Student Activity - Site clean up

Activity idea

In this webquest activity, four groups of students use the weblinks provided to study a contaminated site, what is being done and how easy it is to clean up in terms of the limitations of the methods or extent of the contamination. They should also be able to explain how the contaminants affect the environment and/or people’s health.

The contaminated sites undergoing clean up are:

Mapua

http://www.mfe.govt.nz/issues...mapua/index.html
http://www.tasman.govt.nz/index.php?MapuaCleanUpproject

Tui Mine

http://www.mfe.govt.nz/publications...environz-jul07/page11.html

Hamilton gasworks

http://www.ew.govt.nz/Environmental-information...Hamilton-Gasworks

Rotowaro Carbonisation Plant

http://www.ew.govt.nz/Environmental-information...Rotowaro-carbonisation-plant

General useful information

http://www.ew.govt.nz/Environmental-information...Managing-contaminated-sites
http://www.mfe.govt.nz/issues/hazardous/contaminated/

For more advanced students, a fifth group could be created to investigate contaminated sites in your local council area, and what the council is doing about them. (This group may not be able to answer all the questions suggested, as there may not be a site clean up in their area, and this task would probably involve contacting their local council.)

Instructions

As a group, use the websites your teacher has provided to investigate the clean up of a contaminated site, and develop a presentation to give to the class about the site. Use the questions below as a guideline:

1. What is the contaminant that is being cleaned up on this site?
2. How did the site come to be contaminated?
3. What are people doing to clean it up?
4. What are the possible effects of this contaminant to the environment and/or people’s health?
5. Are there limits to how well the site can be cleaned up? If so, what are they?
6. Could this contaminant spread to other areas? If so, how?

Remember that the effect of contaminants on the environment is complicated. Any clean up will depend on the types and quantities of contaminants, and scientific methods or procedures are dependent on what outcomes can be achieved. Societal values also contribute, especially when large costs are involved. What do we value?

Questions

1. Why do you think it is important to clean up a site if people are to be living on it?
2. How do they know that the site is clean afterwards?
3. How do they make sure that they are not just spreading the contamination as they clean it up?
4. Does the clean up create other environmental hazards?
5. How could we avoid creating such contaminated sites in the future?