. We learned that pretty much anything that is on the ground gets in to our water. One fact we also learned is that the water that we drink has already been consumed four time. Thats Gross!

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  14. A Civil Action is about Jan Schlichtmann,a lawyer. He is addressed by a group of eight families. These families children have died form leukemia. When investigating the case, he finds a major environmental issue that has a lot of damage potential. A leather production company could be responsible for several deadly cases of leukemia, but also is the main employer for the area. Schlichtmann sets out to have the company forced to decontaminate the affected areas, ans sued for major damages.

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  15. what i learned this weak about contamination is that if the contamination ppb is 1 or higher the water is contaminated. ways you know it is contaminated is if the water as a bad smell or taste it is not good. if it destroys equatic life it is contaminated to high. and if you can see anything it would be bad. lastly i learned if the ppb is 5 you can actually have it.

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  16. Erin Brockovich:
    This movie is about an unemployed single mother of three desperate for a job. While looking for a job, she talked her way into a very small law firm. She ended up with a case for a family in California. The case was, that the water board was using a dangerous chemical to clean the holding tanks that leaked into the groundwater, (aquifers). The chemical was known to cause many types of cancer. She persuaded her boss to take the case, which he ended up doing. He told her to investigate. When she did, she found dead animals in the tanks, took water samples, and collected testimonials from the residents of Hinkley. After they had enough evidence, they brought on another law firm to help them out with the case, taking on the water corporation. They did not go to trial, but went to arbitration, a judge decided, not a jury. He found in favor of prosecutor due to a key peice of evidence that she was given. The judge fined the corporation for $335,000,000, which was the largest settlement of its kind at that time. Though she was successful in her case, she went through many tough times, including her personal life.

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  17. I learned about how aquifer can be contaminated by TCE, DDT and other harmful chemicals. If the PPB is above 4 it is harmful to humans.TCE can desolve more substances than water but water desolves TCE.

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  18. A civil action
    Toxins in the city of Woburn, Massachusetts contaminate the area's water supply, and cause a number of deaths of children in the town. Jan and his lawyers take on the duty to sue those responsible for the contamination. Jan finds a major environmental issue that has a lot of impact. A tannery production company may be responsible for several cases of leukemia, but also employs most of the town. Jan decides to go forward against two giant companies with links to the tannery thinking it will make him lots of money. Jan represents families who want a clean-up of the contaminated area and an apology. The lawyers of the leather company's parent company are not easy to scare, a judge rules against him. Jan does not accept settlement offers believing that the case is not just about the money. He decides that he must win. Jan has to accept a settlement. The Environmental Protection Agency later files a law suit against the company and they're forced to pay millions to clean up the groundwater.

    Erin Brockovich
    Erin is an unemployed single mother and is looking for a job. She files a lawsuit against a doctor in a car accident she was in but loses. She gets her lawyer to give her a job. No one takes her seriously, with her trashy clothes that soon changes when she begins to investigate a real estate case involving a gas and electric Company. She discovers is that the company is trying to buy land that was contaminated by deadly toxic waste that the company is improperly and illegally dumping and poisoning the residents in the area. Erin involves her law firm in one of the biggest lawsuits in American history against a company.

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  19. This week in lab I learned how aquifers can be contaminated and then the contamination spreads and can make a city water source contaminated. The reason this happens is because there was improper disposal of a substance. In an aquifer the water will flow in any direction and keep on contaminating what is passes through. There is a safe amount of contamination but passed that point there are dangerous consequences that can affect your health. So to prevent this we need to take better care of the environment.

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  20. This week in lab I learned about how we can test wells. Testing wells is how you can find where the source of a contamination can be found. Contamination can spread through an entire region; but if there is an aquitard in the way it can stop the spread. An aquitard is usually be made of clay so the water can barely seep through. The unused land that was filled with trash was the source of the contamination. The unused land was by a river so all the trash went down stream. However, the stream dried up revealing the trash. What surprised me the most was that the Eden Agricultural Chemical Company cleaned up well after themselves and therefore had the least amount of contamination.

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  21. A Civil Action is a movie set in Massachusetts where people kept getting seriously sick and dying because of wells that were contaminated. People thought that this was to blame for the deaths of children with lukemia. The main idea as to where the pollution was coming from was factories, W.R. Grace and Beatrice Foods Inc. The townspeople hired Jan Schlichtmann, a lawyer. They fought in court again the companies for an entire summer before one of the companies got caught. The company filed an appeal, but that didn't change anything. The EPA made the water to be cleaned up with the financial help of the companies and the group of families of the sick kids won.

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  22. well i have learned that all water isn't clean and you would ahve to check water to see if its ok and sorta clean. also contamination can spread threw the region but if there is an aquitard can stop the contamination from sreading everywhere.

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  23. this week in science we learned how polution moves through aquifers and how all watr is truly poluted the only difrence is how concentraited it is.

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  24. Well today we performed a lab about how the pollution will never go away no matter how many times you dilute it. During lab this week we also talked about Fruitvale and how it had its polluted and how to draw plumes, i thought this lab was really helpful because now I feel like i really understand aquitards and aquifers, and we also learned about the different ranges between the well water. This really teaches us we need to watch out for our water

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  25. In the movie A Civil Action a town in Boston becomes contaminated since a factory up the river just dumps their toxic waste into the river instead of properly desposing of the waste. John Travoltas character is laywer that is trying to help the town win the case after he makes a trip to the factory to see that they are infact dumping, giving him solid evidence.

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  26. This week in class we learned about water pollution. We learned about different types of contaminates like TCE, PBC, DDT, and mercury. We learned the affects it has on people if they inhale or consume it. TCE causes dizziness and nausea if consumed. In lab we learned about wells and plumes. Also we learned about how water can become contaminated and you can never fully dilute that substance once dissolved in the water.

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  27. A Civil Action:

    A man named Jan Schlichtmann is a lawyer who represents a group of families and investigates an environmental issue that could have an exceedingly devastating impact.
    A leather production company could be sued for a large sum because of several deaths resulting in leukemia. This company may have dumped toxic wastes into the water supply in Woburn, Massachusetts. Although this leather production company is a main employer in this city, this company may have to clean out the water supply which could be costly. The company may also have to give large amounts of money to the families who lost loved ones due to the contaminated water supply which resulted from the dumping of toxic wastes.
    What will the verdict be? Watch A Civil Action and find out.

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  28. This week in science we learned how to tell if an aquifer is contaminated and how to find the source. With a river you just go up the river until you find live animals and plants. With an aquifer you have to go around and test all of the different water samples that might be contaminated. You keep doing that until you find where the water is most contaminated and where it isn't. So you keep testing the water in a strategic manner until you find the source. When the source is found you then get rid of what is contaminating the water and stop the contamination from spreading.

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  29. Erin Brockovich is about an unemployed single mother in need of a job. She got a job with a law firm. She ended up with a case for a family in California. The case was, that the water board was using a dangerous chemical to clean the holding tank for the water. The chemical was known to cause many types of cancer. She found dead animals in the tanks, took water samples, and collected testimonials from the residents. After they had enough evidence, they brought on another law firm to help them out with the case, taking on the water corporation. They did not go to trial, but went to arbitration, a judge decided, not a jury. He found in favor of prosecutor due to a key peice of evidence that she was given. The judge fined the corporation for $335,000,000.

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  30. A Civil Action

    Jan Schlichtmann is a personal injury lawyer and he was contacted by eight families whom had lost their children to leukemia. They believe this was because their water was contaminated. The company being accused of contaminating their water was powerful and was the employer of most of the families in the area where the children died. The workers weren’t very cooperative because they didn’t want to loose their jobs. The movie is about the struggle it took for Jan and his three other colleagues to compete against the powerful company. In the end the EPA became involved and the families won their case. This movie was based on a true story.

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  31. This week in science class we learned about aquifers. More importantly we learned how we can test wells strategically to find the source of polution in a certain area. Also we learned about four different types of chemicals,TCE,PCB,DDT, and Mercury, that are used in our water which can cause cancer, birth defects, and even cause internal organs to fail. The last thing we learned about this week was parts per million. I learned that if there is a polutant in the water you can't just add more water to get rid of it that only makes the water have less polution in each ppm or ppb.

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  32. This week we focused on the pollution of the water wells in the town of Fruitvale. On Monday, we went over the pre- lab and learned how to draw a plume, which is the shape and size of a contaminated auqifer. In lab we tested 12 wells and tryed to find all the contamineted areas as well as the source of the contamination. On Friday, we did the Parts Per Million worksheet with food coloring to show how water can be transferred and cleaned but never fully diluted. I had seen Erin Brockovich before but I coundn't exactly remember the story line. My parents had seen Civil Action as well, but we didn't own either. We tried to get the movies from the library down the street, and we called a few different Blockbusters. My stepmom even ordered Netflix last night so we could watch it but then there was problems with our computer. I still plan on watching both, but it just ened up being easier typing a five minute blog then doing everything we could do to watch a two hour movie, and still end up only typing a five minute blog.

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  33. this week, we learned about water contamination and pollution. the Fruitvale lab showed that groundwater pollution is much more difficult to detect than surface water. we also saw how easily a plume (contaminated aquifer) can spread

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  34. This week we learned about the contents of our water and we also tested water for contamination. There are potentially fatal chemicals in our food and water. Chemicals such as Mercury, TCE, DDT, and PCB can be found in the food we eat and the water we drink. We learned the amount of the chemicals that is considered “safe” and we learned about cases where the amount consumed was much higher than the safe amount. When we tested the water, we learned how to find a source of contamination, find the path of a contaminant and how to draw a plume.

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  35. Over the weekend I watched the movie Civil Action which is about this man named Jan Schlichitmann who is a personal injury lawyer who was contacted by several families in a small town with stories of how they had lost their kids due to leukemia. The families believed that their kids died to contaminated water whis was believed to be polluted by a big manufacturing industry which was opperated by the river. By the end of the movie the EPA gets involved and test the water for contanimants in the water. At the end of the movie the families won the case and sued the manufacturing company for polluting the water.

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  36. We talked about aquifers and how they get contaminated. One way to tell is if there is a mine or something like it that is in the ground at the same level. In calss we talked about a uranium contamination. We had to find the plume in witch all the contaminated wells were placed. We also learned about the safe amounts of random chemicals that is aloud to be in our food and water.

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  37. This week I learned about contamination in our water. I thought is was interesting how a lot of the food we eat contains mercury because our water has mercury in it. That mercury is then transfered into the food we eat because we use water in most of our food. I also learned that there is only a certain amount of chmicals that are allowed to be in our water and can still be considered safe. Although that may be true, the safe amount can be as small as 5 parts per billion. Above that can be dangerous, maybe even deadly.

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  38. This week in science we learned how to tell if an aquifer is contaminated and how to find the source. I thought this week went really well because my plume was correct and it was easy to understand. Another thing that we learned about was PPH PPT PPM PPB ect. and if they were safe amounts to consume.

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  39. I had no idea that an aquafer could be so oddly shaped. I never thought about were the water comes from when I turn the water fountain on. But this weeks study showed me how important it really is, even though it's as easy as pulling a lever to get water. I also realized that we are lucky to have water safe to drink. even though the slightest ammount of an impurity can poison an entire water suppy for a whole city. I guess we need to stop and think about the little luxurys in life..

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  40. This week we learned about how all water is contaimenated it is just a question of is it to contaimenated to drink. We learned that there are many different contaimenents in all our foods that in the wrong doses can kill or cause harm to people, animals, or the enviornment. We learned how to make a contamenation plume and how to test wells to find the plume. Finally we learned about how people can dump almost anything into rivers it just depends on the time and quantity of the dumping. This also makes it so rivers can catch on fire quite easy.

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  41. This week i learned that even the purified water and bottled water that we drink everday is still not clean. And depending on the type of water,anyone could die by the next bottle of water they drink. And in class on friday we did an experiment on how to dialate the water, but by the end of the dilation there is still pollution.

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  42. In class this week we learned about contaminants in our water. These contaminants such as Mercury, or DDT are very dangerous and are commonly found in people's water. There are still contaminants in the water we consume, just not as much. People who work at water treatment plants are always dialating the water we drink. Purifying it, and getting rid of most of what these harmful substances we drink.

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  43. This week i watched both movies. Although they were both interesting and had to do with science, i liked Civil Action better because of its story line. There were parts of it that were boring, but it all had to do with the towns water being contaminated, just like Mr. Boyce's story.

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  44. This week we learned about aquifers being contaminated. They are very easily contaminated because water can dissolve a lot of things and when they get mixed into the water it sometimes makes the water dangerous to drink. They can also have very odd shapes as well because of things like clay in the ground. Also, if there is even a little bit of contaminant, it doesn't go away, more water can be added to try and soften it but it will still be there.

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  45. This week I learned that an aquifer is not always a perfect circle and I know why they are shaped the way they are. The reason they are shaped like that is because of aquitards. An aquitard is a subsance that stops the underground water from flowing straight down. An example of and aquitard is clay.

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  46. This week in and class we learned about how water is the "universal solvent", because of this it is so easy for our water to get contaminated. We also learned that the tiniest pollution in our water can be toxic. In lab this week we learned how to find the area of a plum or the area of contaminated water.

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  47. this week i learned about contaminated water and how water can be contaminated with pesitcides and chemicals. i also learned that even though there is only one part per billion of a chemical in water that it can still contaminate all the water enough to be bad for your health.

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  48. In the the story Erin Brockovich is based on a true story she brought a small town to its feet by her atatue and what she did for others. A young mother who fouht for justice any way she knew how. She convinces attorney to hire her because she was desperate for a job to support herself and her three childrend. seh detrmined to take on a powerful adversary even though no law firm has dared to do it before ED doesn't want any thing to do with the case, Erin won't take no for an answer.

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  49. This week we learned about pollutants of water. Factories have been polluting water by dumping their wastes into and near water sources. This causes the water to be polluted and causes people to be sick with things like cancer. People can die from the contamination.

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  50. This wek we learned about polutants of water. And the appropriate amount of a certain type of pollutant that is safe in water. We also learned that it is LEGAL to polute lakes with factory contaminants. i think thats crazy, we are runing the world by doing that.

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  51. This week I learned that aquifers can be contaminated. Aquifers can be contaminated in so many ways. In lab we tested many wells to find out which ones were contaminated. This helped me realize how it is in real life when scientists need to figure out what is contaminated and what is not.

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  52. Over the weekend I watched the movie Erin Brockovich witch is about a single unemployed mom who is extremely smart but has no education. She gets a job as a assistant to a lawyer in a small law firm. She finds this case where people are dying from cancer. She goes to investigate the problem and finds out that the company Hinkley Compressor Station that delivers gas was part of the problem because the were toxicating the under ground water that was getting into the peoples wells. Also they where dumping toxins into the water or ponds and they literally where green and gross.

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  53. This week we learned about aquafer's, ppm & ppb, and water pollution. aquafers are underground resovoirs of which wells are dug into. (as opposed to aquatards, which are the "walls" of said aquafers, made of water resistant stone.)

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  54. Civil Action is about a law firm that is investigating a leather company and the effects of their dumping. At the beginning of the movie Jan is a careless man who is just a lawyer for the money. When he gets a call from eight families who all lost their kids to leukemia he starts to get into his case. The leather company was dumping chemicals like TCE into pits and into the river and it would contaminate peoples wells. Jan loses everything for the case and gets little in return. The EPA then gets involved and gets justice for the families who lost their children.

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  55. This week, I learned that although most water is drinkable, it is not 100% pure. Things like DDT, Mercury, or PCB will always contaminate the water supply in the world. Now, whether its drinkable or unsafe is based on a measurement of Parts per million, billion, or trillion. Usually the safe level to drink water with contaminants is around 5 or less ppb, which is pretty diluted when we are talking about gallons and gallons of water. Also, we talked about how nothing is completely safe to eat or drink due to the contaminants in the water that we drink or that waters crops. It made me really think about what I put into my body, and it made me think of ways to try to consider eating more of what's good and less or what's bad, even though it will never be completely clean.

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  56. Erin Brockovich is about an unemployed single mother who brings a huge company to its knees. It all starts when she gets hit by a car and got a lawyer who didn't win her case so she demanded a job at the firm which he owns in order to support her kids. She is assigned some work on a real estate file, and she is confused on why medical information is included in the file, so she further investigates. After some investigation in the town and with the family in question she finds out there is chromium in the water. The plant in this town told them that chromium is good for them when really the amount of chromium in their groundwater and wells is poisenous. so she gathers up all the information needed and with the lawyer they take it to the next level and once they get all the information and evidence they need they take it to court and the judge decides that the company needs to pay a total of $333 million dollars to all the sick people for causing them medicals bills with the contaminated water.

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  57. The most interesting thing I found this week was the EPA allowed amounts of contaminates that are allowed in the water. I was especially surprised about the amounts of mercury in common products. I also realized on how many things can be in our water without realizing it, it shows that the human body can withstand many things.

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  58. This week we did the Fruitvale lab and learned about contaminants in our water. We also learned how to draw plumes. After doing this lab, I understood why they are shaped so differently, because of the soil. I really enjoyed our discussion in class on Wednesday. It was really interesting, and a little scary. But it was very informative. On Friday we did the parts per billion worksheet and discussed diluting the water.

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  59. This week during the Fruitvale lab i learned that if there is a contaminant in a stream then you have to look further up stream to find the source but dont go to far becasu ethen you will be testing clean water. Then in our in class lab i learned that you will have to go through many steps to get the water to be clean enough to drink. No water is not contaminated, they all have ccontaminants in them but there is a safe amount and a none safe amount that you are looking for.

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  61. A Civil Action:
    Jan Schlichtmann, an accomplished lawyer, takes cases that are only obviously in winning favor of his side. A small town called Woburn, Massachusetts has experienced problems with kids getting leukemia. Jan, investigates and finds that a leather production company uses TCE, a harmful chemical that can cause cancer if exposed to in large amounts. Jan tries to prove that the leather company wasn't disposing of the chemicals properly. As Jan investigates he finds himself getting into an unsettling difficult case in which he is spending a lot of money. Jan falls in love with the city and the people and promises them that he will win and get them some money. Jan looses the case and all his money and dignity. In the end, he sends the remaining evidence to the EPA.


    Erin Brockovich:
    Erin Brockovich, a single mom with three kids, is trying to find a job to pay off her increasing debts. Erin is hit by a doctor and finds herself a lawyer to sue. She doesn't get any money and is still out of work. Erin goes back to the lawyer’s office and demands a job. As Erin is filing cases she finds something weird about Hinkley, a small town near Pacific Gas & Electric Company, that the residents are having fatal medical problems. Erin, becoming more and more attached to the residents of Hinkley, takes evidence to her boss and asks him to try to sue this corporation. She finds out that a man that worked for Pacific Gas & Electric Company was told to destroy documents containing information about hexavalent chromium, a deadly chemical. This company is trying to buy houses that their water might be contaminated by hexavalent chromium. As the case unfolds, Erin demands respect from multiple lawyers who think she is worthless. Because of Erin, they win the case and the citizens of the town are granted 333 million dollars.

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  62. We learned about aquifers and porosity is. WE also learned about plumes and contamination in water. I also learned how the most common way that a place is pollutes is if it has a river because that gets contaminated and then your screwed.

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  63. In class this week we learned a lot about why Mr. Boyce is a vegetarian and why Kurtis didn’t get why Mr. Boyce is and why he has horses and cows and doesn’t eat them. We did a lab that involved PPH-PPT-PPM-PPB and PPTrillions, we took red water and kept moving it in to new water sources and each time the water would get less polluted.

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  64. In a movie Civil Action water in woborn becomes conaminated becaus eof a facotor called J Riley. Its a leathering company. Jan the main character is a lawyer and trys and trys to get this cased solved for these people and this town.

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  65. In the movie "A Civil action" they investigate a problem with the town of woborn's water wells because they are being contaminated. A few people got leukemia and they finally found out that there was TCE in the water and was hurting people who drank the water. They also had a whole law suit against the leather company who was contaminating the water.

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  66. I enjoyed learning about how the different contaminants in our water. It was very interesting to learn that no water is ever pure, and that there is always something in it. I don't see why the government continues to allow companies to dump their waste water in places where our drinking water comes from.

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  67. This week i learned how to test water to find out if it is polluted with chemicals. i also learned what a plum is. A plum is something that shows you what part of the map is polluted. i also learned that when you are trying to find out where the pollution started you look up stream to find out where it started.

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  68. This week in science we did an examination of well water from different wells to create a plume of the contaminated wells. We also learned about parts per hundred, thousand, million, billion and trillion.

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  69. Erin Brockovich is a true story about a woman who has no training or experience, but gets a job at a law firm. There is a case that is brought up about people from a town called Hinkley where people were rapidly dying. These people were dying because the water in there town was dirty because a chemical company dropped toxins in their water. She single handedly brought down this company and restored security to this small town.

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  70. Some stuff that i thought was really cool in lab this week was, that when water gets contaminated it does not always affect all the "wells" around it. i am still kind of confused about this because it seems like the leak would spread out. could anyone help clear this up for me?>

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  71. Erin Brokovich is an unemployed single mother who is having no luck in her search for a job. Her unluckiness end in a failed lawsuit against her after she was in a car crash, but she persuades her lawyer to get her job. Her trashy clothing and fowl mouth changes as she begins an investigation on the Pacific Gas and Electric Company, which is trying to buy land that they illegally contaminated by dumping hexavalent chromium into. This is a deadly toxic waste that they end up poisoning local residents with. As Erin digs deeper into the investigation, she quickly find out that her law firm is about to be involved in one of the biggest class action lawsuits in American history.

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  72. Erin Brockavitch;
    A single mom is trying to work to support her kids. She becomes a reacher for a law firm and is assigned a case in which in a small town the underground water is contaminated by the operations of a large corperation and people are dying. She successfully finds evidence and helps her office win the largest class action suit ever awarded. Erin ends up to be a valued worker in her law firm and helps solve cases today.

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  73. This week i learned how to test water to find out if it is polluted with chemicals.We also learned how a plume is related to an aquifer. A plume is the contaminated part of an aquifer.

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  74. This week we learned even more about aquifers and how to test for contamination. During lab, we had to predict which wells we should test for and the reasoning behind it. We also learned why some wells will lead contamination into them and other wells will not, which is because of aquitards. Also, no matter how many times you may filter through water to release all contamination, there will always be a little even though the water may look clean.

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  75. Erin Brockovich is about a mom who has three kids and gets a job at a law firm even though she has no experience. Erin gets involved in a case involving a town named Hinkley, California. This town has hundreds of families who lived or used to live near the local power plant. They had multiple medical problems because of a toxin in their water. PG and E was responsible for the toxins in the water and the movie tells the story in how she brought down PG and E and made them pay a total of 333 million dollars to the families who got sick. The movie is based on a true story.

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  76. Lexi Mercier Per1
    This week in science one thing we learned was energy and the hydrosphere. When talking about energy and the hydrosphere the terms condensation, percipitaiton, transpiration, and evaporation come to mind. Condensation is when water vapor rises, cools and condenses and then becomes liquid or solid. Percipitation is snow, hail, or rain. Transpiration is when water is coming off plants, and evaporation is when water is heated by the sun then rises to the atmosphere.

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  77. Erin Brockovich-

    Erin Brockovich tells the story about a single mother with three young children. She struggles to live her life having the constant uncertainty that she and her kids have a place to live. Through much determination, she gets a job at a local law firm. One afternoon she is filling out law firms and notices information that wouldn’t ordinarily be there- she decides to investigate. Brockovich then becomes entangled in discovering more about a small town of Hinckley. The various and severe medical problems concerning the towns people corresponded with the nearby company, Pacific Gas & Electric Company. In conclusion, there was an abundant and dangerous amount of hexavalent chromium in the water supply as a result of insufficient construction and planning for the holding ponds. Erin fights to win a lawsuit against PG&E for the suffering of the towns’ people- PG&E granted the towns people of Hinckley 333 million dollars.

    A Civil Action-

    A Civil Action is the story about a well renowned lawyer, Jan Schlichtmann, and his struggle to discover an end to the unhealthy distribution of TCE into the water supply in the town of Woburn, Massachusetts. The residents of Woburn, as a result of TCE from a leather making factory, developed leukemia. Schlichtmann's extreme involvement in this case resulted in a mass amount of money lost. He then resigns his investigation and the EPA fixed the water problem and the families with leukemia won their case against the leather making company.

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  78. This week we learned more about aquifers. We learned how to find the plume of contamination. The plume is all the area where the water has been highly contaminated. All water is somewhat contaminated, but the plume only contains the hazardous contaminated water.

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  79. Civil Action:
    a civil action was about a law firm that decides to take a case about kids dying from lukemia in Woburn, for the money. But they discover that two main companies have been dumping TCE illegally outback, and that waste was causing the sickness, and they lose the case, but later after going bankrupt find evidence, and send it to the EPA, who continue to prosecute the companies and get their compensation.

    Erin Brokovich:
    Erin Brokovich was about a lady named erin who at first met a law firm from getting hit by a car and he covered her case. The firm gave her a job and she started to go through the records, and looked at hinkley California, where people were having numerous medical problems. SHe found that the problem came from a chemical plant that was using Hexavalent chromasome, a dangerous chemical, and told the residents of hinkley that it was good for them. She and the firm continued the case and they got 333 million, which was divided among the residents of Hinkley and the firm, and of course she was also compensated for her troubles.

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  80. Erin Brockovitch-
    about a mother who got in a car wreck and fails on sueing. so she asks her lawer to give her a job. then she leads a investigation on a Pacific gas and electric company that has been dumping waste illigaly and makeing everyone sick.

    A Civil Action-
    about a lether company who has desposed of waste illigaly and has contaminated the water cause 8 kids to die. and the lawer jan risks his job to represent the families.

    this week we did some vocab, went over the lab, did the fruitvil prelab, and did an experiment. it all made sense

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  81. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  82. After learning about plumes and contaminated water this week in class, I watched the two movies Erin Brokovitch and A Civil Action this weekend. They helped relate what we learned in class to what happens in the real world, because both of these movies were based off of true stories.

    Erin Brokovitch was about Erin, a single woman with three children in California who did a lot of research about water contamination. At the beginning of the movie, she is trying to find work and after going to court about a car accident gets herself a job at a local law firm. She is given a case about a family in Hinkley, California. The family had suffered many illnesses previously and Erin goes to investigate further. She finds that there are different forms of hexavalent chronium and that hexavalent chronium six is very dangerous and causes all of the illnesses that the Jensens and the people in her neighborhood had been experiencing. The pollution is because of the PG&E and after working very hard she proves her case that the hexavalent chromium was the source of the contaminated water and gets the people their money back.

    A Civil Action is about a lawyer, Jan Schlichtmann also confronting a case of contaminated water. Many children in the Woburn community had suffered and died of Leukemia, and Jan is trying to prove that the cause of the Leukemia is the highly contaminated water in Woburn from TCE. He and his partners try very hard on the case and Jan mortgages his home, loses all of his money, and loses the case. At the end of the movie he gets the evidence that he needed that John Riley had dumped TCE and contaminated the water. He sends his information to the EPA. Later, John Riley's tannery is torn down, W.R. Grace goes to the Grand Jury, and the companies pay money.

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  83. This week we learned about how aquifers can be contaminated and how they effect the entire community's water supply. We then found the source of the contamination and drew a circle around the area of contamination in the Fruitvale lab.

    Erin Brokovich is about a single mother who works in a law clerk's office and comes across a case of the town of Hinkley's water supply being contaminated and the CEOs of PG&E who is the company responsible for the contamination covering it up to avoid legal trouble. The contamination of the water threatens the health of the entire community. Brokovich researches the contamination further and talks to the people the contamination has already effected fighting hard to bring the PG&E to a conviction. She later meets a man who says he destroyed evidence of PG&E contaminating the water of Hinkley but didn't do anything about it in 1966. The evidence is ruled relevent by the judge and PG&E is ordered to pay $333 million to compensate for the 634 people the poisoned water has effected.

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  84. This week we learned about how cantaminations can spread and how they can affect aquifers. We also learned that there are a lot of bad chemicals in the things we eat.

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  85. this week we learned about aquifers, and how they can be contaminated. aquifers are a place where water is stored underground. the larger the spaces inbetween rocks, the more water it can hold.



    erin brokovich is about a woman who works the hinkley water supply case. the water supply is contaminated, but the PG&E company who caused it is tryin to cover their tracks so they dont get in trouble. she goes around town talking to people with contaminated water already. when they go to court, the man who admitted to destroying evidence hlped bring the company down. they were ordered to pay over 300 million dollars to pay back over 630 people effected by the contamination.


    a civil action is about jan Schlichtmann who is working a case about a water contamination. due to the contamination, children have been getting sick or even dying from Leukemia. jan is trying to figure out why the kids in woburn are catching the diesease. jan thinks it is from a high level of TCE in the water. jan loses everything including the case. but at the end he finds all the evidence he needs. jan finds out that John Riley had dumped TCE and contaminated the water.

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  86. This week we learned how aquifers can be contaminated. We also learned the effects it has on the surrounding areas and people. The area where the contaminated water is is called a plume.

    Erin Brockovich is an unemployed single mother who wants a job but is having no luck. She gets a job in a law office. She is given a real estate case with the Pacific Gas and Electric Company. she finds thatthe company is trying to buy land that was contaminated by a deadly toxic waste that the company is illegally dumping and,poisoning the civilians around the area. She meets a man who says he got rid of the evidence that the company did contaminate the water but nothing happened about it in 1966. The man who said he had got rid of the evidence earlier ends up helping tear the company apart in court and the company was forced to pay $333 million for the 634 people the contaminated water had effected.

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  87. This week we learned about contaminets. I thought this was absolutely disgusting to know all the chemicals we put in to our bodies on a daily basis. This was cool to learn about because it was applicable to real life.

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  88. This week I learned about caontaminents in the water. All over the world, our water is polluted, which can really causea problem with health. ASlo Ilearned about Fruitvale and plumes, which is the area of contamination.

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  89. I learned that there is a very limited amount of clean freshwater that is available to humans. Aquifers can become contaminated by anything and that can be very dangerous because it is very difficult to remove the contaminant. Even small amounts of a contaminant can be harmful. I learned about parts per million, billion, and trillion, and what their significance is to contamination.

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  90. On friday we did a short lab on diluting water, and then revised our labs and finished them. We learned about the plumes, and that even if you dilute water, the germ will always be there.

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  91. Erin Brockovich is about a single mom who has a job as a legal assistant. One day while organizing paperwork, she finds medical record on PG&E who was responsible for chromium contamination on land purchased by their company. This chemical is poisoning local residents, so Erin wants to persue legal percedings but knows that her firm is too small. However, she manages to get her boss to take on this case. Together they helped in getting the court to fine PG&G, and they money went to those who were effected by the contanimation.

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  92. Last week we did a lab about a made up town, Fruitvale. We learned about water contaminants and investigated where the source of the contamination was and where it spread to. We drew a plume of where the contamination is.

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  93. Last week in lab we learned about contaminants. And friday, we learned that no matter how much you dillute a contaminant, it will always be there.

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  94. This week in class we learned about how contaminants can get into aquifers that we take our drinking water from. Durring class this week we saw how no matter how much we deluted the contaminents, they were still there.

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  95. This week during class we laerned alot about aquifers. We did the fruitvale lab and that helped me understand the definition of plume, which is the size and shape of a contaminated aquifer. The lab also helped me learn alot about water tables, zone of saturation, zone of aeration, and infiltration.

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  96. this week we learned about aqwafers and plumns. when a contaminet like 19ppm gets into a water scorce we must dilute it or track the plumn and not allow the consumption of the water. We also learned about some harmfull things that get into aqwafers.

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  97. We learned that aquifers can be contaminated.
    I thought the inserting part was that most of the contaminating comes form us and out waste and pollution.

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  98. This week in science we were doing experiments to see if a well was contaminated or not. We had to figure out which numbers were contaminated but out of the 40 we only got 12 so it was basically like a guessing game. Just like in the game battleship we had to guess which numbers were and werent contaminated. Once we did this we made a plume of which ones were highly contaminated. Then friday we did an experiment to see if you can dilute a solution and get rid of it. We found out that you can not dilute a solution and get rid of the solution.

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  99. i learned more about aquifers and i also learned about plums. I found it funa nd intresting to do the lab and mess around trying to find where the contaminated water came from in fruitsvale.

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  100. This week we learned how water easily absorbs different elements and can be contaminated in various ways. Water is known as the universal solvent, it has the ability to dissolve everything it comes into contact with. In lab we learned how to find the source of contamination with wells. Scientist has to choose only a few of the many places to test to see if it is contaminated. When searching they develop a plume. A plume describes the area of contamination.

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  101. This week we extended our talk about aquifers and plumes. In lab we had to fine the water well that was polluted by taking well water and then placing a drop of watery substance and if the water change a curtain color then it was either polluted or not polluted. We also learned about how to draw good plumes.

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  102. This week we learned about aquifer contamination. we also did lab on testing the wells which helped me understand more about plumes.In the lab we investigated where the contamination was and what we can do to remove it. We also drew a plume of where the contamination was.

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  103. these week i learned that water is able to absorb a lot of things icluding things that are not good for the water. i also learned that a plume is the area where the contamination is.

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  104. This week we learned about plumes and aquifer contamination. a plume is the area unders ground in aquifers that is contaminated. we also learned abou ppb ppm ppt.

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  105. In class this week we basicly learned about aquifers. We learned about how we can find them and how they get contaminated. Water is very easy to polute and we saw that in our lab this week. We learned about ppb ppm ppt and what all of thoughs ment. We learned how much is to much for us not to drink the water. This is crutial for us in the real world to keep our water clean. Aquafart

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  106. Today in class we learned about how aquifers can be contaminated. They can be contaminated easily if there is an aquifer, of lets say uranium, and it is the same level as the aquifer. To figure out why it is like that is a challenge. You have to find the source and then the plume. You have to drill several wells to find what the shape might look like. Then you can try to stop it

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  107. this week we learned about how an aquifer can only have a certain ammount of contamination in it before it becomes too ddangerous for our use... it could be deadly.

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  108. I thought this week was very interesting, I liked doing the color dye experiment when we kept adding water. Everything made alot of sence.

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  109. In lab we did and and experiment with CHEMICALS. if the water turned red it was clean if it was greenish blue it was contaminated.

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  110. i learned that you need to check your water if its from a well to make sure that the aqfur is not contamted

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  111. This week we learned about water contamination and how it spreads. We learned about ppb and plumes too.
    Erin Brockovich is about a single mom who has a job as a legal assistant. One day while organizing paperwork, she finds medical record on PG&E who was responsible for chromium contamination on land purchased by their company. This chemical is poisoning local residents, so Erin wants to persue legal percedings but knows that her firm is too small. However, she manages to get her boss to take on this case. Together they helped in getting the court to fine PG&G, and they money went to those who were effected by the contanimation.

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  112. This week in lab i learned about how aquifiers can get contaminated and when they get contaminated can spread very unhealthy and pesticidic things. Aquifiers need to be monitersed and test ed because they can contamiate yur water and get your very sick.

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  113. today i learned that aquifers can be contaminated in several ways that no one would normally know about. Water is the universal solvent there for making it easier to get contaminated

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  114. This week we learned about how aquifers can be contaminated, and water contamination. Also, we learned about how you can never truly get rid of a comtanimant.

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