Your family has just moved into a new home in an older industrial city in the Eastern U.S. The house
is located in a valley at the foot of a mountain ridge. The town used to be a major center for iron and steel production but many of the smelters and factories shut down long ago. You have just read in the local paper that a new chemical company is considering
building a manufacturing plant in the town, down the road from
your house. To power the chemical manufacturing plant, a
coal-fired electric power plant will be built near by. Most people are pretty happy about the plants in
hopes that it will revive industry in the town and create more job opportunities.
You are about to begin your junior year at the local high school. You are excited about a new class you are taking this semester, “Environmental Science.” One of the requirements of the course is that you, with a small team of students, select a project to be carried out over the semester.
Your group learns that a new school has been proposed to
accommodate the potential community growth. You, and your team, present the following project proposal:
To gather information about possible pollutants from the plants
and use the model to predict the concentrations in various areas
of your town, and suggest the best location for the school based
upon pollution concentration estimates.
In researching this assignment, you visited the Environmental Protection Agency web site
and explored possibilities. Your team discovered that EPA
has available a model called the Industrial Source Complex Model
that will predict the concentration of pollutants in a given area
over a short or long term.
Your teacher agrees that
the project has merit, especially since your new home, Donora , Pennsylvania,
is the site of an ecological disaster that occurred in 1948.
In order to produce a comprehensive project, it is important that
you understand the science involved. This will include
understanding weather, hazardous air pollutants, and the nature of
models.
After discussion you agree
to an outline for your project, you will:
- Investigate the circumstances
surrounding the Donora Disaster of 1948.
- Apply your knowledge of weather and climate
conditions to better understand what occurred in Donora and the impact of weather on the ISC (Industrial Source Complex) model.
- Explain the nature of models.
- Gather information on possible pollutants from the plants.
- Use the EPA's Internet
Geographic Exposure Model to check the short term and long term
concentration for pollutants in your town.
