TITLE:
Tracking PCB Contamination in Ontario Great Lakes Tributaries: Development of Methodologies and Lessons Learned for Watershed Based Investigations
AUTHORS:
Nadine Benoit, Alice Dove, Debbie Burniston, Duncan Boyd
KEYWORDS:
Source Tracking, PCBs, Great Lakes Tributaries
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Environmental Protection,
Vol.7 No.3,
February
26,
2016
ABSTRACT: Project Trackdown is an investigative
environmental program aimed at tracking sources of polychlorinated biphenyl
(PCB) contamination in Great Lakes tributaries. The program uses a multimedia
weight of evidence approach for identifying sources of PCBs to the environment.
PCB concentrations in environmental media (sediment, water, suspended sediment
and soil), passive samplers and/or exposed biota (mussels, young-of-the-year
fish and benthic invertebrates) are used in combination to evaluate
bioavailability and identify local anomalies within a tributary. These lines of
evidence can be assessed with simple chemometric techniques and fingerprinting
of PCB congener profiles, and, combined with anecdotal information such as land
use history and tributary alterations, may be used to identify ongoing and
locally controllable sources of PCBs to the Great Lakes. The program was
successful at developing environmental triggers to differentiate potential
source areas from background PCB conditions in urban areas, allowing efforts to
focus on identifying active ongoing sources of PCB contamination. Project
Trackdown has been carried out in three tributaries to Lake Ontario (Cataraqui
River, Etobicoke Creek and Twelve Mile Creek) and two tributaries that flow
into the Detroit River (Turkey Creek and Little River). Local ongoing PCB
sources have been identified in four projects, leading to abatement or
remediation measures. As a collaborative initiative between the Ontario
Ministry of the Environment and Environment Canada, Project Trackdown has
successfully identified several PCB sources leading to substantial cleanup
efforts aimed ultimately at reducing PCB contamination to the Great Lakes.