Groundwater in the Great Lakes Basin

PAHs – Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons are a group
of chemicals formed during the incomplete burning
of coal, oil, gas, wood, garbage or other organic
substances, such as tobacco and charbroiled meat.
There are more than 100 different PAHs. PAHs generally
occur as complexes, not as single compounds.
PAHs usually occur naturally, but they can be manufactured
as individual compounds for research purposes,
however, not as the mixtures found in combustion
products. As pure chemicals, PAHs generally exist as
colorless, white or pale yellow-green solids. They can
have a faint, pleasant odor (ATSDR, 1995b).
PCB – (1) Polychlorinated biphenyls, a group of organic
compounds used in the manufacture of plastics. In the
environment, PCBs exhibit many of the same characteristics
as DDT and may, therefore, be confused with that
pesticide. PCBs are highly toxic to aquatic life, persist
in the environment for long periods of time and are
biologically accumulative; (2) any chemical substance
that is limited to the biphenyl molecule that has been
chlorinated to varying degrees or any combination of
substances which contains such substances (U.S. EPA,
2006e).
Point Source – A stationary facility from which pollutants
are discharged or emitted. Also, any single identifiable
source of pollution (e.g., a pipe, ditch, ship, ore pit,
factory smokestack) (U.S. EPA, 2006e).
Superfund – (1) The program operated under the legislative
authority of CERCLA and SARA that funds and
carries out U.S. EPA solid waste emergency and longterm
removal and remedial activities. These activities
include establishing the National Priorities List, investigating
sites for inclusion on the list, determining their
priority and conducting and/or supervising cleanup
and other remedial actions; (2) a fund set up under
CERCLA to help pay for cleanup of hazardous waste
sites and to take legal action to force those responsible
for the sites to clean them up. The Superfund consists
of funds from taxes imposed upon the petroleum and
chemical industries, an environmental tax on corporations,
and from general tax revenues (also known as
Trust Fund and Hazardous Waste Superfund) (U.S.
EPA, 2006e).
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