The NPS staff also coordinates NPS issues with other agencies, arranges and conducts public meetings on NPS pollution, provides aid to local communities in deriving solutions, educates and informs the public on issues, and provides technical training to agency staff. Erodible Shoreline Wolf Lake is a natural lake surrounded by dense urbanization. Urban runoff from the surrounding areas carries sediment to the lake, severely eroding the shoreline by 0.3 meters each year. Important because of its size and location within a heavily urbanized area, Wolf Lake is primarily used for recreation such as fishing, small boating, and swimming. As part of the Grand Calumet watershed in Northwest Indiana, the area produces over 25 percent of U.S. steel and is one of the country's largest oil refining facilities.
Studies show that the area's main nonpoint source problems are caused from several sources.
Urban runoff from city streets, interstate highways, and adjacent domestic or commercial properties carries various pollutants into the sewer systems and receiving streams. The entire area surrounding Wolf Lake, the Indiana Harbor Ship Canal, and the Grand Calumet River is urbanized. Another pollution source is hydromodification, created by the alteration of waterways. The Grand Calumet River has been channelized and dredged in some sections, and the Indiana Harbor Ship Canal is entirely engineered. The great quantity of urban runoff in Northwest Indiana makes shoreline erosion a problem for Wolf Lake.