Chromium-6 (aka hexavalent chromium) lines the cooling towers at Los Alamos National Laboratory in northern New Mexico. For nearly two decades, from 1956 to 1972, the birthplace of the nuclear bomb flushed water from its cooling system ‒ water contaminated by the corrosion-preventing chemical - into Sandia Canyon.
Since then, the runoff has created an underground chromium plume that is a mile long by half a mile wide and 100 feet thick. It's threatening drinking wells, a major aquifer, and the San Ildefonso Pueblo's sacred tribal land, which borders the federal property. The plume was discovered during the installation of a groundwater monitoring well in late 2005, according to Los Alamos.
Scientific research ‒ and the lawsuit against Pacific Gas and Electric, for which Brockovich served as a legal clerk ‒ has shown that drinking water tainted with high levels of chromium-6 is linked to cancer. In 2010, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed classifying the chemical as "likely to be carcinogenic to humans when ingested." It has set a maximum contaminant level for all types of chromium, including the hexavalent variant, at 100 parts per billion.
Comment: The Department of Energy estimates the amount of chromium released between 1956 to 1972 was approximately 159,000 pounds. New wells are estimated to cost $3.5M each amongst 50 archaeological sites.
Comment: Do not be surprised if some of these probable developments occur in quick succession, or even more or less simultaneously. It's a good time now to prepare for them.