Pollution in Door County, Wisconsin relates to the degree of pollution in the air, water, and land in Door County, Wisconsin. Pollution is defined as the addition of any substance (solid, liquid, or gas) or any form of energy (such as heat, sound, or radioactivity) to the environment at a faster rate than it can be dispersed, diluted, decomposed, recycled, or stored in some harmless form. [4]
Most air pollution reaching the monitor at Newport State Park comes from outside the county. This map shows how the air travels to the pollution monitor in Newport State Park. [5] Because the monitor is near the shore, only the red lines (which show the lower air currents) meaningfully depict the path of ozone to the monitor. As shown on the map, these lower currents carry polluted air from major urban areas. But further inland, the air from higher up mixes more, so all color lines are significant when tracing the path of air pollution further inland. These higher currents (shown in green and blue) blow in from cleaner, mostly rural areas. [6]
Nitrous oxide concentrations measured by airplane over county waters are not significantly different than those measured closer to the Chicago area. [7]
In 2020, a traffic counter near the Bay View Bridge recorded an average of 12,500 daily vehicles. [8] Pollution modeling predicts the presence of locally generated air pollution associated with vehicular traffic in the city of Sturgeon Bay. [9]
In 2022, the Environmental Protection Agency decided that the northern part of the county met its standard for ozone. [10]
Water-borne diseases were historically significant in the county. The Belgian migration to the county largely ceased after word of the 1856 cholera epidemic in Door County reached Europe. From 1859 to 1880, more than ten percent of all recorded deaths in the county were caused by dysentery or diarrhea. Death from dysentery or diarrhea was more common in the summer due food and water contamination. [11]
Door County has three types of aquifers. The newest is in a relatively shallow layer of sand and gravel, but tends to not to provide enough water except in the southeastern part of the county. Further down are layers of dolomite bedrock that are recharged by water percolating from the layer of sand and gravel. Past the dolomite is a layer of shale that typically does not contain water, although potentially it is a source of oil. Past the shale is a layer of sandstone that is also host to a bedrock aquifer. Only a few wells tap this deepest and oldest aquifer. [12] Due to the tilt of the layers and erosion, there are areas of the county missing certain layers. A study of three city wells serving Sturgeon Bay found that water from the surface fell anywhere from 13 to 115 feet per day from the surface down to the dolomite aquifer. When the snow melted in the spring, the water coming up from one well changed 9 days later to reflect the character of the new meltwater. [13]
Groundwater burbles up from the shallow aquifer through the fractured bedrock, forming fracture springs. It also may seep more slowly through the ground, forming seepage springs. Detailed measurements were taken of one fracture and three seepage springs during a 2014–2017 survey. [14] Although the fracture spring had large variations in output, it still had a greater flow rate than the other 409 springs surveyed. It had one of the highest specific conductance measurements (995 μS/cm) among the springs studied, due to the minerals dissolved in the water. [15] A study of wells, springs, and surface waters in six county wetlands took samples from September 2017 to June 2018. Enterococci were found in all of the surface waters and six of the eight springs, but not either of the two wells. [16] An earlier study comparing spring water and well water from five springs and 47 wells in Sevastopol found that spring water was more turbid than well water and more likely to be contaminated by coliform bacteria. Nitrates, chloride, and specific conductance were not significantly different between the springs and wells. [17]
The combination of shallow soils and fractured bedrock makes well water contamination more likely. [18] At any given time, at least one-third of private wells may contain bacteria, and in situations with quickly flowing underground water, wells may test clean one day but contaminated the next. Some household wells turn brown every spring from nearby manure applications. [18] Bacterial contamination of wells is more likely in the summer due to the larger human population. In wells that are contaminated, bacterial concentrations peak during the following rains in the late summer and early fall. [19]
Nearly all soil types in the county which have received a rating for their overall suitability for septic systems are considered to be "very limited" in their utility for septic systems. Out of 292 different combinations of soil associations and types in the county, 124 soil classifications are assigned a "very limited" rating, 4 are assigned a "somewhat limited" rating, and 164 have not been rated. The four which are "somewhat limited" are uncommon in the county. [20] Additionally, certain soil types are especially prone to leeching contaminants into the groundwater. Out of the 74 different total soil types present in the county, 44 types are known to be more susceptible to leaching contaminants into groundwater than typical soils. Out of the 44 more susceptible types, 22 are more susceptible to leaching when the water table is less than 12 inches from the surface, 10 are more susceptible to leaching when the soil is less than 20 inches above the bedrock, and 14 are regarded to be highly permeable soils. Some of the 44 more susceptible soil types have a combination of these characteristics. [21]
In 1968, 44 people on Washington Island were sickened with hepatitis, a food and water-borne disease, and one girl died. [22]
The porous and fractured dolomite bedrock was implicated as a factor in a June 2007 epidemic when 239 patrons and 18 employees [23] of the newly opened Log Den restaurant were sickened by a norovirus. Six were hospitalized. The virus was found to have traveled from a septic field 188 m (617 ft) away to the restaurant's well, contaminating their water. [24] From September to December 2007 a study was conducted in which dyes were placed into the septic system. The dyes traveled through the groundwater at about 2 miles per year, and researchers concluded that viral contaminants could travel "many miles in their life times." [25] For transient non-community public wells such as the one supplying the restaurant, state only regulated for contaminants within a 200-foot radius unless flow studies had previously been done. Modeling research supporting this decision predicted that pathogens would be unlikely to travel more than 155 feet per year. [26]
In September 2014, 16 people feel ill from drinking wellwater after rainwater washed manure went down a sinkhole in Jacksonport. [27]
Short-term rentals are thought to contaminate the groundwater whenever more people stay in a house or cottage than the septic system was designed to handle. [28]
The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources reports 137 leaking underground storage tank sites, 385 spill locations, and 104 other areas involving contamination, such as of soils and groundwater, including 24 cases which polluted one or more neighboring properties and 82 open cases such as cherry orchards left with arsenic and lead-contaminated soils from pesticide use during the 1960s and earlier. [31] Additionally, two landowners voluntarily cooperated with the DNR, limiting their future liability. [32]
At the peak of fruit production in the 1940s–1950s there were about 12,000 acres of orchards, [33] about 3.9% of the 482 square miles of land in the county. Mines, prior landfills, and former orchard sites are considered impaired lands and specially marked on an electronic county map. [34] A different electronic map shows the locations of private wells polluted with lead, arsenic, copper, and other contaminants down to the section level. [35] A 2020 study sampling 237 private wells found one with a concentration higher than the federal standard. Certain areas appeared to have higher concentrations of arsenic than others. [36]
A 2017 study looking at the impacts of nutrient pollution on microbes used DNA analysis to detect human pathogens in May Creek, Keyes Creek, and Sugar Creek during the months of May, September, and October. Aeromonas sobria was detected in May, September, and October, while Pseudomonas alcaligenes was only detected in September. Both species of bacteria are chemoheterotrophs which feed on organic material in the water. [37]
In 2016–2017, water was tested for pharmaceutical chemicals, with samples coming from May Creek, Keyes Creek, and Sugar Creek, and also from the Ahnapee River at the intersection with County Trunk H. [38] The tests found caffeine and acetaminophen in the Ahnapee River, and also the psychiatric drugs fluoxetine and carbamazepine and the antimicrobial triclocarban. Caffeine and carbamazepine were both found in May Creek. Caffeine was found in Keyes Creek and carbamazepine was found in Sugar Creek. [39]
A counterclockwise circulation of water along the surface of Green Bay is thought to carry cleaner water south along the western shore of the bay, and nutrient-rich water from the Fox River north along the eastern shore of the bay. The circulation is thought to begin south of the mouth of the Oconto River on the west side. It changes direction at Pensaukee, [40] north of Long Tail Point and continues northward to Sturgeon Bay. The position of Long Tail Point marks the east-west division between the two masses of water. [41]
It appears that turbidity in Green Bay is higher than in the past, and that at least some of it is due to human impacts. The passage of large ships causes turbulence in the water to an extent comparable to dredging. Additionally, carp in the bay are known to uproot vegetation which could otherwise filter sediments suspended in the water. [42] When storms stir up water in the bay, microorganisms feed more rapidly on the nutrients. This temporarily depletes oxygen levels. [43]
PCBs from Green Bay have been deposited into the county as windborne dust [45] and off of contaminated waters. [46] The state lists 6.85 miles of the Ahnapee River in Door County as an impaired waterway due to PCB pollution, a designation extending past the county line. [47]
32 beaches are routinely monitored for water quality advisories. [49] Before the state beach monitoring program, an outbreak at Nicolet Beach in Peninsula State Park sickened 68 or 69 people in July 2002. [50] A two-year study of selected Door County beaches concluded that neither the abundance of bird droppings nor bird populations reliably predicted E. coli contamination, [lower-alpha 1] [51] although rainfall was associated with elevated E. coli levels in six out of eight beaches studied. [52] After a rain, E. coli counts may increase up to three times the normal amount and persist at a higher concentration for up to 12 hours. This could be due to increased stormwater drainage, including possible agricultural waste runoff. [53] From 2011–2015, a beach improvement program worked to reduce runoff. [54]
Mats of Cladophora algae provide homes for Salmonella bacteria. [55]
In 2017, farmers spent $2,825,000 on agricultural chemicals, [56] in addition to $5,295,000 on fertilizer, lime, and soil conditioners; [57] as a result agricultural practices are a potential source of nonpoint-source pollution.
Kewaunee County is a county located in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of the 2020 census, the population was 20,563. Its county seat is Kewaunee. The county was created in 1852 and organized in 1859. Its Menominee name is Kewāneh, an archaic name for a species of duck. Kewaunee County is part of the Green Bay, WI Metropolitan Statistical Area as well as the Green Bay-Shawano, WI Combined Statistical Area.
Green Bay is an arm of Lake Michigan, located along the south coast of Michigan's Upper Peninsula and the east coast of Wisconsin. It is separated from the rest of the lake by the Door Peninsula in Wisconsin, the Garden Peninsula in Michigan, and the chain of islands between them, all formed by the Niagara Escarpment. Green Bay is some 120 miles (193 km) long, with a width ranging from about 10 to 20 miles ; it is 1,626 square miles (4,210 km2) in area.
Groundwater is the water present beneath Earth's surface in rock and soil pore spaces and in the fractures of rock formations. About 30 percent of all readily available freshwater in the world is groundwater. A unit of rock or an unconsolidated deposit is called an aquifer when it can yield a usable quantity of water. The depth at which soil pore spaces or fractures and voids in rock become completely saturated with water is called the water table. Groundwater is recharged from the surface; it may discharge from the surface naturally at springs and seeps, and can form oases or wetlands. Groundwater is also often withdrawn for agricultural, municipal, and industrial use by constructing and operating extraction wells. The study of the distribution and movement of groundwater is hydrogeology, also called groundwater hydrology.
Environmental remediation is the cleanup of hazardous substances dealing with the removal, treatment and containment of pollution or contaminants from environmental media such as soil, groundwater, sediment. Remediation may be required by regulations before development of land revitalization projects. Developers who agree to voluntary cleanup may be offered incentives under state or municipal programs like New York State's Brownfield Cleanup Program. If remediation is done by removal the waste materials are simply transported off-site for disposal at another location. The waste material can also be contained by physical barriers like slurry walls. The use of slurry walls is well-established in the construction industry. The application of (low) pressure grouting, used to mitigate soil liquefaction risks in San Francisco and other earthquake zones, has achieved mixed results in field tests to create barriers, and site-specific results depend upon many variable conditions that can greatly impact outcomes.
The Rocky Mountain Arsenal was a United States chemical weapons manufacturing center located in the Denver Metropolitan Area in Commerce City, Colorado. The site was completed December 1942, operated by the United States Army throughout the later 20th century and was controversial among local residents until its closure in 1992.
Soil contamination, soil pollution, or land pollution as a part of land degradation is caused by the presence of xenobiotic (human-made) chemicals or other alteration in the natural soil environment. It is typically caused by industrial activity, agricultural chemicals or improper disposal of waste. The most common chemicals involved are petroleum hydrocarbons, polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons, solvents, pesticides, lead, and other heavy metals. Contamination is correlated with the degree of industrialization and intensity of chemical substance. The concern over soil contamination stems primarily from health risks, from direct contact with the contaminated soil, vapour from the contaminants, or from secondary contamination of water supplies within and underlying the soil. Mapping of contaminated soil sites and the resulting clean ups are time-consuming and expensive tasks, and require expertise in geology, hydrology, chemistry, computer modelling, and GIS in Environmental Contamination, as well as an appreciation of the history of industrial chemistry.
Arsenic contamination of groundwater is a form of groundwater pollution which is often due to naturally occurring high concentrations of arsenic in deeper levels of groundwater. It is a high-profile problem due to the use of deep tube wells for water supply in the Ganges Delta, causing serious arsenic poisoning to large numbers of people. A 2007 study found that over 137 million people in more than 70 countries are probably affected by arsenic poisoning of drinking water. The problem became a serious health concern after mass poisoning of water in Bangladesh. Arsenic contamination of ground water is found in many countries throughout the world, including the US.
Newport State Park is a 2,373-acre (960 ha) Wisconsin state park at the tip of Door Peninsula near Europe Lake. Protecting 11 miles (18 km) of shoreline on Lake Michigan, Newport is Wisconsin's only wilderness-designated state park. The park is open year-round and can be accessed via WIS 42.
Havertown Superfund is a 13-acre polluted groundwater site in Havertown, Pennsylvania contaminated by the dumping of industrial waste by National Wood Preservers from 1947 to 1991. The state first became aware of the pollution in 1962 and initiated legal action against the owners in 1973 to force them to cleanup the site. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ranked the site the eighth worst cleanup project in the United States. The site was added to the National Priorities List in 1983 and designated as a Superfund cleanup site in the early 1990s. Remediation and monitoring efforts are ongoing and the EPA transferred control of the site to the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection in 2013.
A well is an excavation or structure created on the earth by digging, driving, or drilling to access liquid resources, usually water. The oldest and most common kind of well is a water well, to access groundwater in underground aquifers. The well water is drawn up by a pump, or using containers, such as buckets or large water bags that are raised mechanically or by hand. Water can also be injected back into the aquifer through the well. Wells were first constructed at least eight thousand years ago and historically vary in construction from a simple scoop in the sediment of a dry watercourse to the qanats of Iran, and the stepwells and sakiehs of India. Placing a lining in the well shaft helps create stability, and linings of wood or wickerwork date back at least as far as the Iron Age.
Groundwater remediation is the process that is used to treat polluted groundwater by removing the pollutants or converting them into harmless products. Groundwater is water present below the ground surface that saturates the pore space in the subsurface. Globally, between 25 per cent and 40 per cent of the world's drinking water is drawn from boreholes and dug wells. Groundwater is also used by farmers to irrigate crops and by industries to produce everyday goods. Most groundwater is clean, but groundwater can become polluted, or contaminated as a result of human activities or as a result of natural conditions.
Groundwater pollution occurs when pollutants are released to the ground and make their way into groundwater. This type of water pollution can also occur naturally due to the presence of a minor and unwanted constituent, contaminant, or impurity in the groundwater, in which case it is more likely referred to as contamination rather than pollution. Groundwater pollution can occur from on-site sanitation systems, landfill leachate, effluent from wastewater treatment plants, leaking sewers, petrol filling stations, hydraulic fracturing (fracking) or from over application of fertilizers in agriculture. Pollution can also occur from naturally occurring contaminants, such as arsenic or fluoride. Using polluted groundwater causes hazards to public health through poisoning or the spread of disease.
Water in Arkansas is an important issue encompassing the conservation, protection, management, distribution and use of the water resource in the state. Arkansas contains a mixture of groundwater and surface water, with a variety of state and federal agencies responsible for the regulation of the water resource. In accordance with agency rules, state, and federal law, the state's water treatment facilities utilize engineering, chemistry, science and technology to treat raw water from the environment to potable water standards and distribute it through water mains to homes, farms, business and industrial customers. Following use, wastewater is collected in collection and conveyance systems, decentralized sewer systems or septic tanks and treated in accordance with regulations at publicly owned treatment works (POTWs) before being discharged to the environment.
Bangladesh, with an area of 147,570 km2, features a flood plain landscape and several river systems throughout the country. This landscape provides the major natural resources of water, land, fisheries, forests, and wildlife. The country currently faces several environmental issues which threaten these resources, including groundwater metal contamination, increased groundwater salinity, cyclones and flooding, and sedimentation and changing patterns of stream flow due to watershed mismanagement. Some of these, such as the changing patterns of stream flow and presence of lead in groundwater, can be directly correlated with human activity and industrial processes, while others, such as cyclones and flooding are naturally occurring issues.
Emmell's Septic Landfill (ESL) is a landfill in Galloway Township, New Jersey and takes up about 38 acres of space. The landfill was in operation from 1967 until 1979. ESL disposed of liquid and solid waste including many chemicals such as volatile organic compounds (VOCs), Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs), Trichloroethene and Vinyl chloride which all had their own effect on the environment and community. These chemicals affected the groundwater required millions of dollars to reconstruct the groundwater pathways and provide clean water to residents. The landfill holds a Hazardous Ranking Score of a 50/100, qualifying for the Superfund National Priority List. In August 1999, the state acknowledged the site's contamination and held town meetings and provided research upon the site such as groundwater samples. In July 1997, a sitewide investigation was called upon by the United States Environmental Protection Agency. In total the clean up was estimated to cost $5 million to fund this superfund site, and a grant of $3.9 million was given by the Federal Government under the Recovery Act Funding (Previti). Today, the project is still ongoing however, greatly improved since the landfill was discovered.
Bog Creek Farm, located in Howell Township, New Jersey, is a designated Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Superfund site. Lying on 12 acres of land, Bog Creek Farm is home to several hazardous and life-threatening contamination beginning in 1973 and continuing for a year. Over a decade later, actions began to take place to clean and restore the contaminated soil and water. Bog Creek Farm is situated near several other farms that house horses, growing crops and flowers, and livestock. Less than a mile down the road lies Allaire State Park, a park used by golfers, hunters, and fisherman.
Groundwater pollution, also referred to as groundwater contamination, is not as easily classified as surface water pollution. Groundwater aquifers are susceptible to contamination from sources that may not directly affect surface water bodies.
Contaminated groundwater in the Central Valley of California is a growing problem due to contamination and overuse. This problem is compounded by the overdrafting of underground aquifers.
The Wellhead Protection Program in the 1986 amendments to the Safe Drinking Water Act requires states to protect underground sources of drinking water from contaminants that may adversely affect human health. Over half of the U.S. population relies on groundwater for drinking water However, residential, municipal, commercial, industrial, and agricultural activities can all contaminate groundwater. In the event of contamination, a community's drinking water supply can develop poor quality or be lost altogether. Groundwater contamination occurs from products such as oil, chemicals, gasoline, or other toxic substances to infiltrate groundwater. These products can travel through soil and seep into the groundwater; this process can occur through landfills, septic tanks, mining sites, fertilization, etc. Groundwater contamination might not be detected for a long period of time and health problems can occur from drinking contaminated water. Cleanup of a contaminated underground source of drinking water may be impossible or so difficult it costs thousands or millions of dollars. The U.S. Congress requiring Wellhead Protection Programs by 42 U.S.C. § 300h–7 in the Safe Drinking Water Act applied the concept that it is better to prevent groundwater contamination than try to remediate it. U.S. Congress by 42 U.S.C. § 300h–7 requires identification of the areas that need implementation of control measures in order to protect public water supply wells from contamination as "wellhead protection areas". Communities can use the police power established by the Tenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution to enforce zoning and subdivision regulations to protect drinking water sources. Thereby communities can direct development away from areas that would pose a threat to drinking water sources.
The Chernobyl disaster remains the major and most detrimental nuclear catastrophe which completely altered the radioactive background of the Northern Hemisphere. It happened in April 1986 on the territory of the former Soviet Union. The catastrophe led to the increase of radiation in nearly one million times in some parts of Europe and North America compared to the pre-disaster state. Air, water, soils, vegetation and animals were contaminated to a varying degree. Apart from Ukraine and Belarus as the worst hit areas, adversely affected countries included Russia, Austria, Finland and Sweden. The full impact on the aquatic systems, including primarily adjacent valleys of Pripyat river and Dnieper river, are still unexplored.
