The use of leeches to monitor aquatic PCB contamination at Mid-Canada radar line site 050: Four years post-remediation

The Mid-Canada Radar Line (MCRL) was built by the Canadian government during the 1950s and closed in the 1960s. MCRL Site 050 located in close proximity to Fort Albany First Nation was a source of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs); thus, this site was remediated in 2001. There has been concern in For...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Environmental monitoring and assessment 2009-06, Vol.153 (1-4), p.1-7
Main Authors: Tsuji, L. J. S., Martin, I. D.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Applied sciences
Aquatic environment
Atmospheric Protection/Air Quality Control/Air Pollution
Bioremediation
Body burden
Contamination
Continental surface waters
Dependent variables
Earth and Environmental Science
Earth sciences
Earth, ocean, space
Ecology
Ecotoxicology
Engineering and environment geology. Geothermics
Environment
Environmental Management
Environmental monitoring
Environmental Monitoring - methods
Exact sciences and technology
Leeches - metabolism
Lipids
Monitoring/Environmental Analysis
Natural water pollution
PCB
Pollution
Pollution, environment geology
Polychlorinated biphenyls
Polychlorinated Biphenyls - metabolism
Predation
Radar
Remediation
Studies
Variables
Water Pollutants, Chemical - metabolism
Water treatment and pollution
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Summary:The Mid-Canada Radar Line (MCRL) was built by the Canadian government during the 1950s and closed in the 1960s. MCRL Site 050 located in close proximity to Fort Albany First Nation was a source of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs); thus, this site was remediated in 2001. There has been concern in Fort Albany that the Albany River by MCRL Site 050 is still contaminated. We examined whether the aquatic environment surrounding MCRL Site 050 has returned to background levels four years post-remediation using leeches ( Haemopis spp.) as bioindicators. Leech data for 2005 indicates that PCB levels remain higher near Site 050 than at the control site upstream; however, there has been a decrease in difference between Site 050 and the control site for leech body burden between years. Thus, the removal of the terrestrial source of PCB contamination at Site 050 appears to have removed the main source of aquatic PCBs.
ISSN:0167-6369
1573-2959
DOI:10.1007/s10661-008-0332-4