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Lindane in New York
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Niagara
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United States Environmental Protection Agency
SUPERFUND
The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and
Liability Act
The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and
Liability Act (CERCLA), commonly known as Superfund, was enacted by the
U.S. Congress on December 11, 1980. This law created a tax on the chemical
and petroleum industries and provided broad Federal authority to respond
directly to releases or threatened releases of hazardous substances that may
endanger public health or the environment. Over five years, $1.6 billion was
collected and the tax went to a trust fund for cleaning up abandoned or
uncontrolled hazardous waste sites.
CERCLA's mandate included:
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established prohibitions and requirements concerning closed and
abandoned hazardous waste sites;
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provided for liability of persons responsible for releases of
hazardous waste at these sites; and
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established a trust fund to provide for cleanup when no
responsible party could be identified.
The law authorizes two kinds of response actions:
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Short-term removals where actions may be taken to address
releases or threatened releases requiring prompt response.
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Long-term remedial response actions that permanently and
significantly reduce the dangers associated with releases or threats of releases
of hazardous substances that are serious, but not immediately life threatening.
These actions can be conducted only at sites listed on EPA's National Priority
List (NPL).
CERCLA also enabled the revision of the National Contingency
Plan (NCP) . The NCP provided the guidelines and procedures needed to respond to
releases and threatened releases of hazardous substances, pollutants, or
contaminants. The NCP also established the NPL.
SUPERFUND WASTE SITES
National Priority List
The Hyde Park Landfill is an inactive 15
acre hazardous waste landfill located in the northwest corner of the Town of
Niagara, New York several blocks from a five hundred (500) home neighborhood.
The Site operated as a disposal site for Hooker Chemicals and Plastics
Corporation [now known as Occidental Chemical Corporation (OxyChem)] from
1953 to 1975, receiving approximately 80,000 tons of hazardous chemical wastes.
The predominant wastes placed at Hyde Park were chlorinated organics . Other
wastes include hexachlorocyclo- pentadiene (C-56), trichlorophenols, and
chlorinated benzofluorides.
Dioxin is also known to be present. Approximately 0.6 to 1.6
tons of 2,3,7,8 - Tetrachlorodibenzo-P-Dioxin (TCDD) is believed to have been
dumped at this site.
The Niagara River is located two thousand (2000) feet to the
north-west of this site. It is surrounded by other industrial facilities and
property owned by the New York State Power Authority.
Monitoring data show that surface water and ground water have
been contaminated by wastes leaching from this landfill. Dioxin has been found
in the sediment taken from Bloody Run Creek, which drains the site. This creek
runs through the residential community and discharges into the Niagara River
gorge.
Bloody Run Creek, the drainage basin for the landfill area,
flows from the northwestern corner of the landfill. The creek eventually flows
into storm sewers and down the Niagara Gorge into the Niagara River. The site is
located a few blocks east of a 500 home residential community. Approximately
3,000 people are employed by the industries near the site. All of the industries
and most of the residences are connected to a municipal water supply system.
Three residences obtain drinking water from private wells, but these residences
are not believed to be in the path of contaminated groundwater that is moving
away from the site.
The groundwater is contaminated with volatile organic compounds
(VOCs) and dioxin from former disposal activities. Bloody Run Creek
sediments,surface water were contaminated with VOCs all the way to the Niagara
Gorge until their removal in 1993.
Potential health threats include inhaling, direct contact, and
accidentally ingesting water from Bloody Run Creek and the Niagara Gorge face.
Another possible threat would be the consumption of contaminated fish from Lake
Ontario. Although groundwater is contaminated, there are no known uses of
groundwater within the area, so it is unlikely that people would be exposed to
groundwater contaminants. Access to the landfill is restricted by a fence and a
24hour guard.
This site is being addressed through Federal Government and
potentially responsible parties' actions.
Threats and Contaminants
The groundwater is contaminated with volatile organic
compounds (VOCs) and dioxin from former disposal activities. Bloody Run Creek
sediments were contaminated with VOCs until their removal in 1993 and surface
water of the Niagara Gorge Face is contaminated with VOCs. Potential health
threats include inhaling, direct contact, and accidentally ingesting water from
Bloody Run Creek and the Niagara Gorge face. Another possible threat would be
the consumption of contaminated fish from Lake Ontario. Although groundwater is
contaminated, there are no known uses of ground water within the area, so it is
unlikely that people would be exposed to groundwater contaminants. Access to the
landfill is restricted by a fence and a 24 hour guard.
This ignores the fact that most of New York State's surface
waters, including the Niagara River and Lake Ontario, are replenished by
groundwater.
The former drainage stream of the landfill, Bloody Run
Creek, which flows into the Niagara River, was historically contaminated with
organic chemicals, including dioxin.
More than $56-million has been spent trying to contain the
chemical soup in this landfill which has all the natural attenuation of a
flow-through tea bag. There are one overburden and two bedrock aquifers under
the site which flow generally toward the Niagara River Gorge. The bedrock is
fractured carbonate and shale. Contaminants have migrated from the site in both
aqueous and non-aqueous phases, and dioxin has been found in groundwater seeping
to the river from the Gorge face 1,600 feet to the northwest. The site has been
capped and fenced off. The installation of a remediation system in 1991 in the
overburden has stopped contaminants migrating off-site in the overburden;
however, how much may be migrating below this is unknown. To date, 234,000
gallons of DNAPL have been extracted at the site.
The Love Canal Landfill
is a 16-acre landfill in the southeast corner of the City of Niagara
Falls, New York, about 0.3 mile north of the Niagara River. In the 1890s, a
canal was excavated to provide hydroelectric power. Instead, it was later used
by Hooker Chemical and Plastics Corporation (now Occidental
Chemical Corporation) for the production of chlorine and caustic soda.
Hooker Chemical & Plastics Corporation used
this abandoned unlined canal for disposal of over 21,000 tons of various
chemical wastes. Dumping ceased in 1952, and in 1953 the disposal area was
covered and deeded to the Niagara Falls Board of Education. Extensive
development occurred near the site, including construction of an elementary
school and numerous homes.
The solid and liquid wastes deposited into the canal included
acids, chlorides, mercaptans, phenols, toluenes,
pesticides, chlorophenols, chlorobenzenes, sulfides and dioxin tainted
trichlorophenols. Metal waste included arsenic, chromium
and lead.
Problems with odors and residues, first reported in the 1960's, increased during
the 1970's, as the water table rose, bringing contaminated groundwater to the
surface.
Studies indicated that numerous toxic chemicals
had migrated into the surrounding area directly adjacent to the original
disposal site. Runoff drained into the Niagara River, approximately 3 miles
upstream of the intake tunnels for the Niagara Falls water treatment plant.
Dioxin and other contaminants migrated from the Love Canal landfill to the
sewers, which had outfalls into nearby creeks.
In 1978 and 1980, President Carter issued two
environmental emergencies at Love Canal. As a result, approximately 950 families
were evacuated from a 10squareblock area surrounding the canal. The Federal
Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) was directly involved in the residential
relocation activities.
In 1980, the neighborhoods adjacent to the Site
were identified as the Emergency Declaration Area (EDA) which is approximately
350 acres and is divided into 7 separate areas of concern. Approximately 10,000
people are located within a mile of Love Canal; 70,000 people live within 3
miles. The area is served by a public water supply system; the City of Niagara
Falls water treatment plant serves 77,000 people. The Site is 1/4 mile north of
the Niagara River. The contamination problem discovered at Love Canal ultimately
led to the passage of federal legislation, governing abandoned hazardous waste
sites.
Between 1977 and 1980, New York State and the Federal government spent about $45
million at the site: $30 million for relocation of residents and health testing,
$11 million for environmental studies, and $4 million for a demonstration grant
(under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act) to build a leachate
collection and treatment system. was an open trench that was filled with
hazardous chlorinated organic wastes from the Hooker Chemical Plant in Niagara
Falls, New York during the 1940s and 1950s. Unfortunately, a residential area
and elementary school were constructed immediately adjacent to the former
landfill (three blocks long) in the 1960s, resulting in an environmental
disaster that eventually prompted the initiation of the Superfund Legislation in
the United States.
A Secondary site of the Love Canal Super Fund clean-up has also
been identified. It is an inactive hazardous waste site comprised the 19-acre
93rd Street School site. This sub-site is located less than one mile northwest
of the Love Canal disposal area and is within the Love Canal emergency
declaration area.
This site features include the 93rd Street School and adjacent
vacant land. This site is bordered by Bergholtz Creek to the north and
residential properties to the east, west, and south.From 1942 to 1953, Hooker
Chemicals and Plastics Corporation (now Occidental Chemical Corporation)
disposed of over 21,000 tons of various chemicals including at the Love Canal
site.
In 1950, after the site was deeded to the City of Niagara Falls
Board of Education, the 93rd street school was built. In 1954, a second school,
the 99th Street School, was built adjacent to the mid-portion of the Love Canal.
Before construction of the 93rd street school, a drainage swale
had crossed the site. In 1954, the site was graded to its present contours with
approximately 3,000 cubic yards of fill materials including fill from the 99th
street school. The fill material is reported to contain fly ash and BHC (a
pesticide) waste.
During the mid-1970's, contaminated leachate migrated to the
surface of the canal into to some residential basements adjacent to the canal,
and through sewers to area creeks. Those homes have been demolished, and the
sewers and creeks in the Love Canal emergency declaration area have been
remediated.
In 1980, the 93rd Street School was closed because of public
health concerns related to the potentially contaminated fill material.
Investigations conducted in 1988 revealed the presence of hazardous contaminants
in the soil. During previous investigations, it was determined that low level
contamination present in the ground water compared to the ground water quality
in the area and did not pose an exposure threat to the population.
On December 21, 1995, a consent decree, as a cost
recovery settlement between the United States and OCC was lodged with the United
States District Court. As part of the settlement, OCC and the United States Army
have agreed to reimburse the federal government's past response costs, related
directly to response actions taken at the Site. The primary portion of OCC's
reimbursement is $129 million; OCC has also agreed to reimburse certain other
federal costs, including oversight costs, and to make payments in satisfaction
of natural resource damages claims. In a second part of this decree, the United
States Army agreed to reimburse $8 million of the federal government's past
response costs; these funds have now been directed specifically into EPA
Superfund and FEMA accounts.
Also, $3 million of the settlement funds will be
directed, over a five-year project period, to the Agency for Toxic Substances
and Disease Registry (ATSDR) for the development of a comprehensive health study
using the Love Canal Health Registry. ATSDR has awarded a grant to the NYSDOH to
conduct this study, which is currently in its third year of development.
Threats and Contaminants
As a result of the landfill containment, the leachate
collection and treatment system, the groundwater monitoring program and the
final disposal of site-related contaminants, the Site does not present a threat
to human health and the environment.
Also as with other sites in the area, the Love Canal
"cleanup" has been one of containment rather than excavation. In a
series of actions that set the pattern for other remediation in Niagara Falls,
the site has been capped and a slurry wall has been installed. Storm and
sanitary sewers have been decontaminated, and creek sediments scraped up. A pump
and treat system with monitoring wells has been established, and an on-site
facility treats contaminants that are recovered from groundwater pumping. But
the hazardous wastes which gained so much notoriety in media reports in the
1970s remain buried in the unlined landfill.
The 102nd Street Landfill consists of two land parcels
totaling 22.1 acres. Occidental Chemical Corporation, formerly Hooker Chemical
and Plastics Corporation, owns 15.6 acres, and the remaining 6.5 acres are owned
by Olin Chemical Corporation.
The site is located adjacent to the Niagara River and south of
the Love Canal. A portion of the filled area of the site is an extension of the
original Love Canal excavation. The larger portion of the landfill was operated
from 1943 until 1971. During that time, about 23,500 tons of mixed organic
solvents, organic and inorganic phosphates, and related chemicals were deposited
at the landfill. Brine sludge, fly ash, electrochemical cell parts and related
equipment, and 300 tons of hexachlorocyclohexane process cake, including
lindane, were deposited at the site.
The smaller portion of the site operated as a landfill from 1948
to about 1970, during which time 66,000 tons of mixed organic and inorganic
chemicals were deposited. In addition, about 20,000 tons of mercury brine and
brine sludge, more than 1,300 tons of a mixture of hazardous chemicals, 16 tons
of mixed concrete boiler ash, fly ash, and other residual materials were
disposed of at the site.
Griffin Park, with the exception of the boat-launch area, has
been closed to the public. There is limited residential development to the east
and west of the Love Canal Emergency Declaration Area.
Threats and Contaminants
Ground water contains volatile organic compounds (VOCs)
including benzene and toluene; semivolatile organics such as chlorinated
benzenes, phenols, and chlorophenols; pesticides; chlorinated dioxins and
furans; and heavy metals including arsenic, cadmium, and mercury. Niagara River
sediments contained semivolatile organics, pesticides, and mercury. Soils and
fill contain VOCs, semivolatile organics, pesticides, chlorinated dioxins and
furans, metals, and phosphorus. The storm sewer contained VOCs, semivolatile
organics, pesticides, and mercury. Onsite cleanup workers risked harmful
exposure through accidental ingestion of contaminated soils; drinking ground
water; or by inhaling and coming in direct contact with contaminated soils,
ground water, and sediments. People also may be at risk by eating contaminated
fish from the river. The most significant offsite health threat was from
contaminants that became airborne during work activities at the site. There is
no public access to the site.
The Forest Glen Subdivision is a 39-acre site that was
used for the illegal dumping of industrial waste from the 1950's through the
1970's. In 1973, the site was purchased by Niagara Falls USA Campsites
Corporation and developed into a mobile home subdivision. Evidence of past waste
disposal became apparent during the installation of utilities in 1973. The
Niagara County Health Department and the New York State Department of
Environmental Conservation requested that EPA conduct an initial site
investigation in 1987. Soil sampling results in 1988 and 1989 revealed elevated
levels of benzothiazole, aniline, phenothiazine and other hazardous wastes.
Approximately 150 people lived in the Forest Glen Subdivision.
The area surrounding the site is used for residential and commercial purposes.
Vacant land, which is heavily vegetated, is located to the north and east of the
site. The mobile home park was serviced by a public water system. East Gill
Creek flows along the edge of the trailer park.
Soils on site are contaminated with polycyclic aromatic
hydrocarbons (PAHs) and semi-volatile organic compounds. There was a potential
risk to human health from accidentally ingesting or coming in contact with
contaminated soils. Residents of the trailer park could have been exposed to
high levels of contamination through normal work or play activities. The trailer
park floods during periods of spring snowmelt, which presents a moderate
potential for contaminants to move to drainage ditches that surround the site.
Threats and Contaminants
Soils on site are contaminated with polycyclic aromatic
hydrocarbons (PAHs) and semi-volatile organic compounds. There was a potential
risk to human health from accidentally ingesting or coming in contact with
contaminated soils. Residents of the trailer park could have been exposed to
high levels of contamination through normal work or play activities. The trailer
park floods during periods of spring snowmelt, which presents a moderate
potential for contaminants to move to drainage ditches that surround the site.
Hooker Chemical's S-Area Landfill covers 8 acres on the
Buffalo Avenue Plant in Niagara Falls, New York. The plant was owned and
operated by Hooker Chemicals and Plastics Corporation (now owned by Occidental
Chemicals Corporation).
From 1947 to 1975, Hooker Chemical Company dumped approximately
65,000 tons of inorganic and organic wastes at S-Area, which is built on
partially reclaimed land from the Niagara River. These wastes include:
hexachlorobutadiene (C-46), hexachlorocyclopentadiene (C-56), chlorinated
benzenes, chlorinated toluenes, trichlorophenols, benzene, toluene and
pesticides such as 2,3,7,8-TCDD.
The landfill lies atop approximately 30 feet of soil, clay, till, and manmade
fill on an area reclaimed from the Niagara River. Beneath these materials is
fractured bedrock. Hooker Chemical & Plastics Corporation disposed of
approximately 63,000 tons of chemical processing wastes into the landfill from
1947 to 1961. The landfill also was used by Occidental Chemical Corporation for
disposal of other wastes and debris, a practice that ended in 1975. Two lagoons
for non-hazardous waste from plant operations were located on top of the
landfill and were operated under New York State permits until 1989, when
Occidental Chemical discontinued operating these lagoons. During an inspection
of this site in 1969, chemicals were found in the bedrock water intake
structures. In 1978, sampling of the structures and bedrock water intake tunnel
revealed chemical contamination. The site is located in a heavily industrialized
area of Niagara Falls. There is a residential community of approximately 700
people within 1/4 mile northeast of the site.
Both surface water and ground water are contaminated. Chemicals
have migrated through the bedrock and overburden to adjacent areas. Traces of
S-Area chemicals have been detected in the finished drinking water from Niagara
Falls' water treatment plant, which is about 200 yards east of S-Area. This
plant serves 77,000 people. Contaminated run-off and ground water flow into the
Niagara River.
The Department of Justice, on behalf of EPA, has brought a Federal civil action
against Occidental Chemical Company seeking injunctive relief.
Threats and Contaminants
On and offsite ground water and soil are contaminated with
toxic chemicals occurring as both aqueous (water soluble) phase liquids (APLs)
and nonaqueous (immiscible) phase liquids (NAPLs). These chemicals include
primarily chlorinated benzenes. Dioxin is also present in ground water at trace
levels. The main health threat to people is the risk from eating fish from the
lower Niagara River/Lake Ontario Basin. Consumption of drinking water from the
City's DWTP is not presenting health risks at present. However, the site,
because of its proximity to the DWTP, presents a potential public health threat
to the consumers of drinking water from the plant.
The Niagara County Refuse Site is an inactive 50-acre
landfill in Wheatfield, New York. The landfill was operated by the county from
1968 until 1976. Large amounts of industrial waste chemicals are alleged to have
been buried on the site. Analysis of leachate and sediments detected PCBs,
chlorinated organics, and heavy metals. Contaminated- run-off flows
into Black Creek and into the Niagara River about 5 miles upstream from the
water intake that helps supply water to the 77,000 residents of Niagara Falls.
Organic vapors are coming from the site, which is within 0.3 mile of private
residences.
Threats and Contaminants
Site media (soil, groundwater, surface water, sediment)
contain volatile organic compounds (VOCs), semi-volatiles, pesticides, and heavy
metals. Migration of these substances from the site is mitigated by the
favorable geologic characteristics of the site. The principal threats at the
site are created by leachate seeps which form a potential exposure route to
ecological receptors. There is also evidence that the soil and clay cap has
deteriorated in spots, raising the potential for release of VOCs and possible
surface water erosion of wastes. The principal risk to human health is a
potential future risk from the ingestion of groundwater, should drinking water
wells be installed adjacent to the site.
* The Niagara River is a 60-kilometer
(37-mile) river that runs from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario. Divided into upper and
lower reaches by Niagara Falls, it provides 83 percent of the total tributary
flow to Lake Ontario. The Niagara River and, ultimately, Lake Ontario, source of
drinking water for more than 4.5-million people. It serves as a source for
drinking water, fishing grounds, and vacation spots. It generates electricity,
and provides employment to millions of people. Unfortunately, the River is also
the recipient of toxic wastes that pollute its waters and prevent us from fully
enjoying its beneficial uses.
The River drops close to 100 meters (328 feet) along its
course, most of which is at Niagara Falls. The natural shoreline of the River
consists of low banks in the upper portion of the River and a deep gorge cut
through sedimentary deposits in the lower River below Niagara Falls.
Several tributaries flow into the River from the U.S. and
Canada, but they contribute only a small fraction of flow to the River.
On the Canadian side, land uses within the watershed are
dominated by agriculture (32 percent), abandoned agricultural land (23 percent),
urban land (23 percent), and forests (16 percent).
On the U.S. side, farmland and forests are found in the upper
parts of the watershed, but the lower parts are predominantly urban. Large urban
centers along the River include Fort Erie and Niagara Falls in Ontario, and
Buffalo and Niagara Falls in New York.
The Niagara River has been declared an AOC as a result of
excessive toxic chemicals in the water, sediment contamination, fish edibility
restrictions, the incidence of tumors in fish, degraded benthos, and elevated
phosphorus levels. Sources of pollution include industry outfalls, sewage
treatment plants, other point sources, and non-point sources. Wetlands near
these sources are vulnerable to eutrophication and contamination from toxic
chemicals.
Since 1987, the Niagara River has been the focus of attention
for four environmental agencies in Canada and the U.S., referred to as The Four
Parties. They are:
Environment Canada,
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency,
Ontario Ministry of the Environment
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation
In February 1987, the above listed government agencies signed a
Declaration of Intent (DOI). The Four Parties signed a Niagara River Declaration
of Intent, pledging cooperation to achieve significant reductions of toxic
chemical pollutants in the Niagara River. The Declaration of Intent and a work
plan form the Niagara River Toxics Management Plan (NRTMP).
Eighteen Priority Toxic Chemicals:
Chlordane
PCBs
Mirex/Photomirex
Dioxin (2,3,7,8-TCDD)
Dieldrin
Octachlorostyrene
Hexachlorobenzene
Tetrachloroethylene
DDT
Metabolites
Benz(a)anthracene
Toxaphene
Benzo(a)pyrene
Mercury
Benzo(b)fluoranthene
Arsenic
Benzo(k)fluoranthene
Lead
Chrysene/Triphenylene
Major environmental problems that have been discovered include:
Impairment of habitat and survival of aquatic life by
polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), mirex, chlordane, dioxin, hexachlorobenzene,
polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons, lead, mercury, tetrachloroethylene, and
pesticides
Fish tumors and other deformities
Metals/cyanides in sediments prevent open lake disposal of
bottom sediments dredged from river
In 1989, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and New York
State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) identified the Falls
Street Tunnel as responsible for over 50 percent of the aggregate
point source loading (from the United States to the Niagara River) of the 10
persistent toxic chemicals targeted for significant reductions by the NRTMP. In
1993, the U.S. Department of Justice lodged a settlement in Federal Court that
commits the City of Niagara Falls to treat all the dry-weather flow.
Construction to divert the entire dry weather flow to the Niagara Falls
wastewater treatment plant was completed on schedule, and treatment of the toxic
chemicals has been confirmed.
Dupont/NECCO Park is only one of seven priority sites whose
groundwater's flow, in part, into the Falls Street Tunnel. This unlined sewer,
which is cut into the bedrock under the city, used to spew its toxic burden
untreated into the river and was the largest single point source of river
contamination. Since 1993, all dry weather flows go to the local treatment
plant. However, most storm water overflows into the Niagara River untreated,
carrying with it an unspecified amount of groundwater contaminants. Last year,
these overflows occurred on 52 days and averaged 2.9-million gallons each.
But it's the groundwater flows to the New York Power
Authority (NYPA) conduit drain system which are the most intriguing. This drain
system serves the underground tunnels which feed the huge water reservoirs above
the Niagara Power Project Generating Station (which spills into the river). The
conduit drain crosses the Falls Street Tunnel at an unspecified location and the
flows between the man-made systems are unknown. Depending on demands from the
NYPA, water may flow toward the tunnel and treatment plant, or away toward the
reservoir. Despite the fact that the drain conduit runs underneath the hazardous
waste sites, sediment core samples have never been taken at the reservoir and
the amount of contaminated groundwater finding its way through this conduit
drain and, ultimately, into the Niagara River remains a mystery.
The EPA has detected chemicals in discrete fracture zones
such as the `G Zone' 180 feet under NECCO Park. Under Occidental's S-Area site,
contaminants have been found even deeper in the `J Zone'. This means that, in
the area upstream of the Falls, contaminants are now below the level of the
bottom of the river." No one has determined precisely which way these
chemicals flow, but they could potentially be crossing under the river into
Canada.
Over 5800 cubic meters (7600 cubic yards) of highly contaminated
sediment was removed from Gill Creek, eliminating, among other pollutants, an
estimated 0.2-kg-per-day (0.4-pound-per-day) load of PCBs to the Niagara River.
This magnitude of loading is approximately 20 percent of the loading measured
from the Niagara River to Lake Ontario.
EPA and NYSDEC identified 24 waste sites responsible for 99.9
percent of the estimated toxic loads from all sites and developed ambitious
clean-up schedules for them. In June 1994, the agencies reported that
remediations at eight sites have resulted in an estimated 25 percent reduction
in these loads. By 1996, scheduled remedial actions will reduce the estimated
toxic loads by 89 percent.
Approximately 22,000 cubic meters (29,000 cubic yards) of
contaminated sediments were removed from Bloody Run Creek, also associated with
leachate from the Hyde Park landfill. Substances removed included chlorobenzene,
hexachlorobenzene, and low levels of dioxin. The creek was relined with clean
gravel.
EPA has carried out inspections at Niagara River basin
facilities for waste minimization activities on behalf of the Niagara Frontier
Program. EPA targeted facilities that discharge either NRTMP priority toxins or
toxics that are highly bio-accumulative. EPA's reports include descriptions of
facility manufacturing processes, waste generation and environmental releases,
waste minimization achievements to date, potential waste minimization
opportunities, and facility response to the evaluation.
Results from applying a statistical model to the
Upstream/Downstream Program data show that, with a few exceptions, there have
been significant decreases in the concentrations and loads of most of the
eighteen "priority toxics" over the eleven-year period between 1986
and 1997. The decreases in both the concentrations and loads for many of the
eighteen chemicals exceeds 50%. For some of the eighteen chemicals, the
reductions are due to the effectiveness of remedial activities in reducing
inputs from Niagara River sources.
This conclusion is corroborated by analysis of the Biomonitoring
Program data. For example, PCB concentrations in spottail shiners collected at
Niagara on the Lake continue to decrease since 1993. In 1995 and 1996,
concentrations were below the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement specific
objective for the protection of fish eating wildlife for the first time since
the Niagara River young-of-the-year fish program began. Also, based on
information from 1995 and prior, concentrations of several chemicals in the
tissue of mussels placed adjacent to some known sources of contamination to the
river are the lowest over the period of record.
Concentrations of priority toxic chemicals in cores collected
from the depositional zone of the Niagara River in Lake Ontario have declined
significantly. For most chemicals, the most dramatic declines occurred between
1960 and 1980.
* not an identified Superfund site
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http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/HAC/PHA/pfohl/pfo_p4a.html
also see:
Dumps &
Superfund
POPs
PAHs
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