THE DIOXIN / DDT GLASS MAY BE HALF FULL

Recently I mentioned that Gail Martin, the Editor of the Elmira Independent, subscribed to the glass half full theory in regards to the M.O.E. doing more downstream studies of sediments and soils. I know that last fall I was very skeptical especially as George Karlos of the M.O.E. was not remotely interested in sharing their Work Plan ahead of time with CPAC. Sure enough their Work Plan was an absolute crock as expected. Any attempt at comparing last fall's (2012) results with 1996 & 97 is a complete farce. But... this latest emphasis and focus on downstream concentrations of Dioxins and DDT may not be a complete waste of time and money. Maybe just maybe local citizens, myself included, may gain a few insights from this whole deal.

This time around I am slowly getting a better understanding of the dynamics of the situation. Dioxins & DDT for example dumped in a pit by themselves without accompanying solvents etc., in an open field well above the water table, may actually bind with different kinds of soils. They might actually, after coming to some kind of equilibrium, have relatively stable soil concentrations over years if not decades based upon slow degradation into their breakdown products. A fast moving creek in a combined urban and rural watershed is a totally different scenario. The word indeed is dynamic. The Canagagigue Creek like most in the spring becomes a raging torrent after major snowmelts and or major thunderstorms. As a very shallow creek the bottom is scoured, sediments moved and even deposition areas are changed. Therefore I'm getting a totally different understanding of sediment and floodplain soil readings years apart. Reductions don't necessarily mean that the source of these chemicals has been removed nor do increases necessarily mean that there is more discharge of Dioxins/ DDT now than there was seventeen years ago. What any detections probably indicate, years after partial sediment cleanups at the Chemtura site, is that more needs to be done. Far more likely in this dynamic system is that each spring the old chemicals get washed further downstream merely to be replaced with fresh discharges from the Chemtura site. These discharges may be by soil erosion and or by solvent induced Dioxin/ DDT mobility in groundwater.