Chapter 69 Section 19

"These papers were all destroyed, weren't they?" "yes." "The earliest surviving records of the plant date back to 1979, the year that wells G and H were closed?" "yes." "Mr. Riller, when did you destroy these records?" Jack Riller finally lost his temper and exclaimed angrily, "I don't know when these documents were destroyed. But I'll tell you again, sir, we never used TCE!" "No, no, no," interrupted Judge Skinner, "he didn't ask you about the trichlorethylene, he just asked when you destroyed these documents, and you said you didn't know. Next question, Mr Hilleman."

"My question is over, Your Honor." One day in the sixth week of the trial, Jane returned to the office from the court and found that the phone was disconnected. After asking, she found out that the phone company cut the line because she did not pay the bill in time.James Gordon said he had made arrangements to notify the florist to stop delivering flowers.In fact, some time ago, James had already changed the daily flowers to twice a week behind Jane En's back.Jameson said that he prepaid the florist for six months at the beginning of the year, so the florist would get some money back, just to make up for the phone company's arrears.

James said, since you are here today, I will report some things to you.First, I canceled your memberships in several bar fraternities and bar clubs, saving you some money each month.Second, from now on, all employees who go out on business will only be reimbursed for bus tickets and cannot take taxis.Third, I have suspended two monthly installments related to you: the student loan you took out while you were in law school at Cornell University, and the bank loan you took out to buy your Porsche. Jammon said his only hope now was a misdiagnosis case Bill Connolly was handling. Eight weeks later, the time in court seemed to fly by faster.Witnesses and pieces of evidence flashed by, like the scenery people see from the train window.

Jane Hilleman has the last remaining witness of the "water system" phase, Professor George Pindel of Princeton University.Professor Pinder has a high reputation in the industry and can be called an authority on hydrology.His strongest point is "the movement and direction of groundwater". Jane knew that Jero Fischer had a shield in his hand, which was the Apodróna River that traversed between the J. J. Riller Tannery and the G and H wells.According to Gero's theory, the water for the two wells was drawn from the Apodrona River.The abundant river water not only meets the needs of pumping water, but also prevents the entry of groundwater polluted by tanneries on the other side of the river.

But in fact, relevant geological data show that the stratum beneath the Apodróna River bed is loose in texture and highly permeable.Professor Pinder input the hydrological and geological data of the eastern part of Woburn into his computer simulation system, and the results showed that, according to the depth of Well G and Well H, the water in the two wells did not come from the Apodrone River, but Draw from deeper groundwater sources.The polluted groundwater flowing through the tannery can pass through the loose stratum at the bottom of the river smoothly, and carry the sediment and gravel there into wells G and H.

When the experts hired by the plaintiff were drilling wells on the banks of the Apojona River, a survey team from the National Environmental Protection Agency was also busy in that area. On December 4, 1985, the survey team reopened wells G and H to conduct simulated pumping experiments, and Professor Pinder led his team to place various water pumps next to a test well in the J. J. Riller Tannery. Instruments to monitor groundwater conditions as water is pumped.Professor Pindel saw from the instrument that the groundwater in the well dropped by a foot in four hours, which was exactly in line with his computer simulation results.

But there was one thing that made Jane uneasy. It was freezing cold in Massachusetts in December, and there were a few floes floating here and there on the Apodrana.Professor Jan Pinpin found that at the same time as the two wells were pumping, ice floes near the river bank came from the water to the shore.So obviously, the river is also falling.According to Professor Pindel's theory, the geology around the Apodrone Riverbed is a peat layer, and the river water should not have entered the second well so quickly.So, where did the water go? Professor Pindel explained that apart from deserts and plateaus, most of the rivers on Earth's surface are formed by groundwater.There is a "one-way water supply" relationship between groundwater sources and rivers, that is, groundwater seeps into rivers, but river water generally does not flow back into the ground.When wells G and H started to pump water, the groundwater source was forced to meet the pumping needs and fell sharply, so that it had no "surplus capacity" to supply water to the Apodróna River. "So, Jane," said Professor Pindel, "the Apodrona isn't actually 'losing water,' it's just that there's no longer a groundwater source to feed it."

Jane thought, I understand, will the uncles and aunts of the jury understand?Lawyers in this profession like to call jurors uncles and uncles behind their backs, because their cases, whether they are traffic accidents, medical malpractice, or other casualties, always involve some expertise in medicine, science, or engineering. Ordinary people are not so easy to understand. William Cheeseman's colleague, Mike Ketton, director of the trial department of Frey Hogel Elliott, replaced William as lead defense attorney for W. R. Glass & Co.He spent two days cross-questioning Professor Pindel, to no avail.The food machinery factory is not as lucky as the leather factory, there is no river barrier between it and G and H wells, and from the topography, the food machinery factory is located at a high place, where the groundwater just passes by on the way to the Apodrone River Well G and Well H, so the toxic waste liquid poured into the soil also flowed into the two wells through the underground waterway like a billiard ball rolling into a hole.

As usual, Jerome Fisher continued to use his invariable "protest" during Professor Pindel's testimony.Responding to Jero's cross-examination, Professor Pindel acknowledged that if the two wells were pumped continuously for several months, the Apojona would also enter the city's water supply.However, he still insisted that wells G and H contained a large amount of groundwater mixed with chemical solvents from the underground of the J. J. Riller Tannery.