R2 AM Contaminated Harbor and River Sediment
Thursday, 17 November 2005: 8:00 AM - 11:40 AM in Ballroom 2

(CAR-1117-818891) Management decisions to identify regulatory response to address contaminated sediments at an industrial site in San Diego Bay.

Carlisle, C¹, MacDonald, D², Alo, T¹, Monji, A¹, ¹ California Regional Water Quality Control Board, San Diego, California, USA² NOAA Office of Response and Restoration, Seattle, Washington, USA

ABSTRACT- Environmental management decisions are required at several steps during the process of identifying the appropriate regulatory response to address contaminated sediments. Discharges from a variety of sources have resulted in the presence of elevated metal and organic compound concentrations in San Diego Bay sediments that potentially threaten aquatic life, aquatic-dependent wildlife, and human heath. The data collected during an investigation of an industrial site located in San Diego Bay includes sediment chemistry, sediment toxicity, benthic community structure, bioaccumulation potential, pore water concentrations, marine life tissue residuals, fish histopathology, and fish bile metabolites. Environmental management decisions necessary during the process of interpreting these data include: identification of background, decision rules for each leg of the triad, measures of benthic community health, parameters for conducting human health and wildlife risk assessments, and statistical methods and thresholds for comparisons to reference areas within San Diego Bay. Environmental justice considerations arise regarding fish consumption (e.g. consumption rates, whole body or fillets) and potential remedial response (e.g. truck traffic, air pollution). Each management decision point impacts the subsequent decision regarding the appropriate regulatory response to the questions: is remediation required and, if so, what are the appropriate cleanup levels. Stakeholders involved during the investigation and subsequent cleanup process include industrial and non-point source dischargers, federal natural resource trustees, environmental advocates, and recreational and subsistence anglers.

Key words: management, sediments