June 11th, 2012

Today we departed from Rickett's Glen and drove to 4 Mile Creek State Park in Youngstown, New York. The park gets its name because it is 4 miles from the mouth of Lake Ontario.

 Sunset at Lake Ontario.

Stanley, one of the teacher's assistants on the trip, and I at Lake Ontario.

 My classmate Tom and I enjoying the Sunset at Lake Ontario.

 My classmates skipping rocks and watching the sun set at Lake Ontario.



As well as being right off of Lake Ontario, the camp ground was also located a short twenty minutes from Niagara Falls. We visited the Falls today and got an up close experience on the Maid of the Mist tour boat.

A map of Niagara Falls.

 The American Falls and a Maid of the Mist boat giving a tour.

 The American Falls with the city of Ontario in the background.

The American Falls, taken aboard the Maid of the Mist.

The American Falls, taken aboard the Maid of the Mist.

Niagara Falls State Park was established in 1885 (originally as the Niagara Reservation) and is the oldest state park in the United States. The Hoover Dam, which holds enough water supply for 29 million households for a year, is actually smaller then Niagara Falls. A total of 3,160 tons of water flow over Niagara Falls every second. As well as supplying us with beautiful scenery, Niagara Falls also provides hydropower to over 1 million people within the United States and Canada. "Niagara Falls are capable of producing over 4 million kilowatts of electricity" the Niagara Falls State Park tells us.

The Niagara project, which is located about 4.5 miles downstream from the Falls, consists of two main facilities; the Robert Moses Niagara Power Plant, with 13 turbines, and the Lewiston Pump-Generating Plant, with 12 pump-turbines.


Graph showing how a hydropower project works. 

The New York Power Authority states, "Put very simply, we divert water from the Niagara River—up to 375,000 gallons a second—and convey it through conduits under the City of Niagara Falls to Lewiston. From there, water flowing through the Robert Moses plant spins turbines that power generators, converting this mechanical energy into electrical energy." In order to increase efficiency, the Lewiston units operate as pumps during night hours when electricity demand is low. The pumps transport water from the forebay up to the plant's reservoir. Then, in the day time, electricity use peaks and the Lewiston pumps are reversed and become generators, similar to the pumps at the Moses plant. In this way, the water can be used to produce electricity twice.

Besides creating hydro-power, the water of Niagara Falls is used for multiple other purposes. These purposes include drinking water, industrial cooling water supply, recreation (fishing, boating, swimming, bird-watching), and a receiving municipal and industrial run off. 

What I found most interesting about Niagara Falls is that the amount of water flowing over the falls is manipulated to correspond with the tourist season. A pact signed by Canada and the United States in 1950 requires that from April through October, during day light hours, at least 100,000 cfs (cubic feet per second) of water spill over the Falls. This flow may then be cut in half at night through out this these months and at all times during the rest of the year. In short, more water is released over the Falls to be more visually appealing for tourists.


Once we returned from our day in Niagara, we discussied the Great Lakes and some of the problems they face. There are five Great Lakes; Ontario, Huron, Michigan, Erie, and Superior. The states of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York actually touch the Great Lakes. The chart below can give you a visual of the Lakes and also the major cities that are in contact with them.

There is some elevation difference between the Lakes as well. TEACH which is a project of the Great Lakes Commision through a grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency tells us, "Four of the five Great Lakes are at different elevations, leading like a series of steps toward the Atlantic Ocean." From Lake Superior down to Lake Huron, there is a descent of more than 20 feet in elevation. The descent between Lake Huron and Lake Erie is only about 8 feet. The largest difference in elevation occurs between Lake Erie and Lake Ontario. The 35 mile Niagara River connects the two, with most of the 325 foot difference in elevation occurring at Niagara Falls.

One problem that the Great Lakes are facing is an abundance of mercury in their waters. Mercury is placed in the environment by naturally occuring sources as well as unnatural sources. Two examples of natural emmitters of mercury are volcanoes and forest fires. Anthropogenic mercury emissions include
electric poiwer plants and general heating plants burning coal and oil, iron and steel production plants, cement plants, and municipal or hospital waste incinerators. The chart below may help to explain how mercury gets into our atmosphere.



Amazingly enough, the Environmental Protection Agency estimates that less than half of all mercury deposition within the U.S. comes from U.S. sources. Although there are numerous conributers to atmospheric mercury deposition, coal combustion is the largest contributor to to the Great Lakes. This may explain why fifteen percent of the mercury found in the Great Lakes can be attributed to China. China is the worlds largest polluter, and most of that is from the burning of coal. Mercury can remain in the atmosphere for long periods of time and is capable of traveling great distances.

It is evident that an international effort must be made to stop mercury from unnaturally entering the Great Lakes as well as other waterways through out the world.
Citations used in this post:
http://www.niagarafallsstatepark.com/Amazing-Facts.aspx

(http://www.usbr.gov/lc/hooverdam/educate/hoovered.pdf

http://www.niagaraparks.com/media/geology-facts-figures.html

http://www.nypa.gov/facilities/niagara.htm

http://www.nypa.gov/facilities/niagara.htm

http://www.niagarafallsstatepark.com/Amazing-Facts.aspx

http://www.niagaraparks.com/media/geology-facts-figures.html

http://www.nypa.gov/facilities/niagara.htm

http://great-lakes.net/teach/geog/lakeform/lf_3.html

http://great-lakes.net/teach/geog/lakeform/lf_3.html

http://www.eoearth.org/article/Mercury_in_the_Great_Lakes

http://www.epa.gov/hg/exposure.htm#1