Env Science
Waste Management
Name______________________________
Date___________ Score________/30
WHAT IS A “SUPERFUND” WEBQUEST
Purpose: To understand what is considered a “superfund” site and how the
contaminated site is cleaned and remediated.
According to your text, current U.S. law makes disposing of hazardous waste
quite costly. As a result, some companies illegally dump waste or ship their hazardous waste to
developing nations. Either means of disposal endangers us all. Shipping hazardous waste creates
health risks for everyone along the way. The costs to local government forced to deal with illegal
dumping are very high. The hazardous waste contaminates both groundwater and soil. Residents
and farm animals become sick and crops die off.
Please process through these sites to assist you in understanding what is a superfund site and how it is
cleaned. Go to the EPA Superfund Site at: http://www.epa.gov/superfund/about.htm
and answer these questions:
NOTE: This webquest can be put into a powerpoint presentation for extra points.
A: Understanding Hazardous Waste
1. What is a Superfund?
2. There are several laws which pertain to the containment of our hazardous waste. Using your text,
page 602, and answer these questions:
a. Describe the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) (p. 602 in your textbook packet)
and state its importance.
b. Describe the Comprehensive Environmental Response Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA)
and state the basics about this act:
c. Who oversees the completion of cleanup at the various superfund sites?
3. Using the above website, briefly describe what happened at these two locations, which spurred
the approval of the Superfund acts. Simply click on these locations on the website.
a. Love Canal, NY:
b. Times Beach, Missouri:
4. Search IMAGES on Google or Google Chrome and type in “hazardous waste cleanup”. Choose
three different pictures and import them to this document. For each picture, describe what and
where this cleanup is occurring.
a. __________________________________________
b. ________________________________________
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c. _________________________________________________
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B. Assessment and Cleanup
5. Go to the EPA Site: http://www.epa.gov/superfund/about.htm , Section titled How Superfund
Works and answer what is necessary to clean up a hazardous waste site. List the steps involved:
6. Which Region does the state of Illinois belong to under the EPA regulations?
7. Click on Region 5 and you will be taken to Long-term cleanup by state. Click on IL NPL Fact
Sheets. Listed here are the hazardous waste locations identified by the EPA and the Illinois EPA as
hazardous waste sites. Choose one of the sites and research the following information:
a. Location Name:
b. Which city is this site located?
c. What type of location is it (chemical manufacturing, landfill, etc.)
d. What types of chemicals are found there:
e. State the health effects one of the chemicals has on living organisms:
f. Current status of the site:
8. Look up the H.O.D. Landfill in Antioch, Illinois and state the conditions of the site:
a. Before – what type of chemical problems were discovered at the site:
b. After: How did the cleanup occur?
c. How is the property being “re-used” successfully?
9. What did you learn from this webquest?
10. State one question about information that you would like to learn about hazardous waste in the
future.