Document Type

Article

Abstract

The city of Marshall was plagued with the news that the Velsicol Chemical site had been dumping chemicals less than five miles from the center of the town. With a soccer field about twenty yards away from the site, the city has every right to be skeptical of the site's health. We as a group had been assigned to assist the city with the assessment of the health of the site. The city’s goals were to find the true health of the site as well as find possible solutions for what to do with the site. The analysis of our group’s independent sample collection correlated well with the information that was given to us by the city of Marshalls’ Cory Sheehy. Along with the soil analysis, we also were given hydrologic data from the site. This data set included groundwater data from the site in 1983, the original date that it was deemed a brownfield site. The data from 1983 and 2018 did have significant differences not only in the number of volatile organics, semi-volatile organics, and pesticides detected but also in the area tested. The tests were conclusive that the site had been remediated well enough to continue with the process of making the site something the public could use. With the sixth annual inspection of the site coming up in May we should be able to see if the improvements continue. With that, we started to come up with ideas for what exactly we could do with the site. A pollinator garden, greenhouse, nature center, and a generalized recreational area were some of the better ideas for the site. We hope to move forward with the idea of using the site as a positive area for the families of Marshall as well as the surrounding ecosystems.

Publication Date

Spring 5-1-2023

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