PCBs

Emerging Contaminants

Emerging Contaminants

Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) were first synthesized in 1881, and commercial production in the United States began in 1929. PCBs were used in the electrical industry, as well as surface coatings and plasticizers in sealants, caulking, rubber, paints and asphalt. By 1972, scientific evidence showed that PCBs were an environmental and human health hazard and, in 1977, the manufacturing and non-electrical use of PCBs was banned. PCBs are a chemical that gained a lot of attention when scientific evidence began to suggest that it was an extremely dangerous substance.

Facts and Statistics: Did You Know?

Facts and Statistics: Did You Know?

About 70 percent of the earth is water, but only 2.5 percent of that is freshwater. Of the freshwater, 68.9 percent is in the form of glaciers and snow cover, 30.8 percent is groundwater, and about 0.3 percent is in lakes and rivers.

The Great Lakes

The Great Lakes

The Great Lakes are a set of five lakes in Canada and the United States, connected by approximately 5,000 tributaries. The five lakes are Lake Superior, Lake Michigan, Lake Huron, Lake Erie and Lake Ontario. The Great Lakes basin includes two countries, eight states, one province, dozens of tribes and First Nations communities and hundreds of local municipal and regional governments. 

Microplastics

Microplastics

Plastics are all around us, from the clothes we wear and the packaging that contains our food to construction materials in our homes and much more. Microplastics are small pieces of plastic that are less than 5 millimetres long. Microplastics can come from a variety of sources. They can come from plastic that has broken apart or resin pellets used for plastic manufacturing or in the form of microbeads. They can also be found in the fabric of synthetic clothing.

Persistent Organic Pollutants

Persistent Organic Pollutants

POPs are a group of man-made substances, most of which share characteristics like low water solubility (they do not easily dissolve in water), the ability to accumulate in fat (high lipophilicity), and resistance to biodegradation (they take a very long time to break down and stop being harmful). The name POPs refers to many pollutants such as pesticides like DDT and pollutants like PCBs. These chemicals come from pesticides, industrial chemicals, and are the unwanted by-products of industrial processes or combustion.

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