Science Vignette
§ Identify examples of human impacts on ecosystems, and investigate and analyze the link between these impacts and the human wants and needs that give rise to them”.
Date: January 28, 2002
Niagara Falls, Niagara County, New York, the story of the Love Canal. A letter to the Niagara Gazette 1943:
“They dumped all year in the morning... my husband was home sick and the smell was so bad that we could hardly breath and we had to put wet towels over my husband’s mouth and nose. It came over toward the houses like a white cloud and killed the grass and trees and burnt the paint off the back of the houses and made the other houses all black. I know for sure they did it all in ’43 because my husband died October 28, 1943 with lung trouble and I think the gases that came this way helped shorten his life” (Levine, A. G., 1982).
This story begins in the 1890’s when a man named W.T. Love, worked on a project to excavate a huge area of land in the Niagara County for a proposed hydroelectric power project. The canal was an open area approximately 60 feet wide and 3000 feet long (www.epa.gov/region02/superfund/npl/0201290). The hydroelectric project did not go through and the site was abandoned until 1942. From 1942 until 1953 the canal was used as a municipal and chemical dumpsite. It is estimated that 21, 000 tons of chemical waste were dumped at the site (www.epa.gov/region02/superfund/npl/0201290).
In 1953 the land was given to the Niagara Falls Education Board (www.epa.gov/region02/superfund/
npl/0201290). The land was filled over and developed as a residential site. Starting as early as the 1960’s many of the residents in the area began to complain of bad odors and substances surfacing in their yards (http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libariries/projects/lovecanal/background-lovecanal.html). In the 1970’s environmental investigations in the area showed:
§ the presence of contaminated groundwater,
§ migration of toxic waste into areas around the site, and
§ presence of toxins in nearby lakes and the Niagara River
(www.epa.gov/region02/superfund/npl/0201290) .
Between the periods of 1978 and 1980 two states of environmental emergency were declared for this site. In 1978, 950 families were evacuated from their homes (www.epa.gov/region02/superfund/npl/0201290). In 1980 the site was declared an “Emergency Declaration Area” and approximately 350 acres and up to 70,000 people living within a 3 miles of the site were affected (www.epa.gov/region02/superfund/npl/0201290). This incident led to the implementation of legislation to govern abandoned hazardous waste dumping sites.
The result of dumping chemical wastes at the site led to a number of environmental and health concerns. In order to make the site safe for humans to live again the area must be reclaimed (cleaned up). Due to the extent of contamination and the number of elements (soil, groundwater, streams) involved, cleanup of this site will involve a number steps and will likely take a number of years.
QUESTIONS:
1. Name three ways that human impact was
present at the Love Canal.
-original excavation of the area, - dumping of chemical wastes, - cleaning up the site, - people complaining about the odor and asking for action to be taken.
2. Why was the chemical waste dumped in this
area?
-cheap, easily accessible for the companies
3.
If you were
asked to do an investigation of the site in 1953 to see if it was a suitable
area for residential development, what types of environmental indicators (signs
that the environment is healthy) would you look at?
-water quality, soil quality, odor, presence of wildlife, growth of
vegetation in the area, fish in the lakes, etc.
4. If you were asked to clean up this site
what environmental elements would you attempt to reclaim? Explain why.
- the soil, the groundwater, the sediments in the streams
5. Why might the residents in the area not
start complaining of odor until the 1960’s?
-the wastes are migrating to the upper layers of the soil, - the waste materials are starting to break down.
6. Based on what you know about the
hydrological cycle how is it possible that the streams and lakes became
contaminated?
- the waste may get into the groundwater system and be carried to open water, the waste particles may be evaporated with the water and fall into streams and lakes with the rain.
Ember, L. (1989) “Occidental Agrees to Store &Treat Love Canal Waste” Chemical & Engineering News. June 15 1989Vol. 67 (pg 20).
Freiman, F.L., ( 1995) Failed Technology: true stories of technological disasters. Detroit, New York.
Levine, A.G. (1982) Love Canal: Science Politics, and People. Lexington Books. Lexington, Massachusetts.
http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libarires/projects/lovecanal/ “Love Canal Collections, 1998 University Archives, University Library State University New York Buffalo”
http://www.epa.gov/region02/superfund/npl/0201290c.htm “National Priority Fact Sheet – Love Canal” U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
http://www.epa.gov.region02/superfund/brownfields “About Brownfields” U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Other sites for information on Environmental Monitoring in Canada:
www.gov.ab.ca/home/programs_and_services/ dsp_Topic.cfm?TID=10, Alberta Environment “Energy & Environmental Department
www.ec.gc.ca Environment Canada’s Greenlane