PARENT SESSION
TA4 - Sediment Toxicology
Chair: Anderson, Brian1, 1 University of California-Davis, Monterey, CA
8:00 AM to 12:00 PM - Tuesday, 19 November 2002
Room Ballroom F
(356) Application of the sediment quality triad for TMDLs and remediation in San Diego Bay, California.
Bay, Steven*,1, Chadwick, Bart2, Brown, Jeffrey1, Alo, Tom3, 1 Southern California Coastal Water Research Project, Westminster, CA, USA2 SPAWAR Systems Center, San Diego, CA, USA3 California Regional Water Quality Control Board, San Diego, CA, USA
ABSTRACT- San Diego Bay contains several sites that have been listed as toxic hotspots or 303(d) impaired water bodies due to impaired sediment quality. Some sites were contaminated by past industrial activities and cleanup activities are planned. The other sites are subject to TMDL development, which requires identification of the causes and sources of impairment. A comprehensive sediment quality assessment program was established by the San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board to provide the data necessary to establish site-specific cleanup standards for the industrial sites and to identify the cause of impairment at the TMDL sites. A key component of this approach was the use of multiple sediment toxicity tests that measured the quality of bulk sediment (amphipod survival test), pore water (sea urchin fertilization test), and the sediment-water interface (sea urchin embryo development test). The sediment-water interface test was the most responsive of the three tests and identified toxicity in about 50% of the stations. The correspondence of the toxicity results with sediment chemistry and benthic community composition impacts will be described and compared to results of sediment TIE tests.
Key words: sediment toxicity, sediment quality triad, porewater, sediment-water interface