A group of environmental researchers from SUNY Fredonia and two other universities have teamed up with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and its Canadian equivalent in a study that is reinforcing existing theories and revealing new information about the effect of air pollution on the Great Lakes.
 
A $29,802 grant to Fredonia's Chemistry Professor Michael Milligan is enabling him and graduate student Christopher Andolina of Webster, N.Y., supported by undergraduates Alex Shrader of Angola, Julia Glovack of Perrysburg, and Paul DeBurgomaster of Duluth, Ga., to be part of the scientific team determining the level of air pollutants contaminating the lake. Called the Lake Ontario Atmospheric Deposition Survey (LOADS), the study also involves Clarkson University and SUNY Oswego.
 
The LOADS analysts are looking for combustion-related dioxins, PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) and mercury, all of interest because of their potential for creating adverse health conditions in humans and other living creatures. When these compounds are in the air, they may be distributed into the environment through precipitation or even by absorption; when they end up in the water, they may volatilize back into the air, creating an unhealthy cycle of pollution and relocation. "We're trying to track the distribution of these pollutants, where they are coming from and where they are going after that," Dr. Milligan said. "Of course, we're interested in their effect across the entire globe, but for this study, we're concentrating mainly on Lake Ontario."
 
The researchers have worked from the "Lake Guardian," a 185-foot EPA research vessel whose homeport is Milwaukee, Wis., that has the necessary research and sampling tools for use in air and water testing. The SUNY Fredonia students and their colleagues from Clarkson, the EPA and Environment Canada - the Canadian equivalent of the United States EPA - made numerous trips onto Lake Ontario to sample various locations on the massive body of water in order to determine the extent of air pollutant infiltration.
 
The preliminary results of the investigation - final numbers will not be available until next summer - show that the western basin of the lake has higher levels of air pollution than the eastern basin. This can most likely be attributed to the cluster of cities such as Toronto, Hamilton, Niagara Falls and Buffalo that are either located on shores of Lake Ontario or can be found nearby. In addition, it also seems that a significant portion of the air pollution has sources that are hundreds and even thousands of miles away.
 
This research may be the first step in solving, or at least fully understanding, the extent of industrial pollution in the northern United States and southeastern Canada. Individuals who are students today may be the scientists who are saving our precious natural resources in the future.
 
One of those scientists may be Mr. Andolina, who has been intricately involved with the SUNY Fredonia end of the LOADS project. "I've felt really lucky to be a part of this," Mr. Andolina said. "To actually have a chance to work with the EPA - what a great project. Out on the boat, I've had chances to learn things that were completely new. It has been a really positive experience."
 
"It's a real collegial experience for these students," added Dr. Milligan. "The crew on the boat is great, and the EPA and Environment Canada have been great to work with. The cooperation has been excellent. The field component of this project - collecting samples, running instruments, troubleshooting - and the opportunity to turn raw data into meaningful numbers is what a full education is all about. It's been a good opportunity in all aspects."