Love Canal Research Paper

Canada, like so many other countries in the world continues to deal with many different environmental resource issues. Throughout our history, one of the issues affecting our country has been the treatment of our First Nations people. For the purpose of this paper, the focus will be on the safe water crisis facing Canada’s First Nations communities. The Oxford Dictionary (2016) defines a crisis as a time of great difficulty or danger. The research included will help clarify the reality of the Canada’s First Nations safe water crisis. Despite some improvements over the past few decades, many of our First Nation citizens still lack access to safe and clean water. Our reserves have water that is contaminated, difficult to access or toxic because of outdated and faulty treatment systems. (Klasing, 2016) This safe water crisis is in need of immediate attention. It is Canada’s responsibility to provide the right to clean and safe water for all of its citizens.

There has been contamination found in the groundwater surrounding all four towns. The groundwater is contaminated with VOCs, trichloroethene (TCE), ethylene dibromide (EDB), carbon tetrachloride (CCI4), perchloroethylene (PCE), benzene, vinal chloride, 1,1,2,2-TeCA, 1,4-dichlorobenzene, manganese, thallium, lead, toluene, and RDX. “Ethylene dibromide is especially worry some because it was found upwelling in cranberry bogs located in Falmouth and Mashpee (militarycontamination)”. Where it would was stored in the cranberries skin. “Falmouth being the most affected area losing twenty five percent of its possible drinking water supply (wr.usgs)”. Although the plumes are deep down in the aquifer. “People could be at risk if they accidentally drink the water or come into direct contact with the contaminated groundwater (militarycontamination)”. The way towns keep the residents from coming in contact with the possible risks of

Onondaga Lake has brought many things to this area.One of them being getting polluted as said in Document 1. The sewage was dumped into onondaga creek, whichs happens to lead into the lake. That is one of the factors that has increased the pollution. It was the simplest and closest way to dispose of the waste. There was about 55 years of dumping into the lake. In Document 2 the industry Solvay Process Company quickly took its place in the salt city industry alongside the lake. The company helped pollute the lake because they were a main company that dumped into the lake with their sewage.The

|collapsed in the Buffalo Creek Valley. Over 130 million gallons of water and waste material devastated Buffalo Creek's sixteen |

In the fall of 1861, Smalls was allocated to the CSS Planter, an armed Confederate military transport. On May 12, 1862, the Planter′s three white officers chose to spend the night aground. Around 3:00 a.m. the next morning, Smalls and seven of the eight crew members chose to make a keep running for the Union boats, as they had early arranged. Smalls wearing the chief's uniform and had a straw cap like that well used by the captain. He cruised the Planter out of what was then known as Southern Wharf, then ceased at a nearby wharf to get his own family and the groups of other crew members, who were hiding there. Smalls' escape

(Erikson p. 25) The Buffalo Coal Company decided to stack this waste at the top of the mountains which after a while created a dam. This "sludge water" was dumped in nearby lakes which they stopped because this water would end up in the streams that lead to the town. They then disposed of the water behind the dam which held up to over 130 million gallons of waste. There was a non-stop rain plaguing this area throughout the whole month of February. This rain continued to fill this dam, and on February 26, 1972 that dam collapsed causing this valley to fill with slag water. Residents explained hearing explosions and it feeling like an earthquake as the flood began. In only a few hours most of Buffalo Creek had been washed away into the Guyandotte River. After most of the water left the scene could be described as something out of a war movie; wreckage, bodies lying everywhere. The Buffalo Creek government creates aid for survivors of this disaster by offering trailer homes and other relief processes. The book has a lot of witness accounts what it was like actually going through this. I found out that The Environmental Protection Agency was enacted in 1970 and by this time the Buffalo Mining Company had already been dumping their sludge and waste water

The Wabigoon – English River in Ontario has been contaminated with mercury for about 40 years now and the government has not approached this issue that affects most of the people of Grassy Narrows First Nation. A majority of the community has mercury poisoning, which could be fatal. Additionally, residents are forced to continue to consume contaminated food. In the 1970s, the government let the river to naturally recover itself and said that it would be better than any attempts to clean it, however, it has only gotten worse. Now, the government says that they do not want to attempt to clean the water until they are completely sure that it will not make the situation worse. Recently, scientists have suggested several solutions that have been successful in the past, but it is still unknown as to when the government will clean the water.

The construction apparently damaged the integrity of the clay covering. Water from rain and heavy snows then seeped through the covering and entered the chemical-filled, clay-lined basin. The basin eventually overflowed into the houses, and the unfortunate residents had to endure the noxious smell and unwholesome sight of chemicals seeping into their basements and surfacing to the ground. In 1978 evidence of toxic chemicals was found in the living area of several homes, which prompted the state health commissioner to order an investigation that brought a number of health hazards to light. Several adults showed incipient liver damage; young women in certain areas experienced three times the normal incidence of miscarriage; and the area had three and one-half times the normal incidence of birth defects.

Weirs Beach is part of the city of Laconia in New Hampshire, in the south of the Lake Winnipesaukee. It is the location known for the end of the Mount Washington cruise.

Hooker Chemical drained the canal and lined it with canal to prevent the soon to be deposited barrels of chemicals from leaking. During the period Hooker Chemical used the dump over 21,000 tons of chemical waste. Later on, the company sold the land to the Niagara Falls School Board for $1.00. Immediately afterwards, a series of winters which brought heavy rainfall lead to the leeching of chemicals into creeks, basements, backyards, and the school playground. Consequently, President Jimmy Carter realizing the graveness of the situation, called for a state of emergency, leading to the evacuation of 239 families.2 After the Love Canal Disaster, politicians and the general public alike were inspired to push through laws that would hold the polluters accountable for cleanup of hazardous waste sites and thus, CERCLA was born.

When you turn on your tap in the summer, do you expect the water to be green? No? Well, the people who receive their water from Lake Erie do. Lake Erie, one of the biggest freshwater sources in the world and a huge economy booster, is being ailed by the same problems we had 40 and 50 years ago. In the 1960’s, the very industrialized shores of Lake Erie began to see pollution, mainly in the Cleveland area: factories and other companies were dumping their waste into the lake and its tributaries, without any supervision from the government. Because of this waste, the presence of phosphates and nitrates increased, leading to the development of algae, or eutrophication. (Rotman) Oxygen was low in the water, and massive fish kills happened as a result. In 1969, the Cuyahoga River caught on fire, leading to more negative publicity about the health of the tributaries of the lake. The lake earned the

Leading up to the 1980s environmentalism had became increasingly popular and Love Canal became a main tipping point of changes in America’s tolerance for environmentally damaging things. Love Canal was originally supposed to be a be a hopeful, industrial city thought of by William T. Love in 1894, that would have a thriving community and would also produce cheap electrical power using the rivers there (Excerpts taken from the Love Canal exhibit, Library of the University of Buffalo). Later on it would become a dumping ground of chemical and toxic waste for the Hooker Chemical and Plastics Corporation, that would then be sold for only one dollar to the Niagara Falls School Board, have houses and even a elementary school be built on the “previously” toxic land. Problems started to emerging, after The Niagara Gazette did multiple reports on harmful chemicals being found in people’s basements and this sparked the conflict of the Love Canal incident (Excerpts taken from the Love Canal exhibit, Library of the University of Buffalo).

Lake Winnipeg has been a neglected problem in its wide international, provincial watersheds for several decades. Due to its immense size and severity of the problem, short and long term goals should be set. The ultimate goal should be to return the nitrogen and phosphorus levels in the lake to its pre-1970’s values. This will ensure that the communities in the watershed have safe drinking water, secure water supplies and a healthy aquatic ecosystem. There is no magic solution to the neglected pollution in the lake. In order to meet these goals, diverse parts of the watershed will need to collaborate together and fix one part at a time, so that someday, Lake Winnipeg will be back to its healthy state.

In April of 1978, the city of Niagara was soaked with a record breaking deluge of rain bringing to

A beautiful city, Niagara Falls in the state of New York, ruined by careless decisions of the city of Niagara Falls and The Hooker Chemical Company. Families suffered and died from several of diseases cause by toxic waste that was place underground near homes and schools. A mother, Louis Gibbs who lived near the Love Canal said, “ When I brought this American dream home my son was one and very healthy. Then he started to get very ill and experiences some liver problems, asthma, and then epilepsy. I could not understand, they came one after another, until I read a series written by Mr. Michael Brown, who explained that the Love Canal has toxic waste underneath the neighborhood school and it leaches in resident homes.” She continued on by