ground water pollution
...groundwater systems through rivers, streams, and infiltration of rainwater. The Trail Smelter is one case where industrial wastes have raised concerns about groundwater pollution across the border. Teck Cominco, a Vancouver-based company, owns one of the largest smelters in North America. Situated in Trail B.C., the lead-zinc smelter has been operating since the early 1900’s and has grown to include several Cominco owned smelters and mines around the world. The Trail smelter, as with any smelter, is known to emit large quantities of chemical contaminants into the environment. Eventually, these chemicals reach groundwaters and accumulate there, causing pollution problems in aquifers and drinking waters such as wells and reservoirs. The Trail smelter has had a history with transborder pollution problems, mainly air pollution in the early-mid 1900’s, but more recently with problems of contaminated groundwater. The smelter was built on the banks of the Columbia River and dumps its liquid wastes, slag, into the river. The Columbia River is used as a source of drinking water for the city of Trail and used for cooling and metallurgical processes by Teck Cominco. The river is also used for recreational activities such as fishing, boating, and swimming. A recent chemical test done (by who?) on the river area around the smelter identified 12 chemicals in the water: arsenic, cadmium, chromium, cobalt, copper, iron, lead, mercury, selenium, thallium, silver, and zinc. There have also been reports of thallium levels in the water increasing to 100 times the limit allowed. These chemicals have not been able to be eliminated yet due to lack of advancement. As the river makes its way south across the border, part of it drains into Roosevelt Lake, a lake formed by the Grand Coulee Dam on the Columbia River in Washington. The contaminants in the slag dumped into the river are transported down the river and accumulates in the lak...