Global View Page 1
This page and the next summarize some recent examples of pollution that have occurred locally. Try to connect these examples to the concepts explained in the book.
Guide Inc. Spill
Guide, Inc. manufactures headlight and taillight components for General Motors. Located on the White River northeast of Indianapolis in the city of Anderson, they were held responsible for a spill that occurred in late 1999. Wanting to avoid the costs of properly disposing a hazardous chemical, workers at the plant dumped water contaminated with the chemical HMP-2000 down the drain of the plant. They dumped it through a burlap sack thinking the sack would remove the contaminant.
The pollutant traveled to the sewage treatment plant, where workers immediately noticed a problem, but violating state law, never acted upon the problem or alerted the proper officials. The pollutant went into the White River from the plant, and killed all fish between Anderson and Broad Ripple. 187 tons of fish died. Additionally, the pollutant entered the drinking water system of Indianapolis because both Guide and the city of Anderson failed to act on the pollution. The company was fined $14 million for the action, and Anderson was fined as well.
Could this happen again? Of course! As auto parts suppliers are squeezed to make their products cheaper by the major auto companies, coupled with an edict in April 2005 by General Motors that more parts should be made in China, skimping on disposal of hazardous chemicals is an easy way to save money.
Pohlmann Hog Farm
Did you think the Pigs and Politics debate only mattered in North Carolina? (Remember this link from the Scientific Method Module?) Well, it happens here in Indiana as well. After all, everyone wants their $.99 hamburger to come with bacon.
A 35,000 hog factory farm operates along Little Sugar Creek near Crawfordsville. Between 1979 and 2002 the owner continuously spilled large amounts of animal manure into the waterways, polluting a very popular fishing creek that also runs through two of the most popular state parks in the state. Many factory farms or consolidated feeding operations (animals are squeezed in warehouses in small pens to be raised for slaughter). CFOs, which can have up to 50,000 animals per site, generate as much sewage as a large metropolitan city like Indianapolis; yet, they are the size of a regular farm.
This enormous amount of sewage sits in lagoons, where it easily drains into groundwater supplies or overflows into creeks during rainstorms. Often, the sewage is sprayed on nearby farmland to keep it from overflowing. Environmental regulations still have not caught up to this common livestock raising practice. Consumer demand for $.99 hamburgers and chicken nuggets drives the CFO business model, whereby lower prices bring business practices that create significantly more pollution.
What is the effect? Over 80% of Indiana’s streams are polluted with E. coli and fecal coliforms (and any other pathogen/parasite that comes along with that fecal waste). We only measure E. coli, but we use it as an indicator of other fecal pathogens. To be safe for us to get in the water, the EPA says that an E. coli test should result in n more than 235 colony forming units per 100 mL. This test tells us how many E. coli bacteria are alive (to multiple into colonies) in 100 mL of water.
How bad is it? On rainy days when runoff from these CFOs is at its highest, these can be as high as the millions; but we don’t need a rainy day for most cases. However, because of the constant filling-up of these lagoons, they constantly “leak,” resulting in our streams almost always exceeding the 235 CFU limit for full body contact.
Want to see how your streams stack up? See the IDEM 303 d list of impaired water bodies. Download the excel document (first bulleted item on the page) then use the search tool to find a stream near you. You can also see the Marion County Health Departments bi-weekly monitoring results of many streams here in Marion County. (Download the 2009 data set. It’s an excel sheet. Use the tabs across the bottom to click to the results for a stream near you. Just look at the White River at Raymond Street as an example. Anyone get in the water in September of 2009? Measurements show more than 20,000 CFU/ 100 mL at that time.) In Indiana, E. coli is a huge issue with our streams. We get E. coli from CFOs, failing septic tanks, and our own combined sewer overflows. It’s a ton of crap! (The links in this paragraph are not required reading.)
Could more CFOs appear? Governor Mitch Daniels made a campaign promise to "streamline" environmental regulations to increase the number of CFOs in Indiana. The streamlining done in other states has meant removal of environmental regulations, but it also can mean forcing CFO operators to pay for the proper pollution reduction equipment if they want to operate. Without federal standards, Indiana has to adopt the low standards of other states to keep its livestock business competitive. (This link is not required reading.)