Where it all went down:
The stringfellow Acid Pits are located on Pyrite Canyon in Jurupa Valley, California. Jurupa Valley was considered a part of the city of Riverside until around 2011, when Jurupa Valley separated and became its own city. The focus of this study is on the Glen Avon community -- the primary community affected by the toxic chemicals looming in the canyon.
Stringfellow Acid Pits
Glen Avon
Some Demographics:
Median household income: $52,093
Population: 20,199 (2010 census)
Racial demographics: Hispanic (68.2%), White (24.3%), Black (3.6%) Asian(2.2%), Two or more races (1.2%), American Indian (0.3%), Pacific Islander (0.1%), other race (0.1%)
Education: High school or higher (61.2%), Bachelors degree or higher (6.1%)
​Household Value: $292,489
Breaking It Down...
Hispanics make up a great majority of the population, followed by white people whom only makeup about 24%. Statistically the population has a lower educational level than the average in the state of California; along with an approximately $15,000 lower household income, than the average in California.
Personal observations: The population of Jurupa Valley is a working class community. Most of the population has labor-intensive, blue-collar jobs.
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Ok. An under resourced community.
Big deal.
You're right. Lets see why.
The overlap of these factors causes what Robert D. Bullard (Father of Environmental Justice) would refer to as "triple" vulnerability of noxious facility siting (Pay attention, this is important.).
Triple vulnerability is connected to "Geographic Equity" -- Equitable configurations of communities and their proximity to environmental hazards, harmful facilities, and locally unwanted land uses (such as incinerators, waste sites, etc.). Vulnerability factors are important when considering the geographic Equity of a location.
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The fact that the Glen Avon community was exposed to this environmental hazards raises the question of whether their "Geographic Equity" was compromised.
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Without Geographic Equity, a community is at risk of Environmental Injustice -- the inequitable distribution of health hazards.
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Wait. What environmental hazard are we talking about?
Here's a quick rundown of what happened.
Dumping of hazardous waste into the acid pits began in 1956 and continued until Stringfellow (owner) decided to shut down the site in 1972. During this period, approximately 34 million gallons of hazardous wastes (YIKES!) were dumped into the site by more than two hundred parties, including agencies of the federal government.
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But wait, THERE'S MORE!
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March of 1978 severe rain caused officials to call into question whether the dams would resist the large volume of liquid. Fearing a severe disaster they made the executive decision to release approximately 800,000 gallons of the hazardous mixture into Pyrite Creek, which drained into the streets of Glen Avon.
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Routes of Exposure:
Direct routes of exposure are the various ways toxicity can enter the metabolic pathways of the human body. These routes include: inhalation, absorption, ingestion (and injection - which this study will leave out). The problem with the routes of exposure to these hazardous chemicals is that they are often inevitable.
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The Glen Avon community came in direct contact with the contaminated water when it drained into their neighborhood. The water drained directly into a residential neighborhood with Glen Avon Elementary school nearby. School children played with the foaming water because no one knew it was contaminated (unfair? Yes, indeed.).
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