there’s no bathroom on the boat, subjecting the researchers to an eight-hour dilemma between hydration, bladder comfort and a quick dip in the water. they grab bites of sandwich during rare lulls in activity, one almost losing their lunch as the boat rocks in another’s wake. the crew proceeds to the next sampling site, their chatter fading under the forceful wind and the roar of the engine as the boat gains speed. the sun blazes down from the clear, mid-afternoon sky. 

suddenly, a pack of dolphins surfaces alongside the boat, appearing to defend their territory. little do the dolphins know, the people onboard have the same goal –– to defend the territory against invading algae.  

each month, researchers at the sanibel-captiva conservation foundation (sccf) marine laboratory collect water samples from the gulf of mexico and caloosahatchee river and estuary, following a route reaching from sanibel island to lake okeechobee. the project, referred to as clew, an acronym for “coastal, lake, estuary and watershed”, is a collaboration between scientists at sccf, the university of florida and north carolina state university. the researchers are systematically analyzing water quality, microscopic algae material and discharges from water control structures to identify the driving forces behind the region’s harmful algal blooms. in doing so, they hope to inform water management policies and other solutions that will help control the blooms that have devastated southwest florida’s critical ecosystems.

an upstream battle

microscopic algae called phytoplankton rely on nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorous to proliferate. too much growth creates an algal bloom, which is harmful as a plethora of algae can clog fish and invertebrate gills, use up the oxygen in the water when decomposed by bacteria and block the light that reaches submerged aquatic plants. additionally, some phytoplankton produce toxic compounds that pose serious health risks to marine organisms.

fertilizer, wastewater and other anthropogenic sources of nutrients that enter water bodies can help algae quickly multiply, contributing to harmful algal blooms. this connection has been controversial for red tide, a toxic algal bloom of the marine phytoplankton karenia brevis. red tide was documented in the gulf of mexico as far back as the 1700s, according to the mote marine laboratory and aquarium. it is believed to originate offshore, when iron-rich dust from the sahara desert blows across the atlantic ocean and settles in the gulf of mexico. the bacteria trichodesmium consumes the dust’s iron, creating a useable form of nitrogen for karenia brevis. the bloom may be further fueled by a current that causes deep ocean water loaded with nutrients from plant material on the seafloor to rise to the surface. 

but red tide’s long history and natural underlying processes doesn’t mean humans aren’t part of the equation. in a 2022 study, researchers used advanced data analysis techniques to demonstrate a causal relationship between the amount of nitrogen and karenia brevis in the water along a path reaching over 100 miles into the interior of florida. their results reveal that nitrogen pollution, even from far upstream, can intensify red tide blooms that travel to the coast. 

red tide is caused by an interplay between oceanographic phenomena and human influence, said miles medina, an environmental scientist at the university of florida center for coastal solutions and lead author of the study. “sometimes, it gets characterized as: it’s either natural or it’s manmade,” he said. “it gets its start naturally, but we can make it worse.” 

and we have. “the frequency of very intense blooms over the past decade is higher,” said eric milbrandt, the director of the sccf marine laboratory and co-author of the study, citing serious red tide blooms in the region in 2018, 2019 and 2020. the expanding population and development of south florida has increased the runoff of nutrients that fuel blooms, and warming water allows the algae to grow more rapidly, he said. 

major nutrient sources include the caloosahatchee river and lake okeechobee, which are classified as impaired for nutrient enrichment by state standards. discharges can transport nutrients from the lake and river to the water bodies surrounding sanibel, several of which were recently added to the list of impaired waterways. and any freshwater blue-green algal blooms in these bodies of water can travel downstream. although these algae will dissipate in the salty conditions of the ocean, their toxins can linger, and the nutrients they leave behind can help fuel blooms of karenia brevis and other marine phytoplankton.

but sanibel depends on this freshwater to hydrate wetlands and maintain the delicate salinity balance of critical food sources and habitats like tape grass and oyster reefs during the dry season. “we’ve often advocated for the water from the lake during that time because we need the freshwater, regardless of how polluted it is,” milbrandt said.

advocating doesn’t guarantee access amid the competing agricultural, domestic and environmental demand for south florida’s finite freshwater resources. during two droughts in the early 2000s, the estuary didn’t get the freshwater it needed to maintain the salinity gradient, leading to mass tape grass die-offs, said rick bartleson, a research scientist at the sccf marine laboratory. the grass never fully recovered and still cannot support more than a few manatees, which can eat 100 pounds of grass per day, he said.

just as everyone is scrambling for enough water when it’s dry, no one can handle too much when it’s wet. but an overflowing lake could have dire consequences. in 1928, a hurricane caused lake okeechobee to flood, killing thousands of people, according to the national weather service. “when the lake gets too high, the water has to go somewhere,” said paul julian, a hydrologic modeler at sccf. “we’re kind of the release valve for the lake because we’re the biggest estuary out of the two.” excess water discharged to the caloosahatchee estuary delivers a one-two punch of salinity disruption and pollution. the fact that the region’s precipitation is becoming concentrated into fewer, heavier rainfall events exacerbates water storage issues and increases runoff, julian said. when it rains, it pours. 

a perfect storm of conditions led to a catastrophic red tide outbreak on the florida gulf coast in 2018. the previous season’s hurricane irma threatened to overflow lake okeechobee, where freshwater microcystis phytoplankton —which produce the liver toxin microcystin — were blooming. “there was panic, the gates were opened and the water levels were lowered,” milbrandt said. “when they released that bloom, the conditions were perfect. in the caloosahatchee, the water was warm, it hadn’t started raining yet to dilute it, and it ended up getting transported all the way down to sanibel.”

once the bloom reached and dissipated in the gulf of mexico, its nutrients helped fuel a patch of red tide that had moved near shore. “it was really bad conditions in the freshwater portion and really bad conditions in the marine portion,” julian said. “and as discharges were happening, the red tide was essentially being fed by the nutrients.” 

the interaction between freshwater and saltwater algal blooms spells disaster for the island’s shorebirds, turtles and other animals. “when those two feed off of each other, it creates this entire habitat of death,” said breanna frankel, the wildlife rehabilitation manager at sanibel’s clinic for the rehabilitation of wildlife (crow). “2018 was a devastating year for us.” 

red tide’s acute deadliness is due to brevetoxin, a toxic compound produced by karenia brevis that affects the nervous system of many aquatic creatures as it passes through the food chain. shorebirds impacted by red tide experience a range of symptoms, including twitching and tremors, disorientation and loss of function in their legs, sometimes stumbling like “a drunk kid walking home from the bar,” frankel said. similarly, sea turtles exposed to brevetoxin can suffer seizures and may struggle to right themselves in the water, causing them to drown, said kelly sloan, the coastal wildlife director and sea turtle program coordinator at sccf.

about 250 sick or dead turtles were documented during the 2018 red tide outbreak — a dramatic increase from the approximately 35 seen in a normal year, sloan said. what’s worse, the toll of this bloom may still be rising. by analyzing the blood of nesting sea turtles and unhatched eggs or unsuccessful hatchlings, sloan has found that adult turtles can transfer brevetoxin compounds to their offspring.

red tide could be a tipping point for sea turtles and other species in the region facing a myriad of threats. “when you add one more on top of that, we could very realistically start seeing declines in an already stressed population,” sloan said.

gathering clews

the clew research project aims to unravel the complex network of relationships between lake discharges, water quality and algal blooms in this interconnected system. “we are so often in a response mode when the blooms happen,” milbrandt says. “having the conditions of the water before, during and after an event is what we need to understand the drivers of the event.” 

at each sampling site, the researchers operate like a well-oiled machine, handing off equipment, logging data and storing samples with assembly line efficiency. they submerge a sensor that reads the salinity, temperature, ph, oxygen content and turbidity, or clarity, of the water and measures its level of chlorophyll, a photosynthetic pigment found in plants, and dissolved substances from organic matter. the team also deploys an instrument to measure the transmission of light through the water.

some of the sampling sites feature a continuous sensor that measures and transmits water quality parameters hourly as part of sccf’s river, estuary and coastal observing network (recon) system. recon generates much more information than can be acquired through physical sampling, providing necessary context to noteworthy snapshots. it also allows for near real-time responses to changes in water quality. for example, if the recon data indicates the beginnings of a bloom, the researchers can initiate large-scale, event-driven sampling — “what we do for the monthly trips, but on steroids,” milbrandt said.

the team collects water samples that are sent to a national environmental laboratory accreditation program (nelap)-certified laboratory that measures nitrogen and phosphorous in various forms. other samples are returned to the sccf marine laboratory, where research associate mark thompson validates the sensor’s chlorophyll readings — which serve as a measure of the amount of algae material in the water — using a more rigorous technique. 

research assistant sierra greene analyzes the samples using a flowcam instrument that takes a picture of anything in the right size range and with the same light transmission properties as phytoplankton. using this data, she can estimate the distribution of different types of phytoplankton in the water, including cyanobacteria, dinoflagellates and diatoms. greene is building libraries of each category of algae to train the computer to automatically recognize and sort the images. clew researcher ed phlips, a professor of algal physiology and ecology at the university of florida, is using a more painstaking but precise microscope-based method to quantify the species composition of the phytoplankton in the water samples.

clew researcher natalie nelson, a professor of biological and agricultural engineering at north carolina state university, is using these data inputs to develop a statistical model that identifies correlations between water quality parameters, lake discharges and phytoplankton species distribution. “what we’re trying to understand is: are there certain types of environmental conditions that encourage the growth of certain types of algae?” nelson said. in addition to providing insight into the different variables promoting algal blooms, the model may be able to help predict the effect of an upcoming discharge on algae populations, she said.  

a lengthy step in the sampling assembly line is passing water through a filter to collect the particulate organic matter (pom) — solid particles suspended in the water. clew researcher elise morrison, a professor of environmental engineering sciences at the university of florida, analyzes certain chemical characteristics of the pom to understand its source. the ratio of a heavier and lighter form of carbon is a signature of different photosynthetic pathways, helping to distinguish phytoplankton from other types of plant matter in the water. “from that value, we can say that it looks like a certain source material. so it looks like it might be phytoplankton or it looks like it might be from terrestrial plants that are in the area,” morrison said. “it’s a way of fingerprinting where the carbon came from.”

similarly, the ratio of a heavier and lighter version of nitrogen serves as a mark of various environmental processes, shedding light on the origin and journey of the nitrogen in the samples. “it can give you an idea of whether it looks like the nitrogen came from a septic system versus an inorganic fertilizer versus a lake okeechobee discharge,” morrison said. additionally, by measuring the carbon and nitrogen ratios in the amino acids in the pom, she can track how these elements are cycled between phytoplankton as they decompose and their nutrients are consumed, providing insight into the phytoplankton dynamics that can fuel algal blooms.  

collectively, the data will help water management agencies identify important targets for mitigating algal blooms. “this will give them information that can help guide them to manage the parts of the system that would be most effective in terms of reducing the potential for blooms,” phlips said.

since the first sampling trip in november, the team has observed the highest nitrogen and phosphorous concentrations in the upper caloosahatchee river, suggesting that the nutrients came primarily from the land bordering the river rather than lake inputs. “what it tells us is that there’s a lot of work to do in the watershed, and that for a long time, we ignored that part of the system,” milbrandt said. 

the project may also help inform a rate of discharge that could relieve a brimming lake while minimizing blooms and other ecological damage. phlips’ research has shown that the longer the water stews in the caloosahatchee river and estuary, the more time there is for algae to grow and form blooms. a fast, high-volume discharge could limit blooms upstream, assuming there is no bloom in the lake that could be released, but the nutrients in the water could feed marine phytoplankton in the gulf of mexico. additionally, a burst from a hose instead of a trickle from a tap may affect the estuary’s salinity balance, and a rush of water from the nearest water control structure could displace the larvae of spawning fish and oysters in the estuary to less suitable downstream environments. “all these relationships are so complex that without doing sophisticated modeling, it’s too difficult to come up with reasonable suggestions,” phlips said. “that’s why this research is going on right now: to define the ideal discharge rates under all different kinds of scenarios.”  

progress in bloom

other efforts to manage how water is dispersed throughout the region are underway. one is the construction of a holding reservoir for excess water that can be tapped to maintain the salinity gradient in the caloosahatchee estuary during the dry season. the water that enters the reservoir will be treated with aluminum sulfate that binds to and removes some nutrients. “the water that’s coming out of the reservoir will be cleaner than when it came in,” said leah reidenbach, a research and policy associate at sccf. “but even though it’s really big, it doesn’t even account for half of our water storage needs in the estuary. so water storage needs in our watershed are an important issue for the future.”

another major development is the lake okeechobee system operating manual (losom), an intricate plan to reengineer how the lake’s water is distributed throughout the region. the goal is to regulate discharges in a way that addresses the needs of all parties, including supplying more freshwater to the everglades once it has passed through natural water treatment areas that soak up nutrients to prevent further degradation and maintaining only desired flows to the caloosahatchee estuary. “what we’re really trying to do through the losom process and while working with our partners is establish more of a balance,” said matt depaolis, the environmental policy director at sccf. “because essentially, the way it’s set up now, we are the dumping ground for everything, regardless of how the health of the estuary is affected.” 

“we need to share the adversity,” milbrandt said. “it can’t always be the environment that has to be the sacrificial lamb.”

in addition to water management, reducing nutrient loading is critical for south florida’s freshwater to benefit all who need it. the conversion of septic tanks to sewage systems prevents leakage of nutrient-packed waste into waterways — an issue that has been exacerbated by sea level rise, depaolis said. it’s even better if treated sewage, which still contains nutrients, can be used on land rather than sent directly into the water. the caloosahatchee connect is a pipeline that will send reclaimed wastewater from fort myers to cape coral, where it will be used for irrigation and fire protection, instead of releasing it into the caloosahatchee river.

throughout southwest florida, ordinances that help combat nutrient enrichment include restrictions on the timing and location of fertilizer application, protection of native plants, which do not require fertilizer because they have adapted to thrive in local conditions, and limits on the amount of impervious surfaces, like concrete, that contribute to stormwater runoff. 

political agendas are at the heart of many such measures to protect the environment — and their demise. years into the development of a science-backed losom plan, a section of a new bill introduced a slew of red tape, requiring legislative approval for funding for water management projects. after the bill passed through the senate, sccf provided a platform to send an email opposing the bill to the governor, who vetoed it. sccf offers action alerts that inform subscribers of other opportunities to advocate for the needs of coastal ecosystems. 

“i think the biggest thing that you can do as an individual is to vote. you’ve got to vote for local legislators that believe in water quality and that you can trust,” reidenbach said. “stay active; stay involved. use your voice when you can. and let your legislators know how you feel about water quality. because, sometimes, they listen.”

when i was growing up, one of junie’s favorite spots to explore was the hike-and-bike trail around lady bird lake in downtown austin. of course, every visit ended in a trip to the water. junie’s dusty paws would bound down the familiar paths as she glanced back every few yards to make sure i was following behind. she would approach the lake’s edge warily, then gingerly step in to cool off from the scorching texas sun and gulp down a refreshing mid-afternoon drink. when heading home she would leave a trail of muddy paw prints in our wake, refreshed and happy.

today, though, a visit to the water may end differently. 

in 2019, austin’s lakes saw a sudden increase of harmful algae blooms (habs) that tragically resulted in several dogs’ deaths and led to residents avoiding any contact between their pets and local bodies of water. no deaths — dog or otherwise — have been reported in austin since 2019, but hab events continue to occur across the city and pose a major threat to public health.

austin’s habs involve blue-green algae called cyanobacteria. this algae is naturally occurring but proves toxic in certain forms. in humans, the health effects of cyanotoxins may first appear as common cold or flu symptoms like fever, headache, and vomiting. indicators in dogs include weakness, and respiratory paralysis, which can lead to death.

in late september of this year, toxic levels of cyanobacteria were found in one part of barton creek, a popular local swimming area. though levels have since dropped to safer amounts, both lady bird lake and lake austin, which sits northwest of the city down the colorado river, have recently displayed concerning levels of toxic algae. 

as human-induced climate change continues to threaten our day-to-day lives, habs like austin’s will only happen more often. cyanobacteria thrive in environments with warm waters and high concentrations of carbon dioxide — two major consequences of global warming.

increased water temperatures lengthen the growing season and widen the geographic range of algal blooms. texas has already seen a 1 to 2 degree f increase in annual average temperature since the early 20th century. scientists project that annual average temperatures in the southern great plains will further increase 3.6 to 5.1 degrees f over the next 30 years, potentially worsening the effects of habs over time.  

nutrient pollution is another related factor. this phenomenon occurs when nutrients mix with rain runoff and seep into bodies of water. phosphorus and nitrogen are the most common pollutants and can result in excessive algae growth and enhanced toxicity. in turn, overgrowth of algae causes low oxygen levels in the water, affecting the entire ecosystem by killing fish and inhibiting aquatic plant growth.

in june, the austin city council unanimously voted to launch a pilot project to mitigate the effects of harmful algae using phoslock, a material that chemically binds the phosphorus in water and sediment into a mineral form so that blue-green algae cannot obtain its nutrients. this five-year-long, $1,484,000 contract with the sepro corporation includes water collection and analysis as well as three phoslock applications across 20 acres of water around lady bird lake. city officials have not disclosed the status of the project since it was first announced.

austinites should remain wary of areas displaying blue- or bright green-colored algae and stay up-to-date on the fluctuating risks of local bodies of water via the city’s monitoring systems. now, on my visits home, i can’t explain to junie why i now steer her away from the water’s edge on our walks, but at least i can take comfort in the fact that i’m doing my best to keep her — and myself — safe.

washington – thirty-seven years ago, congress decided the federal government should be responsible for disposing of the waste from the nation’s nuclear power plants. but the waste still is being stored at the plants today.

several leading senators want the federal government to step up to its commitment by switching from the permanent repository site that had been proposed – yucca mountain in nevada – and put the nation’s 80,000 metric tons of spent fuel into several centralized interim storages. experts say the proposal would save millions of dollars without compromising safety. but the local opposition that eventually doomed the yucca mountain site is likely to occur at any interim sites.

economics of nuclear waste

a small parking lot sits by the shore of the back river in bailey point peninsula, maine. sixty-four white concrete casks, each one 26 feet high, stand in lines on the lot. they are the storage system for the spent nuclear fuel – the only reminder of the maine yankee nuclear power plant, which completed its decommissioning in 2005 and demolished.

the lot is approximately 11 acres, a minuscule share of the former 800-acre plant site, but the federal government has spent $176.5 million since 1998 to maintain the storage system, and the cost is growing by $10 million every year, according to eric howes, spokesman for the yankee companies, which include maine yankee and another two decommissioned yankee nuclear power plants in massachusetts and connecticut.

“the only reason we’re still in business is because the federal government has yet to remove the spent fuel,” howes said.

maine yankee is one of the 80 plants across the country that store spent nuclear fuel onsite. seventeen are shuttered plants like maine yankee, while others are still in operation. onsite storage of spent fuel is an expensive process. it requires 24/7 security and periodical monitoring to make sure the chemicals inside the casks are in good condition; the companies have successfully sued the federal government to cover the storage costs.

a 1982 law decided it’s the federal government, not private companies, that is responsible for disposing the nuclear waste, and congress in 1987 designated yucca mountain as the single central point for storage. it was to be operational by 1998. two decades have passed, and paying for the waste storage to 80 sites has cost the federal government $7 billion.

“the real crime here is what is happening to the taxpayers,” said rodney mccullum, senior director of fuel and decommissioning at the nuclear energy institute, a nuclear power advocacy organization funded by the nuclear industry. “a tremendous amount of infrastructure goes into keeping these casks safe and the taxpayers are paying for every penny of it.”

for communities where the closed plants are located, the economic damage has included the lost tax revenue from the plant and the difficulty in repurposing the land.

wiscasset, the town hosting maine yankee, collected $700,000 in taxes from the plant last year, a drop from $12 million when it was operating. although many of those plants –like maine yankee –have hundreds of acres of vacant land, it is very difficult to get new businesses to locate on the land.

“the land is basically useless as long as the spent fuel is sitting there,” mccullum said. “technically, i can tell you i could build a luxury condominium right next to those used fuel and it would be perfectly safe. but that’s not how real estate works.”

the new plan

to remove the spent fuel, the original plan was to build a permanent repository in yucca mountain, nevada. but although the site was designated by congress in 1987 and around $15 billion was spent on evaluating and developing the site, the plan stalled in 2009 after strong opposition from nevada politicians.

in april, republican sens. murkowski of alaska and lamar alexander of tennessee and democratic sen. dianne feinstein of california introduced a bill that proposes to build a few centralized interim storage sites of spent nuclear fuel. the bill also would establish an independent federal agency to manage nuclear waste and design a consent-based approach to determine the sites of nuclear waste storage facilities.

“storing fuel in one or two locations will be less expensive than storing it at the 17 locations where the reactors are currently shut down,” mccullum said. the idea is to gather concrete casks from “small parking lots” across the country to a few larger parking lots and centralize the management.

“these are passive systems with no moving parts, the number of people and amount of equipment you have to have, train and maintain doesn’t grow as much as you add casks,” mccullum said, “i think it’s safe to say the savings would be in the millions.”

and centralized storage won’t increase the safety risk, mccullum said, because “the [casks] don’t interact with each other and they are built to the same rigorous safety standards.”

before the bill was introduced, two companies – holtec international in new mexico and interim storage partners in texas – had filed applications for consolidated interim storage site to the nuclear regulatory commission.

nrc spokesman david mcintyre said both applications are still in early stages of technical, safety and environmental reviews with an expectation to finish in spring or early summer 2021. mcintyre said it is “uncertain if [the bill] will have a direct impact on either application review.”

like yucca mountain, sites in new mexico and texas face opposition from local politicians. new mexico gov. michelle lujan grisham wrote, in a letter to the department of energy and nrc, that the project poses an “unacceptable risk” to oil, gas and agriculture industries surrounding the site. and texas gov. greg abbott vetoed a popular domestic violence bill because of an unrelated provision about radioactive waste fees.

“unfortunately, the bill author’s good idea about domestic violence has been dragged down by a bad idea about radioactive waste,” abbott wrote in his veto statement.

consent-based approach

the senate bill makes it clear that choosing a site for nuclear waste storage facilities would need local consent, which includes approval of local government and the governor. but social scientists argue consent should be more than that.

“lasting consent is essential, and it has to come from more than just the elected officials,” said seth tuler, an associate professor at worcester polytechnic institute who is an expert in risk governance and policies in nuclear waste management. elected officials come and go, tuler said, “and they were not elected to make this decision.”

the bill would give discretion to the proposed new agency for deciding whether communities contiguous to the storage facilities would be included in the consent-seeking process. tuler said neighboring communities and communities through which nuclear waste is transported should have a say in the decision-making process.

“imposing a decision on local community in the states hasn’t worked very well. in fact, it hasn’t worked at all,” tuler said. “yucca mountain is a perfect example.”

——

editor’s note: a quote attributed to seth tuler has been clarified, and a new version of this story published july 25, 2019. 

depue, a village just off interstate 80 in central illinois, houses 1,727 people, a grocery store open two hours a day, a municipal office where village clerk jane vickers still uses a typewriter for memos, and two mounds of toxic metals.

there’s a gypsum stack and the “pile of black death.”

that’s what depue mayor eric bryant calls the 750,000-ton mass of slag left from the new jersey zinc company’s smelting plants, which operated for more than 80 years before closing in 1990. a few blocks away, the three-story-high gypsum stack appears less ominous due to the growth of some vegetation. however, it is the byproduct of phosphate fertilizer and sulfuric acid plants, in operation for 20 years beginning in the late 1960s and, according to the environmental protection agency, it is highly toxic.

depue has been a federally declared superfund site since 1999, meaning that the village is seriously contaminated with hazardous waste including, but not limited to, zinc, lead, arsenic, cadmium, chromium and copper. fifty-seven different metals have been found throughout the community.

“the entire village is contaminated,” says nancy loeb, director of northwestern university’s environmental advocacy clinic of the pritzker school of law. the clinic provides pro bono support to the village of depue. though the piles hold most of the waste, the toxins are not limited to the stacks. the slag that eventually created the “pile of black death” also was once handed out to residents as a multi-purpose mixture that could cover streets and driveways or fill holes. as a result, virtually the whole village is paved with toxic slag, loeb says. additionally, aerial depositions of the same heavy metals released into the air during the smelting process contaminated the vast majority of residential properties and public spaces. 

the land on which the slag and gypsum piles sit, and therefore the piles and all resulting contamination, currently belong to cbs/viacom international incorporated and exxonmobil corp., respectively.

neither company responded to requests for comment for this story.

the two corporations, legally referred to as the depue group, agreed to clean up the sites under the terms of a 1995 consent order filed in the bureau county circuit court between cbs, exxonmobil and the state of illinois.

in the 22 years since then, some progress has been made on the superfund site, and continues now, monitored by the illinois environmental protection agency (iepa), which is responsible for ensuring the corporations follow through on their legal responsibilities.

last spring, construction began on the closure of the gypsum stack, a process that involves covering the toxic material and updating existing water routing and treating mechanisms, to prevent contaminants from seeping into the surrounding environment.

“whenever you close a landfill or anything like this, one thing you want to do is eliminate direct contact with the material, and so the cover is for that purpose,” says charlene falco, who oversees the depue site for the iepa.

the estimated 17-month project, which is on track to be completed in late 2018, is consistent with the interim consent order for the site and illinois regulations.

when the federal epa orders a clean-up of a toxic waste site, it often undertakes the process on its own, then legally forces the companies responsible for the waste to foot the bill. however, the state agency has the lead in depue because it got involved with the case before the town was given superfund status—and the iepa doesn’t have the legal authority to force the depue group to pay for cleanup efforts, so it must work with the corporations to implement change.

many depue residents were frustrated but not surprised to learn this summer that the iepa had launched yet another research project on polluted lake depue rather than moving forward with cleaning up the contamination.  the 500-plus acre lake became contaminated over the course of decades when waste water from the smelters was released directly into the lake. after 22 years of fighting for the remediation of their town, they have grown to expect the slow pace.

“every time i drive by, it just really aggravates me,” says keith garcia, a science teacher at depue high school. “having it in the immediate area and not seeing a lot done with it…just after a while, you just kind of shake your head.”

the iepa’s current research focuses on the toxicity of lake depue’s water, as measured through fingernail clams.

“we’re hoping to learn whether or not lake depue has a negative effect or no effect on the mortality of fingernail clams,” falco says. “if the fingernail clams appear to be impacted in lake depue…then there must be something going on in [the lake] that is a little unusual or a little different.”

they recently completed a pilot test of the study, to ensure that the design would function well and wouldn’t pose a risk to the surrounding ecosystem. the study will then be continued next summer and will take an estimated eight weeks.

the study is part of the iepa’s plan to adhere to the requirements of the superfund program, which mandates that risk assessments for human health and ecological impact be conducted before cleanup plans are developed. both assessments were initiated years ago, but the depue group argues that data on ecological impact was inconclusive, so the iepa has agreed to conduct additional studies—including the clam study—to reach consensus on the results.

“if we know that a site is risky enough that it has to be cleaned up, there’s always more detailed decisions that have to be made,” falco says, including the geographic extent of the cleanup and the standards of cleanliness to which the site is held. “risk assessment can help inform some of those decisions, but there are other factors we take into account, too.”

falco points to the superfund guidelines as one source of the delay. there are many steps to the cleanup process; doing them—and doing them well—takes time.

“we acknowledge and we recognize that it’s taken a long time to get to where we are and we’re trying to not prolong it longer than we absolutely have to, but we want to get the data that we need to make good decisions, and once we get those decisions made, there are a lot of things that have to happen,” falco says. (the process is detailed in the chart below).

nevertheless, the slow pace frustrates residents. some feel that the research serves to enable yet more delays for the depue group.

“they wait 20 years, letting [the toxic waste] all soak in and then they test [the water] like it’s still the same” lake, says bryant.  “it should have been done a long time ago. the deeper you go, the worse it gets. that’s why nothing was tested before. because it would have been worse.”

while their emphasis on scientific evaluation as mandated by superfund regulations is understandable, the sheer length of time dedicated to the studies—and the lack of tangible change in the years following—is not, according to residents. after the iepa took nine years to run tests on only a small portion of the town, before spending five months only partially cleaning up the waste in that small area, depue residents began to question the likelihood that all of the  contamination would be removed. meanwhile, property values have plummeted, and with depue’s average single family home valued between $30,975 and $36,500—compared with the illinois average of $214,900—it is impossible for many people to leave. 

“they talk in circles,” says one depue resident about the iepa. “they might be telling us they are working at the speed of light, which is fine because maybe paper-wise, behind the scenes they are. but when you look at the lake that has not been touched, the black pile that has not been touched, that’s what the townspeople want to see [removed].” this resident, along with others interviewed for this article, asked not to be identified out of concern that they would provide incorrect information or misrepresent their town. myths have accumulated with the years, and it is difficult for them to know what’s really going on.

depue’s population of 1,727 is about 42 percent white and 55 percent hispanic, with small numbers of asian, black and native american people making up the rest. the village school building houses the elementary, middle and high schools, with approximately 500 students total.

once, the village’s economy and recreation centered around its spring-fed lake. the famed purity of the water led to a booming ice-harvesting industry, which supplied the anheuser-busch brewery throughout the 1800s. there was also a commercial pure-water fishing industry, and recreational sports of many kinds.

“we used to swim in the lake, boat, water ski, fish, and play ice hockey in the winter,” says garcia.

but long gone are the days of clean water and thriving industry. these days, notable landmarks include the waste piles, lawns covered in the two-foot layers of imported soil necessary for grass to grow, and the neon-green stream that snakes through depue, carrying runoff water from the slag pile to the lake.

according to the u.s. epa’s 2016 toxic release inventory, the lake is contaminated with not only those metals but also mercury and polychlorinated biphenyls (pcbs). pcbs are human-made chemicals that were used as coolants and insulators among many applications until they were banned in 1979. both mercury and pcbs can affect the neurological system, and pcbs can affect the reproductive, immune, nervous and endocrine systems as well, according to the epa.

though no comprehensive health studies have been done on the people of depue, the presence of highly toxic waste throughout the village indicates that the slow clean-up may not be just an annoying bureaucratic failure. some residents consider it a direct threat to their health.

“i believe that they’re just waiting for everybody that remembers to die off,” says former depue resident christine snyder, whose brother joe passed away in 1997 at the age of just 36 from multiple sclerosis (ms). ms, along with prostate cancer, has been more prevalent among depue residents who grew up by, or worked in, the now-closed factories as compared to u.s. figures, says bryant, a prostate cancer survivor.

“eventually, no one will remember anymore. i mean, it’s been 20 years,” snyder says. “i don’t have much hope that anybody higher up is going to do the right thing.”

in 2001, scientists at the texas tech university conducted a study noting the depue population’s significant exposure to heavy metals, including zinc, and concluded that the ms incidence rate in depue was “statistically significant.” the national multiple sclerosis society later identified the case on their website as an industry-based cluster. though it is extremely difficult to establish correlation and even harder to show causation between environmental sources and disease, the texas tech study also concluded that exposure to zinc could be a factor in the development of the cluster.

“i’m not certain that the people doing the manual labor really understood what they were working with and what the potential hazards were, on a personal and environmental level,” says garcia, who worked in the zinc factories during the summer in high school. “i’m sure the management team, probably the lab personnel, had a pretty good idea.”

due to the lack of studies, there continues to be limited information about exactly what health risks are present in depue, and what residents can do to protect themselves.

“well, we don’t drink the water, for one thing. as far as how the ground is around here, i have no idea,” says brian king, who owns a bodega in depue.

others are less concerned.

“i used to consult with rich lang, who used to work for [the illinois environmental protection agency]. he’s retired. i used to talk to him a lot and he told me, basically, if you don’t eat it or breathe the dust, you aren’t going to ingest the metals,” says bruce yuvan, who works at the water treatment plant.

toxic metals can, however, be transmitted through diet, handling or inhalation. many residents don’t let their children play in the dirt, but there is no way to prevent them from breathing the air.

theoretically, superfund status provides additional incentive and ability to clean up a site rapidly, and after depue was named a superfund site, residents thought that the iepa would force exxonmobil and cbs to act. but when no change seemed forthcoming, residents sought legal support with the help of the eac.

“we’ve been working with these people for a long time now and we’re committed to continuing, to move forward, to help protect them, to get the town cleaned up,” says loeb. “the cleanup hasn’t happened yet, but we’re moving forward.”

loeb acknowledges the difficulty of speeding up the time-consuming process, but remains hopeful about the clean-up timeline.

“we certainly hope all the residential properties and public spaces are cleaned up in the next two or three years at most. and we hope that all the remedial plans for the site are completed within the next five years; that there are consent orders requiring the cleanup of everything in the town by that point. we would say 10 years is a very long time to have all the cleanup completed,” she says.

as the years pass and residents see little change, many, like snyder, have lost hope that depue will be cleaned up in their lifetimes. bryant, however, is adamant that as long as people care about their town, things will get done.

“i would like to see the community get a little more involved and a little more optimistic that this is going to happen,” he says. “how much gets cleaned up is going to depend on the job we do making things happen. we were able to stay on the iepa and the responsible parties that keep trying to minimize things. we’ve got to stay on them and make sure we are getting a fair deal. somebody has got to be watching what’s going on.”

featuring commentary from dr. barry vacker, a media studies & production professor; david streetsmith, an environmental consultant; dr. kathi knight, who specializes in environmental science; dr. laura toran, a hydrogeologist; and stephanie branche, an environmental scientist for the epa.

produced, and directed by dan kurtz, christina betz, john tarquinio, jesse roehrer
edited by john tarquinio, christina betz, dan kurtz, jesse roehrer

don’t throw them away, says frank grazzini of eversafe recycling. there are some hazardous chemicals in many consumer electronics that should be processed. plus, some of the precious metals and plastics, in circuit boards for example, can be melted and reused.
frank showed us around his shop where he dismantles equipment before sending it back into the manufacturing stream.

senator frank lautenberg (d-nj) has introduced the safe chemicals act of 2011 to update the toxic substances control act, (tsca) which was last updated in 1976. this bill puts a mandate on companies to establish the safety of chemicals in products before they are available to consumers. current law puts the burden on the environmental protection agency to seek out and identify dangerous chemicals.

toxic chemical exposure, even in small amounts, has been linked to cancer, fertility problems and learning disabilities, and the epa has acknowledged shortcomings in their ability to identify dangerous chemicals and protect the public from exposure under existing law. “tsca is showing its age, and its limitations. our tsca inventory currently lists over 84,000 chemicals, very few of which have actually been studied by the epa for their risk to families and children,” says steve owens of the epa.

although there has been ongoing friction between safe chemical advocacy groups and big business, larger companies who would be greatly impacted by this legislation, including corporate giants sc johnson and basf, support one federal standard, for the sake of consumer confidence as well as global competitiveness. the lack of effective legislation at the federal level has caused states to create their own regulations, which forces national companies to comply with vastly different regulations from state to state. “complying with as many as 50 different state chemical management policies will only create uncertainty in our markets and costly inefficiencies. if we have more confidence, it does help the bottom line for companies like ours,” says kelly semrau of sc johnson.

the new bill calls for a prioritization of chemicals based on risk, creating open access to reliable chemical information and the promotion of safer, green chemistry. the epa and other proponents of this legislation say that it is time to give the american people the protection from toxic chemicals they need and deserve.

with levels of mercury and other toxins in her system higher than any other woman in the study researchers determined that gray’s own body posed a polluted environment for a growing baby.

” the women that we test had between 11 and 14 of these toxic chemicals in their bodies,” said erika schreder at wtc and so that means that the fetus was exposed to toxic chemicals that can lead to early puberty, reduced sperm production, and learning disabilities.”