ID :
186843
Tue, 06/07/2011 - 07:18
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https://oananews.org//node/186843
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2,000 tons of contaminated water removed from areas near U.S. bases in capital
SEOUL (Yonhap) - The Seoul Metropolitan Government has removed some 2,000 tons of oil-contaminated water in areas near two U.S. military bases in the capital, city officials said Tuesday amid growing public anxiety over the alleged burial of the toxic chemical Agent Orange inside a U.S. army camp in a southeastern region.
Some 128 liters of floating oil and 1,870 tons of polluted underground water have been extracted from areas near Yongsan Garrison, the main U.S. military headquarters in central Seoul, since 2001, the municipal government said.
In areas around Camp Kim, adjacent to Yongsan Garrison, the government has pumped out about 440 liters of oil and 100 tons of contaminated underground water since 2008, it said.
The total amount of oil and contaminated underground water removed from areas near the two U.S. bases reached 568 liters and 1,970 tons, respectively, it added.
There are a total of 12 U.S. military installations in the capital.
It also said some 11,776 square meters of soil near Yongsan Garrison and 459 square meters of land around Camp Kim were polluted by oil suspected of having leaked from the bases in 2001 and 2006, respectively.
As for the oil leakage from Yongsan Garrison, the U.S. military said that it has completed a purification project in 2006. But contaminated underground water has been continuously found near the base.
"There were pollutants such as benzene, toluene and xylene in the underground water," said a city official. "We see that these chemicals remaining in the U.S. army base have been spreading to the nearby regions by rainwater."
The city government said it will funnel some 250 million won (US$231,000) this year into a project to purify contaminated soil around the two army bases.
"We will dig underground water wells around U.S. bases to extract polluted water," said an official from the municipal government. "We will focus on preventing the contaminated water from flowing into the Han River."
South Korea and the U.S. are in the midst of jointly investigating claims by retired American soldiers that in 1978 they helped dump large amounts of the toxic defoliant Agent Orange inside Camp Carroll in Chilgok, 300 kilometers southeast of Seoul.
The claims sparked a series of allegations that the U.S. military had buried chemical materials at its former military bases.
Agent Orange, the toxic defoliant widely used during the Vietnam War, was sprayed by the U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) in the 1960s around the Demilitarized Zone to thwart North Korean infiltrations.
About 28,500 U.S. troops are based in South Korea under a mutual defense treaty signed during the 1950-1953 Korean War.
Some 128 liters of floating oil and 1,870 tons of polluted underground water have been extracted from areas near Yongsan Garrison, the main U.S. military headquarters in central Seoul, since 2001, the municipal government said.
In areas around Camp Kim, adjacent to Yongsan Garrison, the government has pumped out about 440 liters of oil and 100 tons of contaminated underground water since 2008, it said.
The total amount of oil and contaminated underground water removed from areas near the two U.S. bases reached 568 liters and 1,970 tons, respectively, it added.
There are a total of 12 U.S. military installations in the capital.
It also said some 11,776 square meters of soil near Yongsan Garrison and 459 square meters of land around Camp Kim were polluted by oil suspected of having leaked from the bases in 2001 and 2006, respectively.
As for the oil leakage from Yongsan Garrison, the U.S. military said that it has completed a purification project in 2006. But contaminated underground water has been continuously found near the base.
"There were pollutants such as benzene, toluene and xylene in the underground water," said a city official. "We see that these chemicals remaining in the U.S. army base have been spreading to the nearby regions by rainwater."
The city government said it will funnel some 250 million won (US$231,000) this year into a project to purify contaminated soil around the two army bases.
"We will dig underground water wells around U.S. bases to extract polluted water," said an official from the municipal government. "We will focus on preventing the contaminated water from flowing into the Han River."
South Korea and the U.S. are in the midst of jointly investigating claims by retired American soldiers that in 1978 they helped dump large amounts of the toxic defoliant Agent Orange inside Camp Carroll in Chilgok, 300 kilometers southeast of Seoul.
The claims sparked a series of allegations that the U.S. military had buried chemical materials at its former military bases.
Agent Orange, the toxic defoliant widely used during the Vietnam War, was sprayed by the U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) in the 1960s around the Demilitarized Zone to thwart North Korean infiltrations.
About 28,500 U.S. troops are based in South Korea under a mutual defense treaty signed during the 1950-1953 Korean War.
