United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
EPA 905/9-80-005
June, 1980
Toxic Substances
in the
Great Lakes
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The Great Lakes:
Why They Are
Important...
The five Great Lakes are the largest reservoir of
drinkable, navigable water in the world.
Interconnected and internationally shared, they
contain six quadrillion gallons of fresh water, which
is 20 percent of the world's fresh surface water
and 95 percent of the United States'. More than 40
million people live in the Great Lakes Basin, the area
that drains into these lakes and that includes parts
of eight States (Minnesota, Wisconsin. Illinois.
Indiana. Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York)
and the Canadian Province of Ontario. That is nearly
20 percent of the U.S. population and 50 percent of
Canada's.
More than 23.5 million people depend on the
Great Lakes for their drinking water Many more
depend, however indirectly, on the lakes' role in
producing manufactured goods, including an
estimated 70 percent of U.S. and 60 percent of
Canadian steel. The five glacial lakes are the reason
U.S steel production is centered in the Midwest:
Iron ore from the shores of Lake Superior and
limestone and coal from the other Great Lakes'
shores are barged to either the south end of Lake
Michigan or the eastern shore of Lake Erie. Mining.
commercial fishing, paper mills, wineries, and fruit
growing encouraged settlements along the Great
Lakes, where one-quarter of U.S. industry now is
located
The Great Lakes also are the agricultural outlet
for America's heartland. Grain has been a
commercial cargo on the lakes since 1678, and
navigation and commerce on the Great Lakes are
worth noting. The Soo Locks, located between the
sister cities of Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan and
Ontario, handle more tonnage per year than do the
Suez and the Panama canals combined.
In addition, the Great Lakes moderate climate,
just as mountain ranges and oceans do. They
provide a fourth coast for the U.S.. with more than
4,000 miles of U.S. shoreline to be enjoyed for
recreation as well as utilized by industry, including
electricity-generating facilities. Sixty-four of the
1,000 power plants in the U.S. are situated in the
Great Lakes coastal counties. Values of Great Lakes
properties, sport fisheries, campgrounds, and
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resorts are all appreciating rapidly. Boating, the
most lucrative aspect of recreation on the Great
Lakes, has grown at the rate of 10 percent a year.
There are several reasons for this growth: People
have begun to spend leisure time closer to home.
and the Great Lakes' shores are beginning to open
to the public, as private estates come onto the
market and States pass beach-access statutes. The
lakes themselves are getting cleaner. The States that
that line the Great Lakes now operate vigorous
programs to replenish fish stocks that had been
significantly reduced by lamprey eels during the
1 950s For these reasons, then, the Great Lakes have
shaped and influenced American growth and the lives
of millions, sometimes without our even being aware
of them.
Unfortunately, the Great Lakes have also been
among the most abused bodies of water in our
country. Intensive industrial, agricultural, and
municipal uses have left a trail of pollution that by
the 1 960s had attracted worldwide attenton to the
Great Lakes. Oil and debris, mats of algae, dying
fish, and closed beaches all were present to an
alarming degree in many of the lakes and shoreline
areas
Of the pollution problems that faced and
continue to face these lakes, toxic substances are
the most critical. Toxic substances first came to the
attention of the general public in 1962, with the
publication of Rachel Carson's Silent Spring. The
book discussed environmental consequences of
widespread use of the pesticide DDT, including
potential damage to human health.
Since S/lent Spring, a wide variety of toxic
substances has been discovered in the waters of the
Great Lakes and in the fish, birds, and mammals that
live in or near these lakes Certain species of birds
that feed on Great Lakes fish are showing ill effects
from toxicants the fish are known to accumulate.
Humans who eat Great Lakes fish are showing
higher levels of PCBs in the blood than are found in
the blood of people who do not eat those fish.
Because the fish have been contaminated.
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commercial fishing has been curtailed in the Great
Lakes. Advisories and occasional health warnings
restricting human consumption of certain species of
Great Lakes sport fish have been announced by
most of the eight States that border the lakes and
spend money to stock those fish Drinking-water
supplies in parts of the drainage basin have become
contaminated by toxic substances, and accidental
spills of these substances on land have forced
temporary evacuations of residents in the Great
Lakes area.
Toxic substances, often colorless and odorless,
are chemical or metal-containing substances that
may present an unreasonable risk of injury to health
or to the environment. They are part of our daily
lives and of routine manufacturing processes;
sometimes their toxic properties are not known or
their presence in the environment discovered until
after many years of heavy use.
Of the toxic substances that have been and
continue to be threats to the Great Lakes
environment, the following are of particular
concern.
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NAME
By-product of municipal
sewage wastewater.
PROBABLE SOURCE
Municipal wastewater discharge.
Asbestos in Uconrte tailings By-product of iron ore mining.
By-product of iron ore mining.
Secured on-land disposal ordered by court
by April, 1980.
Chlorinated organics
Wide variety of industrial uses.
Industrial discharges, agricultural runoff,
chlorination of wastewaters.
DDT. cWordana,
dieldrin, aldrin
HCB (heiachlorobenzene)
HCBD (hexachlorobutadiene)
Heavy ntetab (nnrcury, lead,
arsenic, cadmium, copper,
chromium, iron, selenium,
zinc)
Pesticides used widely in Great Lakes
region to control insects, rodents. DDT
banned in 1971; others now restricted.
Pesticides, wood preservatives,
fungicides; by-products of chloralkali
industry; used in production of
synthetic rubber.
Wide variety of industrial uses, from
anti-knock agent in gasoline to paints.
pipes, pesticides, glass, and
electroplating.
Residues from previous widespread use;
runoff from agricultural and forested
areas, leaching from improper waste
disposal sites.
Industrial discharges, agricultural runoff,
disposal of waste products.
Industrial discharges, medical profession
wastes via municipal discharges,
agricultural runoff, disposal of waste
products; mine tailings.
Mirex
PAHs
(polyaromatic hydrocarbons)
Insecticide used to control fire ants;
flame retardant; plasticizer.
Variety of industrial uses.
Was produced, processed in Great Lakes
region until ban in 1975; spills.
Industrial oil and grease discharges;
by-product of all types of combustion.
PBBs
(polyfarominated biphenyb)
Fire retardant.
Industrial discharges.
PCBs
(polychlorinated biphenyb)
Phenols
Insulation for electrical capacitors,
transformers; plasticizer; wide industrial
usage. Total ban except by special EPA
permit in July, 1979.
Usually found in conjunction with other,
more complex organic compounds.
Industrial discharges, municipal sewage
treatment plant discharges, harbor
sediments, low-temperature incineration
of wastes.
By-product of petroleum, paper products
manufacture; industrial wastewater
discharges, refineries, spills.
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FOUND IN
St. Marys River
CHARACTERiSTICS/HEALTH EFFECTS
Removes dissolved oxygen. Kills fish.
Lake Superior
Airborne effects may include asbestosis, lung cancer;
water-borne effects not known, but cancer is implied.
Lakes Michigan,
Huron, Erie
Bioaccumulatton in fish, wildlife, humans. Suspected cause of
cancer in humans when found in drinking water.
All five Great Lakes
Bioaccumulation in fish, wildlife, humans. Persistent in the
environment. Long-range effects can include reproductive
disorders in wildlife; suspected cause of cancer in humans.
Lake Erie, Lake Michigan
Bioaccumulation in fish, wildlife, humans. May produce skin
rash, headache, nausea. Suspected cause of cancer.
All five Great Lakes Excessive levels of heavy metals bioaccumulate in fish and wildlife.
Human consumption of such contaminated food may cause a variety
of hearth problems. Mercury can cause brain damage, birth defects.
Lead: anemia, fatigue, irreversible brain damage, especially in children.
Cadmium: kidney damage, metabolic disturbances. Arsenic: damage to
liver, kidney, digestive system, bone marrow; suspected cause of cancer
in humans. Copper, chromium, iron, selenium, and zinc are toxic to fish.
Buffalo, Niagara Rivers; Lake Ontario Bioaccumulation in fish, wildlife, humans. Persistent in the
environment. Suspected cause of cancer in humans.
All five Great Lakes
Lake Huron
Persistent in the environment. Induce cancer and cause
chromosome damage in fish, wildlife, and humans.
Bioaccumulation in fish, wildlife, humans. Cause of birth
defects and possibly cancer in laboratory animals.
All five Great Lakes
Bioaccumulation in fish, wildlife, humans. Persistent in the
environment. Test monkeys developed reproductive failures,
skin and gastrointestinal disorders.
All five Great Lakes
Cause taste and odor problems in drinking water. Toxic to fish.
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Hen? Oo Toxic substances have been and continue to be
rcxub'-;i,n!ces linked to a number of problems in the environment
A:'!ei;i the and in humans. Primarily because of the harm or
i.-cH! Lakes? potential harm certain toxic substances can cause in
humans, these substances are closely monitored
and increasingly well-regulated. There are, however.
other effects they have upon the Great Lakes. By
changing the balance within even isolated portions
of the Great Lakes ecosystem, toxic chemicals begin
to bring about change in the entire ecosystem (the
interdependent air, land, water, and living things).
Persistent chemicals do not rapidly break down and
disappear but instead accumulate in the tissues of
living organisms. This is called bioaccumulation.
Scientists are trying to discover what adverse effects
it may have on humans.
The economic impact of toxic substances cannot
be ignored While some may say that cleaning up
the environment is too expensive, the costs of not
cleaning the environment especially of its toxic
substances can be staggering. Love Canal,
halfway between Lakes Erie and Ontario in the town
of Niagara Falls, New York, is the most tragic
example. EPA estimates that if the chemical wastes
dumped into that ditch until the 1 950s had instead
been put into a secure, environmentally sound
landfill, the cost might have been $2 million. By late
1979, Love Canal had cost New York State more
than $25 million to clean up. Claims against the
responsible chemical company may exceed $2
billion. And the costs in human suffering that
includes birth defects and miscarriages is beyond
dollar values.
Clearly the costs of cleaning up environmental
accidents reach into the millions of dollars and
beyond. To pump the groundwater of Montague,
Michigan until it is free of toxicant contamination,
for instance, is expected to cost the responsible
chemical company between $ 1 5 and $20 million.
That cleanup program is required to be complete
within three years, but maintenance will continue
indefinitely. Each case involving toxic substance
contamination that is taken to court may involve
damages in the millions of dollars, plus legal fees,
time, and suffering.
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Drinking water from the Great Lakes, sometimes
an overlooked bounty of this fresh water, must be
specially treated when toxicant contamination
threatens a community. Special carbon treatment is
standard in such situations. Fear of cancer from the
asbestiform fibers that were dumped for years into
Lake Superior above Duluth was responsible for the
creation of new. multi-million-dollar filtration
facilities in north shore communities that had
previously required minimal or no treatment of
drinking water.
Because the Great Lakes are used for navigation,
both commercial and recreational, their-1 1 9
harbors must be open to ship traffic. Dredging
channels in these harbors used to be relatively
simple. Silts and sediments were scooped out and
dumped back into the open lakes, where they
resettled and the process began again Now,
however, because of detected pollution including
toxic substance contamination, dredging in many
harbors involves removing polluted silt and
sediment to specially constructed and confined
disposal sites. The cost is three-and-a-half times
that for simple dredge-and-dump operations in the
open lake. New disposal sites have been built for 1 9
of the 56 harbors that are known to be polluted. The
costs approach $200 million, and construction of
additional disposal sites must follow for the
remaining harbors. Indiana Harbor is so heavily
contaminated that no major dredging is planned
without further study.
What remains of the commercial fishing
industry, which had thrived in the Great Lakes until
sea lampreys destroyed many species of fish, has
been further damaged by toxic substances. In the
1960s mercury, primarily from Sarnia, Ontario
industries, contaminated Lake St. Clair and put an
end to fishing there and later on Lake Erie. A
million-dollar, 41/2-million pound carp fishery in
Green Bay was devastated in 1975 by the discovery
that PC Bs in the fish exceeded the allowable limits of 5
parts per million (ppm) established by the Food and
Drug Administration. If those limits are lowered to 2
ppm, an estimated $21 million worth of whitefish
and chubs commercially caught by Wisconsin
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TOXIC SUBSTANCES
IN THE GREAT LAKES
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fishermen would be in jeopardy, as would be $ 1 4 to
$1 5 million worth of Michigan-caught whitefish.
PCBs are not the only problem. Dieldrm, a banned
pesticide, continues to contaminate fish.
Sport fishing also suffers from toxic substances.
In Wisconsin's portion of Lake Michigan alone, sport
fishers spend an estimated $7.50 per outing,
excluding tackle, boats, and other equipment. This
adds up to to an estimated $ 1 4 million yearly
income to the State, which spends an estimated
$800,000 to stock, survey, and manage the game
fish it adds to Lake Michigan. The return, then, tops
1 4-to-1. And, if each of the eight Great Lakes States
receives comparable returns for its investments,
these investments are substantial. Michigan has
estimated the total value of its sport fishery to be in
excess of $300 million per year. Other estimates
place the value of the Great Lakes sport fishery at
between $300 million and $1 billion.
In New York, before contamination by the
pesticide mirex was detected, local purchases
related to fishing along a salmon-stocked tributary
to Lake Ontario jumped nearly 700 percent between
1 973 and 1 975, when stocking programs were
initiated. Purchases dropped just as abruptly when
the mirex contamination resulted in a total ban on
fishing in the Niagara River and Lake Ontario.
Wl-erf: D», The map on the preceding pages pinpoints some
Toxic Suiisiaiici!^ areas known to have toxic substances present.
Occii* if! the Sources of information are U.S. EPA's Toxic
Great Lakes Area7 Substances and Great Lakes National Program
Offices, State environmental specialists, and the
U.S.-Canadian International Joint Commission
What the map cannot illustrate are toxic substances
yet to be discovered.
We know that old and abandoned chemical
disposal sites within the Great Lakes Basin can at
any time become major toxic substances problems
that contaminate land, groundwater, and surface
waters in a given area for years to come. Exactly
where these sites are located or where they
contaminate the environment and the Great Lakes is
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nearly impossible to predict. Developers in
Riverside, Michigan learned that land they had
bought was contaminated by leaking drums of
chemicals.An old landfill outside Monroe, Michigan
is suspected of leaking PCBs and heavy metals near
a creek that drams directly into Lake Erie. PCBs,
already known to be heavily polluting sediments of
Waukegan Harbor north of Chicago and a drainage
ditch on an industry's property, have recently been
discovered to be steadily seeping toward Lake
Michigan, as welL The examples continue, all
around the Great Lakes.
How Do
Toxic Substances
Enter the
Gieat Lakes?
Historically, industries discharged large
quantities of toxic wastes directly into the Great
Lakes and their tributaries. This practice is now
restricted by Federal laws, among them the Water
Pollution Control Act Amendments of 1972 and the
Clean Water Act Amendments of 1 977, as well as
the Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976. Most
industrial discharges have been greatly reduced or
eliminated. Still, a number of toxic substances no
longer being discharged in large amounts continue
to pose problems for the Great Lakes environment.
Mercury and PCBs, particularly, have been
deposited over the years in the sediments of Great
Lakes tributaries and in harbors. These are
continously circulated through the aquatic food
chain, from plankton to fish and back to sediments.
Toxic substances move further up the food chain to
humans when people eat contaminated fish or fish-
eating birds.
Toxic substances also enter the Great Lakes
Basin through wastewater discharges from
municipal sewage treatment plants. Many small
chemical and manufacturing companies, as well
chemical users such as doctors, hospitals, and
dentists, generate toxic wastes and typically dispose
of them into the sewer system of the local
municipality. Frequently the treatment plant cannot
adequately treat or render harmless the toxic
chemicals of the industrial waste, which may be
discharged in wastewater or accumulated in sludge.
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The paths of toxic substances to the Great Lakes
and their tributaries are often indirect. Stormwater
runoff from urban areas accounts for a
disproportionately large share of the heavy metals
that enter the Great Lakes, particularly lead from
gasoline. Urban stormwater runoff flows over land
and through storm sewers and eventually empties
into the Great Lakes, bringing with it oil, lead, and
cadmium.
Stormwater runoff from agricultural lands is
another important vehicle for toxic substances
entering the Great Lakes. The watershed, or basin,
contains substantial farmland devoted to cash crops
and dairying. Rains wash away fertilizers, fungicides,
and pesticides used extensively on crops, orchards,
and vineyards as well as the waste products of
livestock that have ingested chemicals. These
substances find their way into the streams and
rivers that flow into the Great Lakes.
Chemical waste disposal sites are another
indirect source of the Great Lakes' toxic substances.
In the past many chemical wastes from various
manufacturing industries were dumped into open
lagoons or placed in barrels and shipped to poorly
located or designed dumps. Years later, it was
discovered that some of these wastes were toxic.
Unfortunately, such discoveries are often made
when it is found that the wastes are leaching into
wells, rivers, and lakes, thereby threatening the
health of the environment and the human
population.
Hazardous waste disposal practices also present
a serious problem to the entire Great Lakes
community. Due to the rising costs of adequately
treating and disposing of chemical wastes, as well
as public resistance to properly designed disposal
sites, some manufacturing companies are
indiscriminately disposing of their wastes. In 1 979
EPA estimated that some 57 million metric tons of
such wastes are produced each year, and that of
this only a small percent is being managed
acceptably, by controlled incineration,
neutralization, secure landfills, or recovery and
reuse. Toxic industrial wastes that were dumped on
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farmland in some areas in the early 1970s
produced highly toxic runoff that continues to
pollute the environment.
Toxic substances can enter the Great Lakes
through airborne emissions and subsequent fallout
with rain and snow. A major source of lead in the
Great Lakes is from the exhaust of automobiles that
burn leaded gasoline. Much of the present input of
PCBs comes as a result of low-temperature
incineration of solid wastes that contain PCBs.
Obviously, airborne pollution is nearly impossible to
chart and can contaminate sections of the Great
Lakes one would expect to be relatively free of
contaminants. This is precisely the case in Lake
Superior, where PCBs from distant sources have
been found.
Finally, toxic substances can enter the waters of
the Great Lakes system through accidental spills
that occur at manufacturing plants or during
transportation of chemicals or toxic wastes.
Numerous derailments of tank cars carrying toxic
materials have occurred in the Great Lakes Basin
within recent years. These accidents have required
evacuation of several small communities and have
contaminated local drinking water supplies.
Who is Doing
Something about
Toxic Substances
in the Great Lakes?
EPA is responsible for implementing three of the
Federal laws related directly to toxic substances: the
Toxic Substances Control Act, the Resource
Conservation and Recovery Act, and the Insecticide,
Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act. EPA also is
responsible for implementing the Federal Clean
Water and Clean Air Acts and for carrying out
provisions of the 1 978 Great Lakes Water Quality
Agreement between the U.S. and Canada. This
bmational agreement, which builds on a 1909
treaty, specifically identifies toxic substances as a new
point of increased emphasis. In cooperation with the
States and other Federal agencies, EPA's Great Lakes
National Program Office is developing a definitive
program for monitoring Great Lakes fish for toxic
substances.
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Both the United States and Canada have toxic
substance control programs at various
governmental levels. A number of regional planning
commissions have begun to focus attention on the
control of toxic substances and hazardous wastes.
The U.S.-Canadian International Joint Commission.
which oversees care and cleanup of the Great Lakes,
and the Great Lakes Basin Commission, with U.S. State
and Federal representation, consider toxic substances'
control of primary importance. So too do the U.S.-
Canadian Great Lakes Fishery Commission and the
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
After DDT was banned in 1971. levels detected
in Great Lakes fish began to drop dramatically. That
downward trend continues. Mercury levels in Lake
St. Clair and Lake Erie fish have dropped. Levels
of PCBs are said to be diminishing slightly, as
shown in the tissues of some fish taken from some
sections of Lake Michigan. PCBs were banned
except by special EPA permit in July, 1 979, but their
presence in fish and birds throughout the Great
Lakes will be detectable for years to come. Drinking
water filtration with activated carbon is serving as a
temporary answer to the problem of phenols and
other organic toxic substances. And it might be
considered a success that more and more people
are becoming aware of the toxic substances
problem and are trying to take action to resolve it
as soon as possible.
All of us must continue to be aware of the
dilemma: We enjoy the benefits of a modern society
based in large part on chemicals, from treated
papers to television to films to heavy machinery. Yet.
many of those things that make our society modern
do not quickly degrade and become harmless to the
environment and to us. Chemicals require special
treatment, and this need is a new consideration to
many people.
What can you do to combat toxic substances in
the Great Lakes? Several things are possible.
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See if local sewage treatment works and local
industries have and follow pretreatment
regulations for their wastes. To find out if such
programs are required locally, you can call the
mayor's or village manager's office for the
name of the proper authority or department. If
regulations still need to be developed and you
have time to volunteer, your efforts will almost
certainly be welcome.
Look at what else is being done in your area to
regulate and control toxic substances. Does a
local ordinance exist? Is your county or
regional planning group addressing the issue?
What is your State pollution-control agency
doing about toxic substances, throughout the
State and in the Great Lakes drainage areas?
Use your telephone directory to learn which
government agencies are around you. When
you call them to see what they're doing, you
might ask to have your name added to their
mailing lists. When these groups invite public
participation, as in public hearings, you will
know early and have the opportunity to become
as involved as your time permits.
Learn about hazardous waste disposal in your
area. Chemicals and other harmful wastes are a
reality of modern life. Disposal of these
materials can either compound the problem
or begin to control it. Locating and dealing
with existing hazardous waste disposal sites is
a matter of urgent concern. In the Midwest,
EPA Region V's "Seek and Find" program
invites members of the public to report any
suspected sites to EPA via toll-free telephone
numbers. A number of States and regional
commissions also are identifying hazardous
waste disposal sites, as are various agencies of
the Federal Government, including EPA.
Be aware that proper disposal of hazardous,
possibly toxic, wastes is a matter of
controversy. Although nearly everyone agrees
that these wastes need to be stored
somewhere, many people do not want sites
located near to them. As a result, few sites are
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being selected for approval in the U.S or
Ontario, and toxic and other hazardous wastes
continue to stockpile. Because of its
importance as an industrial region, the Great
Lakes area contains a large share of these
wastes. Local and national environmental
groups are becoming active in trying to resolve
the problem. Your efforts are needed. Ask for
EPA Region V's Hotline Directory of
environmental groups and try to work with a
group in your area. If you want to interest
others, EPA Region V has available several
excellent films about hazardous wastes, as well
as printed materials about hazardous wastes
and toxic substances. These are yours to
review for the asking.
i§ On a smaller but equally important scale,
examine your own uses of products that may
contain toxic substances. Use unleaded fuel in
your car and keep the engine properly tuned.
Read labels of household products to see what
they contain. Find natural or biological
substitutes for as many as you can, especially
for pesticides and the like. When you must use
paint thmners and toxic cleaning agents, use
them sparingly and dispose of them
properly.
To report an oil or hazardous materials spill in the Great
Lakes or anywhere in the United States call the
National Response Center in Washington, DC toll-free:
800-424-8802. Your report will be forwarded to the
appropriate office for action.
v°/EPA
U.S. EPA, Region V, Graphic Arts Section.
Design/Illustration: Alan Altur
U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE: I98O 654-O63
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