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Toxics
Reduction |
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Assessment of Sediments in the Buffalo River Area of Concern
Overview of the ARCS ProgramThe overall objectives of the ARCS Program are:
The primary aim of the ARCS Program is to develop guidelines that can be used at sites throughout the Great Lakes. Another goal of the ARCS Program is to develop and demonstrate sediment remediation procedures that are scientifically sound, and technologically and economically practical. The intent is to provide the environmental manager with methods for making cost-effective, environmentally sound decisions. As a result, application of existing techniques is stressed over basic research into new ones. It is important to stress that the ARCS Program is not a cleanup program, and will not solve the contaminated sediment problems at the five priority consideration areas. The Program will, however, provide valuable experience, methods, and guidance that could be used by other programs to actually solve the identified problems. There are several important aspects of the management of contaminated sediments that will not be fully addressed by the ARCS Program. Regulatory requirements and socioeconomic factors in decision- making are two such aspects that will be critical in the choice of a remedial alternative (or whether to remediate at all). While not addressing such issues in depth, the ARCS Program will identify issues that need to be resolved before sediment cleanups can go forward. Overview of the Buffalo River Area of ConcernThis report will focus on the Buffalo River Area of Concern (see
Figure 1.2). Since the 194Os, the
Buffalo River has experienced pollution problems such as excess
nutrients, bacteria, and toxic chemicals.
Municipal wastewater treatment plants and controls on industrial
discharges have reduced many
waterborne pollutants. Currently, the most pressing problems are
discharges of persistent toxic
pollutants, careless disposal of hazardous wastes near waterbodies,
combined sewer overflows (CSOs),
and sediments contaminated with toxic metals, industrial organic
chemicals, polychlorinated biphenyls
(PCBs), and polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Both surficial
as well as deeper sediments
throughout the Buffalo River are contaminated from years of
industrial activity. Fisheries and benthic
populations are severely impaired; fish consumption advisories exist
for many fish species. An increased
frequency of fish tumors and other deformities have also been
reported. River sediments at some
locations are also contaminated with cyanide and metals to levels
that prohibit open lake disposal of Purpose and Organization of the Report
Chapter 2 of this report provides a complete description of the sampling and analytical methods used in the collection and analysis of sediment samples from the Buffalo River. The text of Chapter 2 draws heavily from documents produced by the the ARCS Toxicity/Chemistry Workgroup. Chapter 3 contains the summary and analysis of the data from the two sampling surveys. The data are analyzed both by chemical and by location. A complete description of the guidelines and criteria used for the analysis is presented in this chapter as well. Chapter 4 presents the general conclusions which can be drawn from the results of the analysis. |
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The purpose of this report is to summarize and analyze the existing
ARCS sediment data from the
Buffalo River Area of Concern (AOC), in order to aid conclusions
regarding the nature and extent of
sediment contamination within the AOC. The report brings together
data from two sampling surveys that
have not been provided in a single source or in comparable formats.
The two primary sampling surveys
are the survey of the 10 Master Stations performed in October, 1989
(Survey 1) and the intensive survey
of 37 sampling points performed in August, 1990 (Survey 3). Survey 2
was aborted due to sampling
difficulties and the data supplanted by Survey 3.