Due December 3

Name:                                                                                     Honor Code:

Part I

Please complete part one prior to class so that we may discuss and compare answers in class.

Recycling

1.  Find out what recycling options are available in your home town.  How does the recycling program work? What does it cost? What materials can be recycled? 

Personal hazardous waste inventory

2.  Do a survey of your house, apartment, or dorm room.  What toxic materials do you find?  Find out where would you go to dispose of unwanted toxic materials?

Part II

For this assignment you will be using the EPA’s National Priorities List Map and the EPA website.  The map is available at http://www.epa.gov/superfund/sites/query/queryhtm/nplmapsg.htm The map is an example of an online GIS or Geographic Information System.  A GIS is a computer system that stores, analyzes, and maps geographical data.  GIS is particularly useful for monitoring environmental problems.  One of the most powerful features of a GIS is the ability to add layers of geographical data from different sources.  A GIS can also be a handy tool for accessing spatial information in a large database.  Rather than searching using key terms one can click on a map and find the relevant information.  The purpose of the next section is to encourage you to play around with this simple GIS so that you can get a sense of how it works.  Having some background in GIS can be very useful if you are thinking about any career in a field related to environmental conservation and several classes in GIS are taught here at Valpo (including the intro class next semester).  If you have difficulties with this section please come and see me and I’ll help you out.

1.      Take a look at the EPA’s National Priorities List Map. The map shows sites on the National Priorities List. Which region of the country (of the following list) has the highest density of Superfund sites?  (The West, the Northeast, or the South)

Cam-Or

Let’s take a look at one of the closest NPL sites to us in Westville (the Cam-Or Inc site).  The following are step by step instructions but you can probably figure it out on your own as well. Zoom in on LaPorte County just east of Valparaiso and find Westville. There should be a marker close by.  Click on it. It should be the Cam-Or Inc site.  Click on the resources tab an then click on the link for “Site Listing Narrative’.  Read the narrative that appears and answer the following questions.

2.  What activity was going on at this site?

3.  What happened to Crooked Creek in August of 1978? 

4.  True or False: The lagoons used to store and treat incoming waste were lined and were located atop impervious bedrock?

MIDCO II

5.  Now using the same methods as described above locate the Site Narrative for MIDCO II near Gary in Lake County.  What did the Midwest Solvent Recovery Co. do regarding the site after a fire on August 17, 1977. 

6.  About how many people live within three miles of the site?

7.  True or False.  Everything is OK as of the date of the narrative because the contaminated soil has been removed from the site.  (Note: if you look deeper into the case you can find further updates by surfing around, but I thought this was sufficient for this exercise)

Pines

While we’re online lets take a look at another local hazardous waste problem, this time in Pines, a town just northeast of here.  This site is not on the National Priority List so I’ll just send you directly to the info. http://www.epa.gov/region5/sites/pines/index.htm  Be sure to take a look at the map (though none of the questions that follow address it.)

8.  What is contaminated in Pines?

9.  What are the contaminants?

10.  What is their likely source and what industrial activity generated the pollution at that source? 

Now go to the document “EPA and Responsible Companies Sign Agreement” http://www.epa.gov/region5/sites/pines/pinesfs200404b.htm

10.  Who are the companies responsible for the contamination?

11.  What is being done to address the situation?