There is a technique of mining coal in Appalachia that has destroyed the water people need to live. The technique, known as mountaintop removal, blows the top off the mountains where coal is located so that the coal, buried deep below the surface, can be excavated. One study estimates that an area the size of the state of Delaware has been flattened by this type of coal mining, which was first practiced in the 1970s.
In one typical house in the area the taps have been worn down, the washing machine frequently stops working, and the bathroom and kitchen have been stained a deep, bloody orange by the pollutants - iron, sulfur, even arsenic - that have seeped into home's water supply. A glass of water from the kitchen tap soon has a strange smell and a sticky texture and within minutes begins to turn dark orange. A layer of black sediment soon sinks to the bottom of the glass. The owner of the house says, "This is what we have to live with. We don't bathe in the water and we don't cook with it. It stains our fingernails, our knuckles, and our clothes. It's really, really difficult living like this." They have to drive for more than an hour to stock up on bottled water to drink and cook with.
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