150
J. Atkinson
are produced in the Great Lakes region (Macpherson, pers. commun.). Currently,
there are nearly 35 million people living in the basin, and many more are directly
or indirectly affected by the lakes. Therefore, there is significant interest in proper
management to maintain this vital resource.
From a scientific point of view, the Great Lakes have served as a sort ofliving
laboratory, providing valuable data and experience to study the consequences of
different human activities. Despite their size, the lakes are highly responsive (and
susceptible) to different management actions, including pollutant loading
conditions. Due to the concentration of population, combined with a high degree
of use for a wide variety of purposes, the Great Lakes were the first major
ecosystem to exhibit many of the problems traditionally associated with surface
water-quality management. In the US, at least, studies of eutrophication in lakes
were initiated largely because of severe problems in the Great Lakes during the
1950s and 1960s. In a sense, this problem heralded the advent of the modem field
of environmental engineering, as applied to natural systems. Initially, primary
concerns were associated with nutrient management, but in recent years these
issues have given way to problems associated with contaminated sediments,
bioaccumulation of persistent toxic chemicals, and possible risks to human health.
In particular, management of contaminated sediments poses a significant
challenge for protection and restoration of the system.
Despite the importance of the lakes to the people in the basin and to the United
States and Canada as a whole, there is in general a lack of understanding of how
the lakes function as an ecosystem. The specific economic, political, cultural and
quality-of-life relationships between the lakes and the people around their shores
are not well known. An important, and complicating, aspect of understanding the
Great Lakes is that they are in a state of flux due to physical, chemical, biological,
and cultural changes occurring throughout the basin. Some of these changes are
related to human activities and some are expressions of natural variations. There
are concerns with exotic, nonindigenous species, possible long-term climate
changes, fluctuations in water levels, "cold deposition" of chemicals transported
through the atmosphere from other parts of the world, and changes in land use in
contributing watersheds, to name a few. These factors all impact the lakes
separately and in consort, with consequences that are difficult to predict and are
often unforeseen. The purpose of the present chapter is to highlight various
management issues relating to protection of the lakes, as well as to provide a more
in-depth look at the problem of contaminated sediments. Specifically, it is shown
that traditional methods of estimating transport of contaminants from sediments,
usually based on an equilibrium partitioning assumption, may not adequately
represent the problem.
J. Atkinson
are produced in the Great Lakes region (Macpherson, pers. commun.). Currently,
there are nearly 35 million people living in the basin, and many more are directly
or indirectly affected by the lakes. Therefore, there is significant interest in proper
management to maintain this vital resource.
From a scientific point of view, the Great Lakes have served as a sort ofliving
laboratory, providing valuable data and experience to study the consequences of
different human activities. Despite their size, the lakes are highly responsive (and
susceptible) to different management actions, including pollutant loading
conditions. Due to the concentration of population, combined with a high degree
of use for a wide variety of purposes, the Great Lakes were the first major
ecosystem to exhibit many of the problems traditionally associated with surface
water-quality management. In the US, at least, studies of eutrophication in lakes
were initiated largely because of severe problems in the Great Lakes during the
1950s and 1960s. In a sense, this problem heralded the advent of the modem field
of environmental engineering, as applied to natural systems. Initially, primary
concerns were associated with nutrient management, but in recent years these
issues have given way to problems associated with contaminated sediments,
bioaccumulation of persistent toxic chemicals, and possible risks to human health.
In particular, management of contaminated sediments poses a significant
challenge for protection and restoration of the system.
Despite the importance of the lakes to the people in the basin and to the United
States and Canada as a whole, there is in general a lack of understanding of how
the lakes function as an ecosystem. The specific economic, political, cultural and
quality-of-life relationships between the lakes and the people around their shores
are not well known. An important, and complicating, aspect of understanding the
Great Lakes is that they are in a state of flux due to physical, chemical, biological,
and cultural changes occurring throughout the basin. Some of these changes are
related to human activities and some are expressions of natural variations. There
are concerns with exotic, nonindigenous species, possible long-term climate
changes, fluctuations in water levels, "cold deposition" of chemicals transported
through the atmosphere from other parts of the world, and changes in land use in
contributing watersheds, to name a few. These factors all impact the lakes
separately and in consort, with consequences that are difficult to predict and are
often unforeseen. The purpose of the present chapter is to highlight various
management issues relating to protection of the lakes, as well as to provide a more
in-depth look at the problem of contaminated sediments. Specifically, it is shown
that traditional methods of estimating transport of contaminants from sediments,
usually based on an equilibrium partitioning assumption, may not adequately
represent the problem.