Northwest Indiana Discussion

http://www.post-trib.com/news/1839345,tri1022.article

Environmental report gives NWI another bad mark

October 22, 2009

BY GITTE LAASBY, (219) 648-2183
Northwest Indiana and the Hoosier state received more dubious environmental distinctions Wednesday in a new report about toxic water pollution.

Indiana industries led the nation in toxic chemical discharges in 2007 at 27.3 million pounds, according to the report.

See the full list of Indiana rivers that received toxic chemicals, cancer-causing chemicals, developmental toxicants and reproductive toxicants in 2007. Visit www.post-trib.com and click on this story to download a PDF.
Northwest Indiana is home to five of the 10 rivers in Indiana where polluters discharged the most toxic chemicals: the Grand Calumet River, Lake Michigan, Burns Ditch, Indiana Harbor Ship Canal and the Little Calumet River.

The report by Environment Illinois is based on 2007 data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Toxic Release Inventory, to which industries self-report their discharges over a certain threshold.

"The Clean Water Act set a goal for making all the waters in the nation fishable and swimmable," said Max Muller, a spokesman for Environment Illinois, adding only about half meet the goal. "Industrial pollution is one of the significant causes for that."

Among the most severe effects of water pollution is death of wildlife, but toxic chemicals also have the potential to trigger cancer and reproductive and developmental problems in humans who eat contaminated fish, the report states.

Of the Northwest Indiana rivers, the Grand Calumet River received the most toxic pollution in 2007, more than 1.6 million pounds. Lake Michigan was second at more than 118,000 pounds.

The report also looked specifically at toxics linked to developmental disorders. The Indiana Harbor Ship Canal received the 19th-largest amount of those toxics in the nation -- 4,010 pounds.

Northwest Indiana had four waterways on the list of the nation's top 50 that received the most reproductive toxicant releases, Lake Michigan, the Little Calumet River, the Grand Calumet River and Burns Ditch.

The report indirectly blames Northwest Indiana's steel mills for most of the pollution. ArcelorMittal Indiana Harbor in East Chicago is listed as releasing the 12th most reproductive toxicants in the nation -- 3,910 pounds into the Indiana Harbor Ship Canal. U.S. Steel Gary Works is 15th in the nation in the same category, having released 2,781 pounds of toxics into Lake Michigan and the Grand Calumet River.

The report recommends that the federal government phase out use of the worst chemicals and encourage development and use of safer alternatives. It also recommended improving enforcement and ratcheting down pollution levels in industrial permits.

The most polluted river in the nation, according to TRI, is the Ohio River, which flows through six states including Indiana. It received 31 million pounds of toxic chemicals in 2007.Source: "Wasting Our Waterways: Toxic Industrial Pollution and the Unfulfilled Promise of the Clean Water Act" 2009, Environment Illinois


RELATED PDF
• Top 50 waterways

Toxics in Indiana rivers:

Most toxic releases

... Into Indiana rivers in 2007 (in pounds):

1. Ohio River (Ind., Ill., Ky., Ohio, Pa., W.Va.): 24,393,890

2. Grand Calumet River: 1,643,268

3. Big Blue River: 392,785

4. Wabash River: 226,658

5. Wildcat Creek: 160,327

6. Lake Michigan (Ind., Ill., Mich., Wisc.): 118,429

7. Burns Ditch: 101,260

8. Indiana Harbor Ship Canal: 86,315

9. Little Calumet River: 61,061

10. Leary Ditch: 42,287

More information

See the full report:

http://bit.ly/WastingOurWaters