On Wed, 3 Oct 2001 Mike Wallace <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>Looks like the lakes are off gassing a bit....
>
>TORONTO (Reuters) - Canadian and U.S. scientists say they have
>proof the world's biggest fresh water system, the Great Lakes on the
>U.S.-Canada border, are cleansing themselves of pollutants, and they
>are planning tests to see if the same is true in the Arctic.
>The unusual phenomenon was discovered by the bi-national Integrated
>Atmospheric Deposition Network (IADN), which says tests since
>1992 show that significant quantities of polychlorinated biphenyls, or
>PCBs, and pesticides were being released into the atmosphere by the
>five Great Lakes -- Erie, Superior, Ontario, Michigan and Huron.
>The combined surface area of the lakes, which hold about 20 percent
>of the world's fresh surface water, is about 94,250 square miles.
>Dr. Keith Puckett, Environment Canada's manager of the IADN,
>likened the process to giant lungs that have been sucking in polluted
>air for the past 50 years. Now that the atmospheric levels of many of
>these pollutants have dropped, the lakes have started breathing out the
>pollutants again.

<snip of the kiwi shears>
Thanks for posting that Mike .. bloody good news. Gives nature a chance to
catch up with itself & work on its own rejuvenating process :-)
Just keep up the regulation controls on those nasty chemicals folks & give
peace a chance .. err .. sorry wrong rally ;-)
Viv