Wind shift and cleaning up ground pollution?

[PapasGigantes 3]

I created a city with a large industrial zone, making sure the wind made the air pollution someone elses problem (away from my city)...

 

Then, servers were haywire, and when I logged back in the next day the wind pattern had SHIFTED, creating a major air pollution problem.  Bug? 

 

So, I decided to slowly phase out my industrial zones (polluters) and see if I could change over to a residential/tourism-based economy.

 

Lots of fun, EXCEPT, some of my new high-density residential zones are on spots with high ground pollution (from former industrial zones) and are unhealthy.  Some of them are also near the garbage dump, the ground pollution from the dump doesn't seem to be an issue.

 

Is there a way to clean up these "brownfields" and make them more habitable?

[bjl707 4]

I would guess just wait it out.  It should clean itself up over time.  But, who knows how long it will take.  Maybe plant some trees in the area?

[cnelson711 1]

When I destroyed my dump (loads of ground pollution), I cleaned it up by planting trees twice a day for a while (the trees die).  Seems to work faster than a water filter, though it still takes a while.

Now I just need to figure out how to clean up pollution from the meteor (lame!).

[YilmasRegin 7]

Ground polution is removed by time alone... However it does seem as if trees might have an effect aswell, however no proof has been seen so far..

 

Some have also claimed that garbage dumps can have a positive effect if build on top of ground polution, if there capacity is kept in check...

[Everleigh 0]

Yes, I agree with previous posters. Planting trees and waiting it out helps a lot. 

[SquidInABox 15]

Fastest method I've used is to build a big Water pump over the polluted area and use Filtration pumps to clean it.