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Background of Niagara County

Background of Niagara County. 522 square miles Largest City: Niagara Falls Second Largest City: North Tonawanda Population in 2013: 214,239 Borders Lake Ontario and Niagara River. Watershed. Part of the Lake Ontario Tributaries and the Niagara River/Lake Erie tributaries

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Background of Niagara County

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  1. Background of Niagara County • 522 square miles • Largest City: Niagara Falls • Second Largest City: North Tonawanda • Population in 2013: 214,239 • Borders Lake Ontario and Niagara River

  2. Watershed • Part of the Lake Ontario Tributaries and the Niagara River/Lake Erie tributaries • In the Lake Ontario Tributaries: 25% poor water quality 40% good water quality • In the Niagara River/ Lake Erie: 12% poor water quality 49% good water quality.

  3. Air Quality • In 2012 there were zero unhealthy air days for the general population • There were 6 unhealthy air days for people with asthma • Since 2003 the air quality of Niagara County has improved greatly • There are high CO2 emissions in Niagara County

  4. Energy • Energy positive county • Mostly powered by hydroelectric power, Nuclear power and Gas. • Niagara County has largest hydroelectric plant in New York State, Robert Moses Niagara Power Plant • Also has one of the last coal powered plants in the state

  5. Lead Poisoning in Niagara County • 1.2% lead levels in children • Lead poisoning damages the brain • Niagara County’s lead poisoning issues come from old house paint • Niagara County Lead Poisoning Prevention Program

  6. Soil • Flat county • No mountain ranges • Heavy soils, the nutrients are good for growing crops like soy beans, wheat and corn • Large farming industry

  7. Superfund Sites • A Superfund site is a piece of land that has been determined by the EPA as an unsafe area • Superfund Sites in Niagara County: Forest Glen Mobile Home Subdivision and Eighteen Mile Creek • Forest Glen Mobile Home Subdivision: Started in 2002. Completed in 2003 • Eighteen Mile Creek: Current

  8. Contamination • Contamination of Soil, Air and Water • Eighteen Mile Creek Superfund Site, • In 2012, 3,213,114 metric tons of CO2 emissions were produced in Niagara County • 2,000,000 of the emissions were from ONE coal burning plant • Love Canal

  9. Love Canal 1958- 100 Houses and a School are built 1920- Site is turned into a chemical dumpsite 1893- William T. Love proposes plan to create model city 1940 1880 1900 1920 1980 1960 1953- Hooker Chemical Company sells land to city for 1$ 1910- Stopped building of canal, leaving a large ditch 1978- Large amount of rainfall triggers explosion

  10. Sources • "2012 Greenhouse Gas Emissions." EPA Flight. Environmental Protection Agency, 9 Jan. 2013. Web. 19 Apr. 2014. •  Beck, Eckardt C. "EPA." The Love Canal Tragedy. N.p., Jan. 1979. Web. 18 Apr. 2014. • “Childhood Lead Poisoning.” EnvironmentalPublic Health Tracking. NYS Department of Health, July 2012. Web. 19 Apr. 2014 • "Eighteen Mile Creek, Niagara County" EPA. Environmental Protection Agency, 29 Oct. 2013. Web. 19 Apr. 2014. • "Niagara County Quick Facts." Niagara County QuickFacts from the US Census Bureau. N.p., 27 Mar. 2014. Web. 19 Apr. 2014. • "Niagara Power Plant." New York Power Authority: About Us. N.p., 2013. Web. 18 Apr. 2014.

  11. 1808- Niagara County is founded 2014- Tonawanda Coke Plant violates fedral clean air laws, presenting environmental threats 2013- Army Corps of Engineers finds chemicals that have been leaking from Niagara Falls Storage Site -Plan proposed to cleanup the Eighteen Mile Creek Superfund Site 1893- William T. Love announces plans to build model city 1800 1825 1850 1875 1925 2000 2025 1900 1950 1975 1953- Love Canal property is sold to city for $1 2012- Olcott Beach closed 7 times due to high levels of bacteria 1961- Robert Moses Niagara Power Plant is built

  12. Environmental Health Diagnosis of Niagara Countyby: Emily LaPlante This report provides information of the environmental health of Niagara County, New York. The research in this report is from multiple news articles, organizations, different environmental government corporations and an interview with the district engineer from the Niagara County Soil and Water District. The report talks about important environmental issues within the county and the stakeholders involved.

  13. About EcoEd -Rensselaer’s EcoEd Research Group involves faculty and students in the development and delivery of creative, interdisciplinary environmental education to K-12 students. The goal is to extend the broad impact of humanities and social science research on environmental problems through translation into hands-on excercises through which students develop capacity to deal effectively with environmental problems, and with complex problems in general – integrating many types of knowledge. -In EcoEd’s Secondary School Research Program, the students are assigned an RPI student mentor, and with them move through a nine-week exploration of a research topic, culminating in a substantial written report and formal oral presentation.

  14. Recommendations • I think that by closing down the coal powered plant in Niagara County, they could easily decrease in CO2 emissions. The closing down of the coal powered plant could increase the property values of the land nearby the plant. I also think that by paying more attention to places that could contaminate the soil and water, Niagara County could easily decrease in the amount of contamination in the county.

  15. Methods • Counties are a good sized geographical place to study, but still people know little about them. • Counties are hard to find information on, but government websites are a good place to start. • It is important to know about what goes on within a county to know about how to fix problems in the state. • I researched air quality, soil conditions, water quality and many other things to determine the health of Niagara County.

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