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American Morning

Corps of Engineers Representative Discusses Effort to Clean up 9 Million Sandbags Used to Control Floods

Aired May 07, 2001 - 09:22   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: The thrill is, apparently, gone for the volunteer sandbaggers who have battled Midwest floods: 180 tons of sand were shovelled into more than 9 million bags from Illinois to Minnesota to hold back last month's river surges, but now, officials say, those sandbags are becoming a public health hazard, they smell, and nobody wants even to touch them. The federal government gives local officials a reasonable time to remove the temporary structures, but the problem is in what to do with them.

We have Tim Bertschi on the phone, from Fargo, North Dakota. He's with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Tim, it's not a pretty job.

TIM BERTSCHI, ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS: No, it sure isn't. It's difficult because the volunteers seem to come in droves when the water's rising and communities are threatened, but it's tough to mobilize that same group when the waters are going back down, the sun's out, and folks are starting to starting to take care of their own lives.

PHILLIPS: What kind of health hazards are we talking about with regard to these sandbags?

BERTSCHI: When the water did get high enough to be against those bags for a period of time, there's lot of concern about contamination. The floodwaters pick up old storage tanks, and oftentimes communities are required to bypass some of their sewage treatment systems, so there are a lot of different types of contamination. Certainly, folks that work around floodwaters always are concerned about tetanus, certain strains of hepatitis, and those kinds of things, if they have extended exposure.

PHILLIPS: Have you figured out a disposal plan in how you are going to get them out of there?

BERTSCHI: It becomes a local responsibility. The Corps of Engineers provides the bags and assists with technical support in putting them in place. But for getting rid of the bags, unfortunately, the federal government backs away, and the locals are responsible for disposing of those bags.

It's a pretty tedious process to remove the sand, to separate the bags, and to make sure that the bags are disposed of properly. Oftentimes, local communities grind them up and then actually lay them out on the ground, exposing them to the ultraviolet rays, which break down some of the plastic in the material. And then they need to have an approved landfill to put them in.

PHILLIPS: Is anything recyclable at all, Tim, like the sand?

BERTSCHI: I think, for the most part, the sand could be used for certain things again. If they've had a high duration of exposure to water and some of these contaminants, I think they've got to be very careful. They certainly don't want to put them in sandboxes or playgrounds. I imagine that for road bases and things like that there would be some use for the material.

PHILLIPS: Tim Bertschi -- good luck, sir. We'll be following the story and keeping in touch. Thanks for being with us.

BERTSCHI: Thank you.

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