T1 AM Contaminat Cycling Assessment and Prevention in the NY/NJ Harbor (Part 1)
Tuesday, 15 November 2005: 8:00 AM - 11:40 AM in Ballroom 1

(FEN-1117-738972) A Mass Balance on PCDD/Fs and Dioxin-Like PCBs for the New York-New Jersey Harbor.

Fennell, D¹, ¹ Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, USA

ABSTRACT- As part of the New York Academy of Sciences Industrial Ecology, Pollution Prevention, and the New York/New Jersey Harbor Project, a mass balance on the seventeen 2,3,7,8-substitutued chlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxin and dibenzofuran congeners (CDD/Fs) and twelve dioxin-like co-planar polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) was performed for the NY/NJ Harbor Estuary. The mass balance model inputs included the Hudson, Passaic, Hackensack, Elizabeth, Rahway and Raritan Rivers above the head of tide, water pollution control facilities (WPCFs), combined sewer overflows (CSOs), stormwater, landfill leachate, and deposition from the atmosphere. Outputs included export to the Atlantic Ocean and Long Island Sound, volatilization and sediment dredging. Data were obtained from a variety of sources including the Contaminant Assessment and Reduction Program of the NY/NJ Harbor Estuary Program, the NY Department of Environmental Conservation, the NJ Department of Environmental Protection, and the USEPA Regional Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program. The PCB data set was incomplete. Balances were performed on a mass basis and on a toxic equivalency (TEQ) basis using 1998 World Health Organization toxicity equivalency factors. On a mass basis, CDD/Fs (with octachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin as the major component) are lost at a slightly lower rate than they can be accounted for entering. In contrast the TEQ balance suggests that CDD/F TEQ is lost at a higher rate than can be accounted for entering, and specifically about ten-fold more 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin is leaving than can be accounted for entering. The primary input of TEQ is from CSOs and the rivers. CSOs contribute about three-fold more TEQ than the WPCFs, even though the WPCF volumetric flow is ten-fold that of the CSO flow. The primary losses of DLCs from the Harbor are dredging and tidal exchange. Including PCBs increases the mass accounted for in the balance by an order of magnitude and the TEQ by several-fold.

Key words: PCDD/F, PCB, NY NJ Harbor, dioxin