Assessment and Remediation of Contaminated Sediments (ARCS) Program
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EPA Contract No. 68-D3-0030, Work Assignment No. 1-48
SAIC Project No. 01-0833-07-1 193-000 1
SEPTEMBER 27,1995
EPA-905-R96-011
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Assessment of Sediments in the Buffalo River Area of Concern
Submitted to:
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Great Lakes National Program Office
77 West Jackson Boulevard
Chicago, Illinois 60604
Submitted by:
Science Applications International Corporation
303 E. Wacker Drive
Suite 320
Chicago, Illinois 60601
Overview of the ARCS Program
The overall objectives of the ARCS Program are:
- To assess the nature and extent of bottom sediment contamination at selected Great Lakes Areas of Concern;
- To evaluate and demonstrate remedial options, including removal, immobilization and advanced treatment technologies, as well as the "no action" alternatives; and
- To provide guidance on the assessment of contaminated sediment problems and the selection and implementation of necessary remedial actions in the Areas of Concern and other locations in the Great Lakes.
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 Concern
This 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
dredge materials.
Purpose and Organization of the Report
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.
This report uses sediment quality guidelines and criteria to analyze
the relative impact of sediment
contamination and does not attempt to analyze or present actual
biological impact data. The sediment
guidelines may not be robust measures of the absolute impact of
sediment contamination but they provide
a good relative measure for the probability for impacts. The
guidelines and criteria that are used in this
report are discussed in detail in Chapter 3.
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.