PT07 Contaminated Harbor and River Sediment
Exhibit Hall
8:00 AM - Tuesday, 11 November 2003
(PT108) Chemical contamination of the Hudson Raritan Estuary as a result of the attack on the World Trade Center.
Lauenstein, G1, Cantillo, A1, Hameedi, M1, 1 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Silver Spring, MD, USA
ABSTRACT- The attack on the World Trade Center (WTC) on September 11, 2001 resulted in a massive plume of dust and smoke that blanketed lower Manhattan and part of the Hudson Raritan Estuary. As part of its National Status and Trends Program, NOAA has been monitoring five Mussel Watch (MW) sites in the Estuary since 1986. Blue mussel (Mytilus edulis) and sediment samples are analyzed for a suite of contaminants, including PAHs, PCBs, and DDTs and other chlorinated pesticides. By 1999, levels of dioxins, furans, planar PCBs and polybrominated biphenyls (PBBs) were characterized at least once. In December 2001, mussels were collected at five regular MW sites and at seven additional sites in the Estuary. Data from 17 years of MW monitoring indicate that contaminant concentrations in the estuary were generally at or below the contaminant concentrations reported prior to December 2001. This conclusion holds for total-PAHs, total-DDT, total-chlordane, total-dieldrin, total-PCBs, total-furans, and total-PBBs in tissues. Dioxins were the exception, with some sites having higher concentrations than the highest concentrations previously recorded by MW in the Northeast region. Polybrominated diphenyl ethers in mussels indicated an increasing spatial trend toward the site closest to the WTC at Battery Park. Total-PCB levels in sediments collected in the estuary often exceeded the MW nationwide 85th percentile values. The highest reported value, 708 ng/g (dry weight), is an order of magnitude higher than the 85th percentile. The highest Hudson Raritan Estuary concentration of sediment planar PCBs was also found in the WTC boat basin. The highest dioxin concentrations in sediments were all found in the upper part of Hudson Raritan Estuary. No spatial pattern was discernible for other contaminants. Contaminant concentrations in mussels and sediments were high prior to the attack so determining the chemical impact on the Estuary is difficult to discern.
Key words: Mussel Watch, World Trade Center, contaminants, sediments