How could such a small population contribute enough critical pollutants to hurt a lake as large Lake Superior?
The answer is rooted in Lake Superior’s natural resources and the lake itself. The region’s rich natural resources were used to provide the jobs and income needed to sustain its communities. The natural resources also provided products that society wanted. However, in processing these natural resources into useful products our society needed, another by-product was sometimes created-pollution. Some of the critical pollutants that still haunt Lake Superior are left over from past industrial practices that ended long ago. Others are generated through improper disposal of home and business waste. Still others are carried in the atmosphere from areas thousands of miles from Lake Superior and deposited here when it rains and snows. Once these critical pollutants enter Lake Superior, they may persist in its ecosystem for a very, very long time.
