Groundwater in the Great Lakes Basin

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Sewer, Niagara River. However, the data also show that there are still sources of organic chemical contaminants along the Niagara River (Richman, 2006). New York included the entire length of the Niagara River on its 1998, 2002, 2004 and 2006 303(d) lists for not meeting beneficial uses of aquatic life and fish consumption due to priority organics (U.S. EPA, 2008b). These priority organics are identified as originating from contaminated sediments and from hazardous waste sites (U.S. EPA, 2008b). The Niagara River Toxics Management Plan (NRTMP) process has identified hazardous waste sites as the most significant nonpoint sources of priority toxics loading to the river (U.S. EPA, 2008b). Total priority toxic loads to the river have decreased more than 90%, from approximately 700 lbs/day to less than 50 lbs/day under the NRTMP process (U.S. EPA, 2008b). The sedimentary bedrock of the Niagara Frontier and the western Lake Ontario basin contains a complex intersecting network of fractures, tectonic faults and karstic terrain, and the basin is also a region of intermittent earthquake activity. Groundwater-borne toxic contaminants emanating from hazardous waste repositories have infiltrated this network and are entering Lake Ontario via discharge to the Niagara River and possibly also directly via upwelling through littoral lake and river bottom sediment. Past usage, former waste disposal practices and the continued presence of these wastes in situ will continue to pollute the water. It is not certain what effects these compounds will have on the equilibrium of this large natural system. In 1984, the Buffalo Avenue wastewater treatment plant serving Niagara Falls, New York, had been described in a joint U.S. and Canadian government report as “the largest toxic polluter of the Niagara River” (Lisk, 1995). They claimed that the plant was by-passing as much as two million gallons of contaminated wastewater a day into the river, and that this discharge frequently contained 700-800 pounds of priority pollutants (Lisk, 1995). To address contaminated effluent issues from the facility it was re-designed to use granular activated carbon (GAC) to absorb the relatively small quantities of soluble organics and inorganic compounds remaining in the wastewater following biological or physicalchemical treatment (U.S. EPA, 2000). Absorption occurs when molecules adhere to the internal walls of pores in carbon particles produced by thermal activation (U.S. EPA, 2000). Typically, GAC absorption is utilized in wastewater treatment as a tertiary process following conventional secondary treatment and for wastewater flows which contain a significant quantity of industrial flow (U.S. EPA, 2000). GAC absorption is a proven, reliable technology to remove dissolved organics (U.S. EPA, 2000). However, spent carbon, if not regenerated, may present a land disposal problem, and wet GAC is highly corrosive and abrasive (U.S. EPA, 2000). Variations in pH, temperature and flow rate may adversely affect GAC absorption and air emissions from the regeneration furnace contain volatiles stripped from the carbon (U.S. EPA, 2000). Therefore, afterburners and scrubbers are usually needed to treat exhaust gases (U.S. EPA, 2000). The plant requires an inventory of more than five million pounds of GAC (Lisk, 1995). Current flow averages about 35 mgd, but the plant was designated to handle up to 48 mgd. The flow carried under the city to an outfall over a mile away in the gorge down river from the falls. “Pumped and treated” groundwater forms part of this flow. $110 million had been spent during the GAC upgrade−twice the original cost of the facility (Lisk, 1995). On a daily basis, the facility receives approximately 800 pounds of influent pollutants which are reduced by the treatment process to 12 pounds in the effluent to the Niagara River (U.S. EPA, 2000). Only 13 wastewater plants using the GAC filtration/absorption technology are believed to have been built in the United States, and Niagara Falls is the largest of them (Lisk, 1995). Currently however, the Niagara Falls, Buffalo Avenue Waste Water plant has been out of compliance and has not been meeting the requirements of its complicated discharge permit for the last three years (U.S. EPA, 2008a). In November 2000, the Science Advisory Board (SAB) of the IJC hosted technical presentations from representatives of the government agencies cooperating under the NRTMP, conducted a tour of hazardous waste sites on the U.S. side and held a public meeting involving invited scientific presentations and interested citizens (IJC, 2003). The following comments and conclusions were reached by the SAB and submitted to the Commission (IJC, 2003). • Chemicals, such as PCBs, Mirex and dioxins from the Niagara region not only can influence all of Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River but also can impinge on the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the Atlantic Ocean. See, for example, Figure 5. • Serious efforts are underway at each individual waste site to contain movement of chemicals from the sites, but the larger reality of the immense geographical and temporal scale of the problem needs to be recognized and acknowledged. For example, approximately 80,000 tons of waste, some of which is hazardous material, is contained at the Hyde Park dump. By pumping and treating water infiltrating the site, about eight pounds of chemicals are removed and treated daily. 87
88 • The monitoring and surveillance programs under the NRTMP are models for binational cooperation and success. While these actions appear to have been successful, there was apprehension expressed whether this commitment would be sustained in the face of high cumulative costs of containment and the absence of immediately affected citizens to demand action. • The importance of dense non-aqueous phase liquids (DNAPL) in fractured rock aquifers is well understood scientifically; however, it is difficult to locate the DNAPL in fractures Figure 5. and access is even more difficult. Pump-andtreat technology is not very effective for DNAPL removal. DNAPL could therefore become increasingly significant as an ongoing source requiring treatment as more soluble wastes within the site are removed. • There appears to be very limited applied research into alternatives to pump-and-treat technologies in the Niagara region involving local hydrogeological expertise at nearby universities or involving institutions such as the U.S. Geological Survey. • For short term, the crisis of hazardous waste management appears to be manageable through containment at individual priority waste sites. But issues related to other sources to the Niagara River including, for example, non-priority waste sites, contaminated sediments and other nonpoint sources, continue to have an impact on beneficial uses and will necessitate ongoing fish consumption advisories for the foreseeable future. For example, there are more advisories, and the advisories are more restrictive in the Lower Niagara River than in the Upper Niagara River (MOE, 2007). • The waste management approach through containment has resulted in extensive areas of restricted, grassed, open space that may exist within the city for decades, even for centuries. From a land-use perspective, such areas will continue to have a severe economic and social impact on the city as long as they are unusable. Lake Ontario trout (Aged 4+) - Whole fish contaminant levels Source: Department of Fisheries and Oceans (Unpublished Data) The SAB will conduct another Niagara hazardous waste site tour and public meeting in 2009 and assess progress achieved since 2000. Both Crittenden (1997) and Besecker (2008) express little optimism that the contamination issues in the Niagara region can, or will be, solved anytime soon and the area will remain a significant threat to public health and the environment. The next NRTMP report is due in 2009 and will include a retrospective analysis and assessment of 20 years of effort in the region. LEGISLATION Brought about by the Love Canal incident to address health hazards associated with exposure to hazardous waste sites, the U.S. Congress in 1980 enacted the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA), commonly known as the Superfund Act (Natural Resource Council on Environmental Epidemiology, 1991). Superfund is the U.S. federal government’s program to clean up the nation’s uncontrolled hazardous waste sites (U.S. EPA, 2007b). Originally Superfund was created with the “polluter pays” focus. Polluters are responsible for the cleanup of contaminated sites. According to the Center for Public Integrity (2007c) there are 1,623 Superfund sites located across the United States, 540 of which are located within the Great Lakes states. It is estimated that approximately
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AReportoftheGreatLakesScienceAdviso
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Citation: Great Lakes Science Advis
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Commissioners’ Preface The Great
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2 required to monitor basin groundw
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4 Systems have a 30-year lifespan d
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6 Groundwater quality is routinely
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8 Transmittal Letter Groundwater/An
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10 Acknowledgements, Activities and
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APPENDICES Appendices A through L p
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INTRODUCTION Groundwater, a major n
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16 DESCRIPTION OF NATURAL SYSTEMS M
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that are not substantially affected
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Estimates of the Level and Extent o
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APPENDIX B Threats to Groundwater Q
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24 PATHOGENS Bacteria, viruses and
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Viruses Viral pathogens continue to
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SPECIFIC EPISODES Walkerton In 2000
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30 season. The sampling sites inclu
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32 Curriero, F.C., Patz, J.A., Rose
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Infection of a suitable host specie
Page 44 and 45: APPENDIX C Threats to Groundwater Q
Page 46 and 47: Road salt has significant toxic eff
Page 48 and 49: converted to nitrite in the human s
Page 50 and 51: Atrazine Atrazine is an extensively
Page 52 and 53: Wisconsin DNR keeps track of about
Page 54 and 55: Table 1. Chemical Contaminants in G
Page 56 and 57: isks for 23 diseases in six contigu
Page 58 and 59: Figure 1. Number* of waterborne-dis
Page 60 and 61: Guidelines for Canadian Drinking Wa
Page 62 and 63: APPENDIX D Threats to Groundwater Q
Page 64 and 65: Figure 1. Source: General Descripti
Page 66 and 67: (Gorman and Halvorsen, 2006). Any s
Page 68 and 69: Table 3. Washtenaw County, Michigan
Page 70 and 71: that the OWTS would last until it w
Page 72 and 73: REFERENCES AND BIBLIOGRAPHY Aglie,
Page 74: Septic Tanks - Septic Tank Articles
Page 77 and 78: INTRODUCTION Leaking underground st
Page 79 and 80: sites that were previously closed,
Page 81 and 82: Table 1. USTs in Great Lakes States
Page 83 and 84: Estimation of Costs for Remediation
Page 85 and 86: Table 6. Operational Compliance of
Page 87 and 88: 80 Indiana Government. (2007, Febru
Page 89 and 90: 82 GLOSSARY AST - above ground stor
Page 91 and 92: INTRODUCTION 84 Hazardous wastes ar
Page 93: The town of Kincardine, Ontario, ha
Page 97 and 98: However, the U.S. EPA has been relu
Page 99 and 100: 92 Johnson, B.L. & DeRosa, C.T. (19
Page 101 and 102: PAHs - Polycyclic aromatic hydrocar
Page 103 and 104: INTRODUCTION An abandoned well is d
Page 105 and 106: Figure 6: Leaking oil well Source:
Page 107 and 108: CONTAMINANT SOURCES 100 During any
Page 109 and 110: Nearly 16 million operational water
Page 111 and 112: • Development of a targeted progr
Page 113 and 114: 106 Michigan Department of Environm
Page 115 and 116: APPENDIX H Threats to Groundwater Q
Page 117 and 118: far reaching. Road salt can inhibit
Page 119 and 120: 112 Desalinization Potential water
Page 121 and 122: Gray, J. (2004, January). Brine Spr
Page 123 and 124: INTRODUCTION 116 In 2003 there were
Page 125 and 126: 118 feed has increased to upwards o
Page 127 and 128: References and Bibliography 120 Arn
Page 129 and 130: APPENDIX J Threats to Groundwater Q
Page 131 and 132: for recreational purposes and destr
Page 133 and 134: 126 errors (human or mechanical), p
Page 135 and 136: Apparent Losses Old meters are like
Page 137 and 138: Figure 6. Examples of Windsor, Onta
Page 139 and 140: REFERENCES AND BIBLIOGRAPHY 132 Ada
Page 141 and 142: 134 Levy, S. (2004, November 16). T
Page 143 and 144: APPENDIX K The Châteauguay Transbo
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138 the clay sediments of the St. L
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REFERENCES AND BIBLIOGRAPHY Bureau
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INTRODUCTION 142 Groundwater law ac
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144 • Water withdrawn be returned
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146 found to be failing. Now, with
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Part 373: Third Stage Treatment Lag
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150 Chapter 1501:15 Soil and Water
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152 Title 29 - Water Resources Mana
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APPENDIX M List of Acronyms ADHD -
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Groundwater in the Great Lakes Basin

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