Ecological Risk Assessment of Sediments in Sydney Harbour, Nova Scotia, Canada

Contamination within sediments of Sydney Harbour (once a major industrial port) were evaluated using a multiple lines-of-evidence (LOE) ecological risk assessment (ERA) approach prior to divestiture of the harbor. The multiple LOE approach included: (1) measurement of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Soil & sediment contamination 2015-07, Vol.24 (5), p.471-493
Main Authors: Walker, Tony R., Willis, Rob, Gray, Tim, MacLean, Bradley, Mcmillan, Scott, Leroy, Melissa, Appleton, Rebecca, Wambolt, Nadine, Smith, Melanie
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Carbon
Contaminated sediments
Contamination
Ecological risk assessment
ecological risk assessment (ERA)
Effluents
Environmental impact
Harbors
Marine ecology
metals
Polychlorinated biphenyls
polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs)
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons
polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs)
Ports
sedimentquality guidelines (SQGs)
Sediments
Stations
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Summary:Contamination within sediments of Sydney Harbour (once a major industrial port) were evaluated using a multiple lines-of-evidence (LOE) ecological risk assessment (ERA) approach prior to divestiture of the harbor. The multiple LOE approach included: (1) measurement of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), metals, metalloids, petroleum hydrocarbons(PHCs), and total organic carbon (TOC) concentrations in surface sediments from multiple Sydney Harbour locations; (2) identification and application of sediment quality guidelines (SQGs) from various jurisdictions; (3) comparisons of harbor sediment chemistry against background/reference sediment chemistry; (4) determining number and frequency of exceedances over SQGs; (5) calculating mean probable effect level-quotients (PEL-Qs); (6) PAH forensic source evaluation; (7) review of previous sediment chemistry and biota tissue data; and (8) characterizing benthic habitat at harbor stations. The ERA determined that current sediments exhibited mostly low probability of adverse effects. Furthermore, contaminated sediments exhibiting a high probability of adverse effects were localized to only a few stations within the harbor. Ongoing natural recovery of harbor sediments is likely responsible for attenuating contaminants that historically were higher than those measured in this study and were previously distributed over much wider areas of the harbor. Results suggest that legacy industrial activities and current urban sewage effluents are the major sources of contamination in Sydney Harbour sediments.
ISSN:1532-0383
1549-7887
DOI:10.1080/15320383.2015.982244