Was Contamination of Southern California Groundwater By Chlorinated Solvents Foreseen?

Lyne and McLachlan (1949): Influence of the First Publication on Groundwater Contamination by Trichloroethene

“…This conclusion appears to be true at local, national, and international levels. Although, as Amter and Ross (2001) indicate, none would doubt that Lyne and McLachlan were themselves aware that TCE could contaminate groundwater, their message was never disseminated to or acted on by a wider audience in the scientific, engineering, or regulatory communities. In fact, it remains unknown as to whether the potential prescience of their early work was ever really apparent to Lyne and McLachlan themselves.…”

“…Development of the solvents-in-groundwater recognition in North America has been reviewed by many others, including , Jackson (2004 and2003), and Amter and Ross (2001). Although Stanley and Eliassen (1961) cited Lyne and McLachlan (1949), this citation appears to have had no influence on stimulating the general recognition of the solventsin-groundwater problems in the U.S. that occurred much later during the late 1970s to early 1980s.…”

“…Recent citations to Lyne and McLachlan include the following: Travis (1998), Colten (1998), Jackson (1999Jackson ( , 2003Jackson ( , and 2004, Amter and Ross (2001), and Shifrin (2005). These authors made reference to the paper's factual content within their discussions on development of groundwater contamination awareness, principally in North America.…”

“…Although Stanley and Eliassen (1961) cited Lyne and McLachlan (1949), this citation appears to have had no influence on stimulating the general recognition of the solventsin-groundwater problems in the U.S. that occurred much later during the late 1970s to early 1980s. Although it is argued that recognition of solvent groundwater contamination as a potential issue was, or should have been, foreseen much earlier than the mid-1970s, even dating to the 1940 to 1950s, (Amter and Ross, 2001;Travis, 1998), there are almost no publications that confirm either investigations or solvent concentrations detected in groundwater in the U.S. before 1975. Exceptions to this finding are reports in a U.S. Public Health Service symposium in 1961 (Middleton and Walton 1961;Miller 1961).…”

“…Although several North American authors have recently cited Lyne and McLachlan (1949) in their discussions on the foreseeability of the solvents-in-groundwater problem (Colten, 1998, Jackson, 1999, and Amter and Ross, 2001, none have rigorously investigated the article's origin and influence. Travis (1998), based in Israel, noted the early work of Lyne and McLachlan and stated that "their conclusions, as public analysts, were certainly worthy of more than passing notice, particularly since they drew attention to the threat to human health."…”