Studies of the terrestrial environment in the Wawa area, 1998-1999 [electronic resource] PDF
Preview Studies of the terrestrial environment in the Wawa area, 1998-1999 [electronic resource]
Studies of the Terrestrial Environment in the Wawa Area, 1998-1999 October 1999 Ontario Ministry ofthe Environment Studies of the Terrestrial Environment Wawa in the Area 1998-1999 October 1999 Cettepublicationtechnique n'estdisponiblequ'enanglais. Copyright: Queen'sPrinterforOntario, 1999 Thispublicationmaybereproducedfornon-commercial purposeswithappropriateattribution. © ISBN 0-7778-9220-0 PffiS 3918e PhytotoxicologyStudiesinthe WawaArea, 1998-1999 Executive Summary TheOntarioMinistryoftheEnvironment hasbeenconducting studiesoftheimpact ofthe AlgomaOreDivision (AOD) sinteringplantinWawaontheterrestrial environment since 1969. These studies, whichuntil recentlyfocussed onthefumekillzonetothenortheastofWawa, documented soil andvegetationcontaminationwithiron, arsenic, andto alesserdegreewith sulphurand manganese. Chronicexposureto highlevelsofSO, overmanydecadeshas completelydestroyedtheboreal forestinthefumekill zone. Contaminantlevelsintreefoliage havefalleninrecentyearsproportionalto abatement initiatives andproduction changesatAOD, until 1998 whenAOD ceased operations. Soil arsenicconcentrations, which showaclear AOD contaminationgradientrelativeto (highestcloseand directlydownwind), haveremained essentiallyunchanged overthemonitoringperiod. Soil arseniclevels exceedtheMOE soil clean- upguidelineof20/^g/goveralargeareainthefume killzone. Theguidelineisbased on phytotoxicity, not humanhealth. In 1998 thefirst studieswhichfocussed ontheWawatownsitewere conducted. Soil arsenic concentrationsconsistentlyexceededtheguideline at sitesinthewesternhalfofthetown, approaching 1,000 //g/gin surface soilneartheAODgate. Follow-up samplingin 1999better definedtheextent ofsoil arsenic contaminationonresidential and publicgreen spacepropertiesin thetownofWawa. All school playgroundsand most public parks had soil arseniclevelsthat werebelowthe20jug/gguideline, asdid residential propertiesintheeast halfofthetown. Soil arseniclevelsincreasedgraduallyto thewest and northintheWawatownsite, withthehighest concentrations occurringonresidential properties on GovernmentRoad nearestAOD. Although the extent ofsoil arseniccontaminationisfairlywell defined inthetownsite, itisnotwell characterized immediately southwest, west, andnorthwest ofAOD. Additional soil samplingis scheduledforthefall of1999to addressthisinformationgap. TheMOE inconjunctionwiththeMedical OfficerofHealth forPrinceEdward andHastings Countiesconducted anexhaustivelythoroughhealthrisk assessment andhealthstudyofarsenic contaminationinthevillageofDeloro. On averagethe soil arsenicconcentrations ofresidential and publicgreen spaceproperties inDeloro wereabout doublethose inWawa. TheMOE study concludedthat the soil arsenic contaminationinDeloro wasnot ahealthproblem. TheDeloro studywaspeer-reviewedbyan international expert panel who concurredwiththereport's findings. The arsenic andmetal contamination intheAODfumekill zonemaybehigh enoughtoinhibitthe natural progressionofvegetationinthemost severelyimpactedarea. Further studiesare warrantedto definetheextent ofcontaminationinthefumekillzoneand determinethe suitability ofthe soilto sustainforesttreegrowth. ReportNumberSDB-047-3511-1999 PhytotoxicologyStudiesinthe WawaArea 1998-1999 Studies ofthe Terrestrial Environment in the Wawa Area, 1998-1999 Table ofContents TableofContents ijj ListofTables jv ListofFigures v INTRODUCTION I. 1 II SAMPLINGANDCHEMICALANALYSES OFVEGETATIONANDSOIL 3 A. ProgramOutline 3 B. ChemicalAnalysisResults 6 a) ElementalAnalysisofPaperBirchFoliage 6 i) Sulphur 6 li) Iron 6 ii) Arsenic 7 iv) Manganese 7 b) ElementalAnalysisofSoil 15 i) Sulphur 15 ii) Iron 16 iii) Arsenic 16 iv) Manganese 17 III SOIL SAMPLINGE\TTHETOWNOFWAWA(1998and 1999) 22 A. ProgramOutline 22 B. ChemicalAnalysis Results 23 i) Arsenic 23 ii) Iron 24 in) Manganese 24 iv) OtherElements 25 IV VEGETATIONCOMMUNITIES INTHEWAWAAREA 34 A. ProgramOutline 34 B. StudyResults 34 i) PlantSpecies 34 ii) VegetationCover 35 iii) Injun- 35 V. SUMMARYANDADDITIONALCOMMENTS 44 VI BIBLIOGRAPHY 47 VII ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 50 .APPENDICES 51 ReportS'umberSDB-047-3511-1999 iii PhytotoxicologyStudiesinthe WawaArea, 1998-1999 ListofTables Table 1. List ofsites sampled forsoil andvegetationchemistryintheWawaarea, 1969- 1999 4 Table2. Mean concentrationsofsulphurinpaperbirchfoliage collectedintheWawaarea from 1969to 1998 11 Table3. Mean concentrationsofironinpaperbirchfoliagecollected intheWawaareafrom 1970to 1998 12 Table4 Mean concentrations ofarsenicin paperbirchfoliagecollectedintheWawaarea from 1970to 1998 13 Table5. Mean concentrations ofmanganeseinpaperbirchfoliagecollectedintheWawa areafrom 1976 to 1998 14 Table6. Meanconcentrationsofsulphurinsurface soil collected intheWawaareafrom 1970to 1998 18 Table 7. Meanconcentrationofiron in surface soil collected intheWawaareaaspartof theRegular SurveillanceProgram, 1970-1995 19 Table8. Mean concentration ofarsenicinsurfacesoil collectedintheWawaareaaspart of theRegular SurveillanceProgram, 1970-1998 20 Table9. Mean concentration ofmanganesein surface soil collected intheWawaareaas part oftheRegular SurveillanceProgram, 1976-1995 21 Table 10a,b,c. Meanconcentration ofchemical elementsin surface soil (0-5 cm)collectedinthe Wawaareaaspart oftheRegular SurveillanceProgram, 1970-1995 ... 27, 29, 31 Table 11. Summaryofvascularfloraobserved at study sitesintheWawaarea, July, 1998 37 Table 12 Summary ofvascularflora speciestotalsobserved at studysitesintheWawaarea, July, 1998 41 Table 13. Summaryofvegetationcover* bydifferenttypesofvegetationat study sitesinthe Wawaarea, July, 1998 42 Table 14. Summary ofassessment ofS02 injuryto selectplant speciesintheWawaarea, July, 1998 42 ReportNumberSDB-047-3511-1999 PhvtotoxicologiStudiesinthe WawaArea, 1998-1999 List of Figures Figure 1. LocationsofpaperbirchplotsintheWawaarea. 1969 to 1995 5 Figure2 Trendsin sulphurconcentrationinpaperbirchfoliage at selected monitoring sites intheWawa area. 1969to 1998 8 Figure 3 Trendsinironconcentrationin paperbirchfoliage at selected monitoring sites in theWawaarea, 1970to 1998 9 Figure4 Trendsin arsenicconcentrationinpaperbirchfoliageat selected monitoring sites in theWawaarea. 1970to 1998 10 Figure 5 Locations ofsoil samplinglocationsinthevicinityoftheTownofWawa, 1998to 1999 26 Figure 6 Distributionofarsenic in surface soil inthevicinityofWawa. 1997to 1999 ... 33 Wawa Figure 7. Percent ground coverbyvarioustypes ofvegetationat study sites inthe area, July, 1998 43 ReportXumberSDB-047-3511-1999 PhytotoxicologyStudiesinthe WawaArea, 1998-1999 INTRODUCTION I. Largeiron ore depositswerediscovered intheWawaOntario areainthe latepart ofthe 19th century. OreproductionattheHelenMinelocatednearthetown ofWawabeganin 1900to supplythe steel millsat Sault Ste. Marie. Afteraperiod ofeconomicproblems, controlling interest inthemineoperationsatWawawereacquiredby SirJamesDunnin 1935. In 1939, the Algoma Steel Corporationconstructedthefirstironore sinterplant at Wawato processthe ore minedfromthesedeposits. Thisoperation, knownasthe AlgomaOreDivision(AOD), was expanded in 1949. The sintering operation ceased inJune 1998 and sitedecommissioningwasundertaken immediately. In conjunctionwiththeplantclosure, theOntarioMinistryoftheEnvironment (MOE)undertook studiesto documentthe statusoftheterrestrial environment atthattime. Thesestudiesincluded monitoringatpreviouslyestablished sitesinthearea, mainlytothe northeast oftheWawatownsite, aswell asat siteswithinthetownofWawa. Thisreport summarizestheadditional datacollected at the sitesintheWawaareain 1998 aswell as soil samplingconducted intheWawatownsitein 1998 and 1999. ThesettingforthesituationatWawamust includeadescriptionoftheoperationand somehistory ofassociated activitiesofthevariousagenciesinvolved. Thesinteringprocessimprovedthe physicalpropertiesofironoreforsubsequent useinblastfurnaces. Intheinitial sinteringprocess (1939- 1954), ironorewithahigh sulphurcontent (15% sulphur)washeated andthewaste gaseswereexhaustedthroughtwo46-metre stacks. Undertheinfluenceofthe stronglyprevailing southwesterlywinds, the emissionswerecarriednortheast ofthe sinterplantintothegeneral area oftheMagpieRivervalley. Theemissionsweremainlycomposed ofsulphurdioxide(S02), but alsoincluded nitrogen(N2), nitrogenoxides(NOJ, and metallicparticulate. Thehigh concentrationsofS0 severelydamaged most ofthevegetationforapproximately 13 kmtothe 2 northeast. Beyondthisseverelydamagedarea, vegetationwithpartial kill and lightdamage graduallymergedwithvegetationdisplaying lessinjury, untilnormalconditionsprevailedat approximately 50 kmtothenortheast. Themostheavilyimpacted areas areverydryandthedead vegetationwaspronetoforestfires. Anumberofforestfireshaveoccurredperiodicallyinthe areaandmuchofthevegetationcoverand organic surface soilhasbeenlost. Insomeplaces, the ground surfaceiscompletelybareand consistsofbarerockorgravelly soil. Inmanyplaces, the baresoil hasbeencolonizedto afairextentbygrasses, butthishas notbeenformallyassessed. In 1954and 1958, two newstacks, each 76 metresinheight, wereerected and, commencingin 1962, theplantutilized ironorewithalow sulphurcontent(lessthan4%) duringthegrowing season. Thesemeasuresweretakeninordertoreduceatmospheric S02 concentrationswith concomitantreductions in injurytovegetationand improvedenvironmental qualityinthevicinity of Wawa. AControl Order, issuedbytheMOEonJanuary4, 1971, limitedthe SO, emissions ReportNumberSDB-047-3511-1999 Page 1 of 58 PhvtotoxicoloeyStudiesinthe HmaArea, 1998-1999 fromthe sinterplant to 4200tonnes perweekduringthegrowing season (May 5 - September 15) and 6000tonnes perweek duringthe non-growing season (September 16 -May4). Aspart ofan emission reduction program, afurtherControl Order, issued onJuly4, 1978, hadthe sinterplant operation control S0 emissions through production cutbacksbased onweatherforecastsand S0 2 2 dispersionmodelling. Variousprograms and studieshavebeenundertakenbytheMOE and othergroups since 1969to investigate, assess, and monitortheterrestrial effects ofthe sinterplantastheyrelateto AOD [7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 23, 25, 27]. Theseprogramsincluded establishmentof several surveillance plotsinwhich soil andvegetationwereperiodically sampled andanalysedfor elements associatedwith emissions fromthe sinterplant. Vegetationwithintheseplotswas visually assessed forinjuryresulting fromtheemissions. Other studieswith specific objectives havebeenundertaken in support oftheaforementioned investigations. Thesehavebeenincluded in aMOE summaryreport forthe period endingin 1995 [19]. TheMOE also conducted a study to document contaminantlevels inwild ediblefruit in 1997 [20]. Responsibilityformonitoring of theterrestrial environment intheWawaareahasbeenheld bythree differentMOE officesin recentyears, themost recent ofwhich isthePhytotoxicologyand Soil Standards Sectionofthe StandardsDevelopmentBranch. From 1976to 1984the condition ofeasternwhitepinetreesgrowing inthe areatotheeast of Wawawasinvestigated because concern wasraisedthat theyellowing ofthefoliagemightbe relatedto SO: emissionsfromthe AOD sinterplant. Whitepineis knownto be sensitivetoa numberofairpollutants [2,3,4,6, 8]. The investigationfailedto reveal anyrelationship with S02 but ozonelikelyplayed arolein the discoloured foliage seen onwhite pinefoliageinNorthern Ontario [22]. Inadditionto S02, arsenic, iron, anMdOmaEnganesewereidentifiedasthe main contaminantsemitted bythe sinterplant, as reported in a report [19]. These elementswerefoundto accumulate in soil andvegetation inthezonenortheast ofWawa, and at sitesin closeproximityto the sinter plant intheothercompass directions. Withthedevelopment ofsoil clean-up guidelinesin 1997 [26], properinterpretation ofsoil datawasfeasible. Soil samplingwithinthetownofWawawas undertakenin September 1998 and inJuly 1999to delineatethezoneofimpactwithrespectto potential environmental concernsregarding concentrations ofvarious chemicals, butwith specific referenceto arsenic [1] and manganese [5]. Thisreport includestheresults ofthe soil investigation conducted inthetown ofWawain 1998 and 1999. ReportNumberSDB-047-3511-1999 Page2 of 58
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