Customer Reviews

Desperate Remedies: The Tragedy of Santa Maria, California : A Toxic Waste Landfill, a Negligent County Government, the Inevitable Poisoning of a Pub

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I hesitate to use the word entertaining when describing a crime of the magnitude contained within this book. Rather, I believe compelling is a better description for this narrative. It is excellently written and flows easily from one horrifying episode to the next as the author relates how a drinking water supply can become contaminated because our elected and appointed officials in government protect industry and their own self interest rather than the people that need their help. Conrad presents a wealth of documentation to support his case and in the end one feels that a great injustice has occurred. That the very individuals who were responsible for this tragedy where able to walk away without any significant repurcussions is appalling and yet probably commonplace. One does feel satisfied, however, that at least within the pages of this book they have been held accountable. I enjoyed this book on many levels. It is in one sense the story of an individual effecting his community through perseverance. In another, a warning of how we must not accept on face value the assurances of our elected leaders. Finally for those interested in the problems we face with our toxic waste dumps it is certainly a must read.

This book chronicles in engaging fashion the terrible and true story of how a city's water supply was contaminated when multiple measures to protect the citizens failed. It presents an interesting story on a personal level of one man who recognized a problem and did a tremendous amount of work on his own to bring it to the attention of elected officials. In this sense, it is a encouraging story because it shows one person can make a difference. It also emphasizes that the individual must attempt to make a difference because our representatives can not always be relied on to protect our interests. I think it would also be a very interesting read for anyone interested in environmental issues or who has a similar problem in their own community. This incident was not as well publicized nationally as some more infamous catastrophies. But to the residents in this area, the problem is well known. It is sometimes hard to comprehend how a disaster like this could occur. This book explains how it happened to this unfortunate community and is a must read to raise people's awareness. It could happen anywhere....