Sulfate pollution (nonfiction)

Sulfate pollution

Notes from Izaak Walton League of America

Ikes News and Notes - Ikes Program November 19

W. J. McCabe (Duluth) Chapter - Izaak Walton League of America

Visit our Website at: duluthikes.org

Hello McCabe Ikes and Conservation Friends,

Program on Sulfates - This is a reminder that our McCabe Ikes program for this Wednesday, November 19, will be on sulfates. Our speaker is Dr. Chan Lan Chun, UMD Natural Resources Research Institute. The title of her presentation is "Advancements in Sulfate Treatment for Environmental Sustainability: From Research to Implementation." She will be talking about the research she is doing to find methods to treat sulfate pollution.

This is a serious problem as sulfate pollution in our lakes and rivers damages wild rice beds and facilitates the production of toxic methylmercury which accumulates in our fish, making them dangerous to eat. Wastewater treatment plants and mining in sulfate bearing rocks are the main sources of sulfate pollution in northeast Minnesota. Controlling sulfate pollution has been a controversial and intractable problem that the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency has been unable to solve, especially the 4 mg/l sulfate standard for discharge into designated wild rice waters. Drainage from taconite mine sites often far exceeds this standard and copper-nickel mining would be even worse. We need a feasible method to treat this pollutant and are looking forward to learning about what Dr. Chun's research is finding.

This program is free and open to the public. It will start at 6:30 pm this Wednesday, November 19, at Hartley Nature Center, 3001 Woodland Ave, Duluth. Doors open at 6:00 pm with light refreshments. The program will also be available on Zoom at this link:

• Meeting @ Zoom

• Sulfate @ Wikipedia