U.S. Water News Online
SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Scientists want to grow shrub willows on a 662-acre industrial waste bed on the shore of Onondaga Lake as part of the effort to clean up one of the nation's most polluted waterways.
Scientists at the State University College of Environmental Science and Forestry said the willows, already growing on a test plot, should serve as a vegetative cover on what is now a mostly barren dumpsite and help stop salty waste from washing out of the dump and into the lake, while restoring a natural habitat for lakeshore plants and animals.
And, there's a bonus, said college President Cornelius Murphy Jr.
The fast-growing willows will be ready to harvest every three years, after growing 25 to 30 feet, making them a renewable energy source.
"The idea is that we can potentially get two benefits out of this," Murphy said. "One benefit is a cap to support a diverse ecosystem. The other is that we can harvest that crop to create an energy feedstock."
Honeywell International Inc., through a 1999 merger with Allied Chemical, is responsible for cleaning up the industrial pollution in and around Onondaga Lake, listed as a Superfund site.
State regulators have proposed Honeywell spend $451 million over seven years to dredge 2.65 million yards of contaminated sediment from the lake and cover 579 acres of the lake bottom with a cap of sand, gravel and other material. Honeywell has proposed a $237 million, 3-year plan to dredge 508,000 cubic yards and cap about 350 acres.
Honeywell awarded the college a grant of about $300,000 this year to grow the willows on a six-acre test plot. The waste beds contain mostly inert material, mainly calcium carbonate and similar salty byproducts from the production of soda ash at the old Allied complex.
Murphy said the results of the pilot project have been encouraging.
The college and Honeywell recently submitted a report to the state Department of Environmental Conservation.
Ken Lynch, the DEC's regional director in Syracuse, said the report was being reviewed.
"But preliminary indications are that the willows do have a positive effect," he said.
Honeywell officials also are encouraged, said Victoria Streitfeld, a Honeywell spokeswoman.
Streitfeld said about 35,000 trees were planted so far in three stands.
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