Full document / COSOC-W-86-002 - the National Sea Grant Library

Estuarine and Coastal Management Tools of the Trade.
Proceedingsofthe TenthNationalConference of The
Coastal Society. October 12-15.1986. New
Orleans, LA. Copyright by The Coastal Society
1987.
DEVELOPING SEDIMENT QUALITY VALUES FOR USE IN
MANAGING CONTAMINATED SEDIMENTS IN PUGET SOUND
Introduction
Catherine C. Krueger
Office of Puget Sound
U.S. EnvironmentalProtectionAgency
1200Sitlh Avenue. MailStop 433
Seattle. Washington 98101
Robert C. Barrickand Hairy R. Beller
Tetra Tech. Inc.
11820NorthupWay
Suite 100
Bellevue, WA 98005
This paper describes the early stages of a joint effort by the U.i.
Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers,
and the Washington State Departments of Ecology and Natural Resources
to develop sediment quality values for use in Puget Sound. The study
was commissioned in response to a growing need on the part of
federal, state, and local agencies to make decisions concerning the
identification, regulation and management of contaminated marine
sediments. Recent surveys of urban and industrial embayments in
Puget Sound indicate that bottom sediments are the primary sink of
chemical contaminants. Data also Indicate that exposure to
contaminated sediments may be linked to adverse biological impacts in
marine biota, and that consumption of marine organisms exposed to
contaminated sediments could pose risks to human health.
Approach
Ideally, the development of sediment quality values would be guided
by definitive cause and effect information relating the individual
and collective effects of specific contaminants to biological effects
In a variety of aquatic species. To date, very little Information of
this type Is available and It is unlikely that It will be available
in the near future. In the interim, in the interest of protecting
human health and environmental quality, the regulatory agencies with
management responsibilities in Puget Sound must proceed with sediment
management decisions based on the best information available. This
information may be theoretically and/or empirically derived. It is
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