Superfund sites

If you ever wondered how oyster reefs are built, it involves a team of dedicated experts and a water cannon. Over the last month, barges have blasted 100,000 bushels of small fossilized oyster shells, called oyster hash, into the Eastern Branch of Virginia’s Elizabeth River. Oyster hash is normally shipped abroad for use as chicken feed, but now it’s laying the foundation for a restoration project that will help the river recover from pollution.

Canoeing down the Kalamazoo River under the shade of trees, watching small fish dart through the shallows, you wouldn’t guess you’re paddling through a hazardous waste site. Michigan, in many ways, is defined by freshwater. It borders four of the five Great Lakes, and Michigan’s interior boasts thousands of inland lakes and river systems.
 

Flowing through southeastern Washington is an approximately 50 mile stretch of the Columbia River known as the Hanford Reach. This unique section of the river is an important habitat for fish and wildlife, including Chinook salmon. This area also served as the birthplace of the atomic bomb at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation.

This blog was written by Kavya Varkey, a high school student from the Seattle area who interned with OR&R in the summer of 2018. Kavya was instrumental in developing the new story map on the Lower Duwamish River Superfund site. An urban river with a history of industrial pollution that began in the 1900s, the Lower Duwamish River continues to undergo both cleanup and restoration efforts. To learn more, view the new story map here. 

Washington resident Kavya Varkey joined NOAA’s Office of Response and Restoration for an internship this summer at the NOAA Western Regional Center in Seattle. A senior this year at Sammamish High School in Bellevue, Washington, Kavya says she’s always been drawn to science. Her interest has continued to develop and come into focus, and she plans to pursue an education that will lead to a career in environmental science.

Chromium, manganese, zinc.

Elements like these may show up in a daily multivitamin, but when found in a certain form and concentration in water and soil, these elements can cause serious problems for fish, birds, and wildlife. As assessors of environmental harm from pollution, we see this scenario being played out at hazardous waste sites around the country.