Multimedia Approach to Risk Assessment for Contaminated Sediments in a Marine Environment

Problems of contaminated sediments frequently occur in dealing with exposure evaluation for rivers, lakes, estuaries, and harbors. These sites represent a special type of Superfund site. Contaminated aquatic sediments can lead to significant risk to humans resulting from exposure to contaminants through multimedia pathways such as ingestion, dermal absorption, and inhalation. The paper examines risk assessment approaches for these pathways under different conditions, and predictive models for estimating the ambient air concentrations. Certain observed data are presented along with predictions pertinent to the present no-action alternative. Remedial alternatives for future use are also examined. Combined risks from the multimedia pathways can be obtained by considering the activity patterns of the affected population once the media concentrations are known.

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