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The WMRC Laboratory staff seeks solutions to environmental problems posed by research scientists, businesses, and educators. During Fiscal Year 05, WMRC served 58 different clients from industry, state government, the public, and the Illinois university research community. The Lab issued 282 laboratory data reports, having analyzed 27,174 constituents in 4,068 distinct samples.
Equipment funding was limited during the fiscal year, but the laboratory services group was able to replace its sterilizer system that was original equipment when the WMRC headquarters building opened in 1990. In addition, the group solicited some funding from the Illinois Terrorism Task Force (ITTF) to assist with the maintenance of the research grade gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer (GC/MS) purchased in FY04.
Revitalizing the Lake Calumet region
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The Lake Calumet area in Chicago is a site of former landfills and abandoned industrial facilities. The Illinois Department of Natural Resources funded a study at the Illinois Waste Management and Research Center and the Illinois State Water Survey to investigate background concentrations of toxic environmental contaminants in the south Chicago area. The study, funded through the Environmental Protection Trust Fund, was undertaken to provide background information on environmental contaminants in support of Chicago Department of Environment's efforts to revitalize wetlands in the Calumet region of South Chicago.
An important component of the revitalization effort is defining ecotoxicological risks in these environments. Criteria to minimize such risks were developed by the Calumet Ecotoxicology Protocol Technical Team. Surface water and sediment background concentrations for the region's wetlands were identified as lacking. Eight ponds and lakes were sampled for surface waters and sediments. The samples were analyzed for a variety of toxic metal and organic constituents as well as a number of major constituents and other system properties.
Heron study
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| Photo courtesy of the Illinois Natural History Survey |
Sample analysis for the WMRC funded Black-Crowned Night Heron study in the Lake Calumet region has been completed. A total of 196 samples were analyzed at the WMRC laboratory. The organic contaminant list included 27 polychlorinated biphenyl congeners (PCBs), 11 organochlorine pesticides (OCs) and metabolites, and 15 polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Samples included 93 fish samples, 59 embryo samples, 24 chick regurgitate samples and 20 crayfish samples. Samples representative of the typical prey the herons were eating and feeding to the young were collected by electroshocking in areas where the herons were observed to forage. The embryo samples were collected from three different locations -- the Calumet black-crowned night heron colony, a colony in Virginia, and a colony in Minnesota. Regurgitate samples were collected from the nesting colony, and consisted mainly of alewives.
Calumet area fish samples showed elevated levels of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). The concentrations varied depending on the location in which they were collected and the species. In particular, the bottom-feeding minnows had some of the highest levels. WMRC-generated PCB congener profiles allowed researchers to show that alewives collected from a sampling site on Lake Michigan were the same as those in regurgitate samples collected from the young herons. A number of the samples showed high levels of chlorinated pesticides and metabolites, especially DDE. Heron embryos in the Calumet region showed substantially higher levels of the PCBs and pesticides than did embryos collected in other regions of the country.
Investigating Coal Ash Leachate for the Power Generation Industry
Arsenic and selenium can exist in the environment in numerous toxic chemical forms. It is important to understand the sources of environmental contamination by these elements so that the appropriate remediation actions can be taken to mitigate it. One suspected source of such contamination is the collection of huge settling ponds of coal ash associated with the electric power generation industry. Rainwater may filter through the ponds and leach trace levels of arsenic and selenium from the ash into the groundwater.
WMRC Senior Analytical Chemist Jonathan Talbott is collaborating with several researchers from private industry and the Energy Power Research Institute (EPRI) to investigate characteristics of coal ash, such as its mineral structure and chemical composition, that affect the mobility of arsenic and selenium originating from the ash. In an effort to determine what factors have the greatest influence on the solubility of arsenic and selenium from coal ash, the researchers are evaluating:
- characteristics of the leachate, such as its pH;
- the forms of arsenic and selenium leached;
- the solubility of other elements;
- the physical and chemical characteristics of the original coal itself;
- the coal source; weathering conditions;
- operating conditions at the power plant during coal combustion.
Education outreach
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The WMRC Laboratory continued its long-standing tradition of providing training to Chemistry students at Parkland Community College. Parkland students receive training in both organic and inorganic chemistry. The students tour the WMRC labs, receive short lectures on procedures at equipment, and receive demonstrations on the analysis of samples. This association between WMRC and Parkland chemistry students goes back almost 10 years.
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