| The show highlights three case studies-Santa Monica Bay, the Mississippi River Basin/Gulf of Mexico, and New York City-where polluted runoff threatens watersheds highly valued for recreation, commercial fisheries and navigation, and drinking water. Key scientists and water quality experts, and citizens involved in local and national watershed protection efforts provide insight into the problems as well as solutions to today's water quality challenges. After the Storm also explains simple things people can do to protect their local watershed-such as picking up after one's dog, recycling household hazardous wastes, and conserving water. The program is intended for educational and communication purposes in classrooms, conferences, etc. |
EPA 840-V-04-001
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| Mobile Bay, AL, was the scene of a joint United States-Canadian study designed to measure the environmental impact of burning spilled oil as a cleanup technique. The experiment was comprised of a series of test burns of oil spilled into a large open tank. Particulate and gaseous emissions from the burn were measured, and the data was used to assess potential environmental impact. This experiment supported an open ocean burn conducted in Canada during the summer of 1993. Running time is 8 minutes. |
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| During the late 1960s, a ravine in rural woodlands in Douglas County, GA, was used as an illegal dumping area for industrial solvents, paint removers, and other toxic wastes. Contamination at this site was so severe that excavation of the soil was not feasible because of the potential for dangerous levels of fugitive emissions. This video highlights the unique multiphase cleanup of the site, which involved erecting a prefab building over the contaminated area to control and treat toxic vapors released from the soil. Running time is 6 minutes. |
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| Clandestine methamphetamine labs have been implicated in fires, explosions, toxic chemical releases, and hazardous waste dumping. Experts anticipate these problems to proliferate as methamphetamine use spreads across the United States. “Cooks" with little or no training use chemicals from local drugstores, equipment from hardware stores, and recipes from the Internet. Cooks may be drug users, or they may be involved with drug cartels. Their main concern is maintaining their supply of methamphetamine, without regard to the safety of their children or neighbors. Labs may be small and mobile, or they may blend in with the surrounding neighborhood, making them hard to locate until a disaster occurs. Teams of trained specialists from the USEPA assist police officers and firefighters in shutting down laboratory operations safely, cleaning up contaminated areas, and disposing of hazardous materials. These response teams are trained to handle unlabeled containers, unknown mixtures of chemicals, and high concentrations of toxic or explosive fumes. This video lists telltale signs of illicit drug lab activities. The video shows precautions to follow when a lab or dump site is discovered, and it gives contact information regarding the Superfund’s response training program. Running time is 25 minutes. |
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| How do you clean up thousands of tons of contaminated soil? Conventional cleanup methods are costly and often ineffective. A newly developing technique called 'phytoremediation' takes advantage of the natural abilities of plants to contain and remove toxic materials from soil and groundwater. At the Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland, waste pits containing toxic residues threatened the wildlife and water supply in a nearby wetland area. A field-scale pilot project at this site uses poplar trees to contain the toxic materials in a limited area and possibly degrade these materials into nontoxic byproducts. At a former battery manufacturing facility in Trenton, New Jersey, a field of lead-tolerant plants is removing lead from the soil around the outside of the factory building. Residents of the surrounding urban neighborhood police the site, protecting it from intruders. Running time is 15 minutes. |
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| An explosion at an Elizabeth, NJ, site resulted in a 5-year Superfund cleanup effort, where 182 unmarked cylinders were left untouched because of a lack of any safe and legal means for their disposal. A new technology, the Cylinder Recovery Vessel (CRV), successfully cleaned up the site in 3 months, This video depicts the step-by-step cylinder cleanup using the CRV. Running time is 13 minutes. |
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| This video highlights a unique site consisting of two different locations within Richland County, South Carolina. After a large explosion resulted in the death of Divex’s site operator, the U.S. EPA, working in conjunction with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, the Department of Defense, the Army Corps of Engineers, and the U.S. Coast Guard Strike Force, determines the extent of contamination at the chemical company’s site. The cleanup personnel perform many dangerous tasks, including identifying and moving scores of unknown volatile chemicals and detonating 40,000 pounds of explosives. Running time is 22 minutes. |
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| In Matthews, NC, EPA Region IV was faced with the formidable task of identification and disposal of 5,000 contaminant-filled drums from an abandoned warehouse. Various wastes were contained in the drums including ethylene glycol, peroxides, acids, and flammable liquids and solids. An on-site laboratory was set up at the small 2-acre site to aid in the characterization of wastes, allowing compatible waste streams to be 'bulked' for disposal. Running time is 6 minutes. |
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| Our lakes, rivers, and bays are part of our precious scenic and recreational natural resources while also comprising a vital component of our transportation system. These aquatic resources also have tremendous economic value through commercial fishing, commercial transport and recreational activities. The USEPA estimates that the bottom sediments in 10% of these waters contain hazardous chemicals from industrial processes, which often contaminate the fish population and threaten the health of the animals and people who eat them. Removing these contaminated sediments by navigational dredging often aggravates the problem. Environmental dredging utilizes special equipment and procedures to remove the sediments with a minimum of impact on the aquatic resource. This is accomplished by controlling the degree to which contaminated sediments are re-suspended in the water, and carefully monitoring the impact of the dredging on the aquatic environment. Running time is 7 minutes. |
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| Approximately 100 yrs. ago a crude oil pipeline with 28 pumping stations ran through northern New Jersey. Although now defunct, over the years oil from the Newfoundland Pumping Station has entered the soil. With the heavy rains of 1998, 120,000 gallons of crude oil broke through the confining layer of the subsurface and threatened the Charlottsburg Reservoir. A subsurface pumping mechanism is being used to interfere with the oil flow to the reservoir and recover enough oil to eliminate any threat to the area, protecting the historic and environmentally sensitive surroundings. Running time is 6 minutes. |
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| A number of governmental, academic, and private sector organizations have articulated innovative strategies for performing hazardous site characterization and remediation in a more efficient and cost-effective manner. Certain basic elements are common to all these strategies, and the cost-effectiveness and practicality of this approach has been demonstrated in a number of settings. This document was prepared by Tufts University in cooperation with U.S. EPA Region 1, and funded under President Clinton's Environmental Technology Initiative. |
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| Seventy years ago the Illinois Basin Oil Fields were abandoned due to declining production and the low price of crude oil. Unfortunately, some of the wells were decommissioned improperly, and now pose a threat to the local groundwater and the environment in general. Region IV and the ERT have stepped in to evaluate the situation and plug the wells. The equipment used to determine the well conditions and the local stratigraphy are detailed and the techniques used to plug the 500-600ft. deep wells are described. Running time is 7 minutes. |
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| An abandoned electroplating company in Sarasota, Florida was the site for the emergency removal of contaminated soils. Since the water table was so close to the surface, an on-site dewatering operation and water treatment facility was the most cost effective way to treat the 400,000 gallons of contaminated groundwater. During this three year project for the EPA Region IV team, wells were installed to determine groundwater contamination from cyanide, VOCs, and various heavy metals. This video demonstrates the steps taken to install these systems. Running time is 10 minutes. |
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| On October 11, 2000, a coal slurry impoundment in Martin County, KY collapsed, causing a release of 250 million gallons of coal waste into two separate river basins. The spill posed a major threat to the environment, effecting 100 miles of waterways, causing 5 water treatment plants to shut down, and creating a state of emergency in 10 counties. Thirty-six agencies responded, forming a unified command structure to handle the cleanup which involved 540 cleanup personnel. Some of the coal sludge was physically removed by mixing it with lime, loading it onto trucks, and hauling it to earthen impoundments. Settling ponds were also used to allow the heavier portions of the coal slurry to separate from the water phase. Weir dams were employed to filter some of the water and to provide flood control. After the cleanup, the restoration of private properties and temporary impoundments was initiated. Running time is 21 minutes. |
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| Prior to the U.S. EPA’s ban on toxaphene in 1986, this pesticide was used regularly on the Navajo Nation to treat cattle and sheep. As much as 20,000 gallons of the pesticide were used daily and then discarded in some 250 pit sites, two of which are now the center of bioremediation activities being conducted by U.S. EPA Region IX, the Navajo Superfund Office, and the U.S. EPA/ERT. Running time is 10 minutes. |
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| The clean-up may be complete, but the soils at clean-up sites are now devoid of vegetation. In the past, hydroseeding large areas was the accepted revegetation method. Today, incorporating regional expertise and scientific research, revegetation is done using native plant species, giving better erosion control, longer plant life spans, and greater drought tolerance. Jump-starting an open area with native vegetation keeps invasives out while attracting larger and more diverse populations of wildlife. In turn, the area becomes a richer, self sustaining habitat with each passing year. Native plants are the new standard for revegetation of former hazardous waste sites. Running time is 9 minutes. |
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| At the Summitville Mine site in Colorado, highly contaminated water runs through an abandoned mine shaft. The investigation that is underway focuses on the presence and nature of fractures in the adjacent rock where the water could migrate, leach metals, and eventually contaminate the environment downstream. Engineers at the site believe plugging the shaft can control the contaminant flow leaving the mine while inhibiting the leaching process. In this presentation, the Environmental Response cameras highlight the challenges of solving the environmental problems at this site. Running time is 10 minutes. |
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| The learning experiences of 12 students from Washington D.C.’s Duke Ellington School for the Gifted and Talented are chronicled while the group attends a 6-week internship at the U.S. EPA headquarters. Filmed during the summer of 1989, the video illustrates the highlights of the students’ experiences both in the classroom and on field trips to the Coast Guard National Response Center, a Superfund site, a laboratory, and an emergency response team location. Running time is 12 minutes. |
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| Approximately 50,000 gals. of gasoline leaked from underground storage tank in the Hazleton, PA area, producing a vapor threat to about 400 homes from the flow of the gasoline into sanitary sewer lines. In 1993, the PADER found that the gas was migrating through the sewer trench. Sewer vent traps were installed and an underflow drain was constructed to reduce the flow of gasoline in the Black Creek waterway. In 1996, the USEPA/ERT and the USACE developed a computer model to track the flow of the spill and installed soil-vapor extraction systems. A response and cleanup plan was instituted, includuing placing sewer vent traps in all the homes, installing temporary carbon-air filtration systems where necessary, installing soil-vapor recovery systems, and replacement of part of the sewer line. Additional soil-vapor extraction and biosparging was used to reduce the gasoline plume. A community information trailer was set up on the property to serve as a clearinghouse for the residents, with daily and weekly fact sheets and press releases. Running time is 14 minutes. |
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| Bioremediation, a procedure that is widely used in the petroleum industry, is being used to clean the petroleum-contaminated soil at a 25-acre abandoned refinery near the town of Lovell, Wyoming. Bioremediation uses microorganisms to break down petroleum wastes into nontoxic end products. Bioremediation is conducted on-site and is less energy-intensive than conventional methods. The Lovell site is in its third year of treatment. Periodic testing is done to ensure that petroleum contamination levels continue to decrease and that the microorganism populations remain healthy and active. Running time is 8 minutes. |
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