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Emerging Contaminants.
Citation:
Cantwell, M. AND D. Katz. Emerging Contaminants. Chapter 10, State of Narragansett Bay and Its Watershed. Technical Report. Narragansett Bay Estuary Program, PROVIDENCE, RI, , 211-218, (2017).
Impact/Purpose:
The behavior and fate of contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) in aquatic systems are not well understood. This is especially true for most CECs in coastal ecosystems such as Narragansett Bay. Exposure research of CECs in estuaries has lagged behind freshwater aquatic systems, resulting in limited information on their behavior, transport and fate. Information on the potential ecological effects of most of these compounds is either unknown or little or incomplete data exists for Narragansett Bay. This chapter focuses on known information on CECs in Narragansett Bay, identifies data gaps and future research needs.
Description:
Recent temporal trends of contaminants from Narragansett Bay show the appearance of CECs resulting from the use of personal care products, pharmaceuticals and industrial products over time. In contrast, legacy contaminants such as PCBs and toxic heavy metals generally show sustained decline due to enactment of stricter regulatory standards. In Narragansett Bay there is a gradient from north to south in pollution, which is due to the high density of human population and wastewater treatment facilities in the upper Bay. Spatially, this trend appears to be the same for a number of CECs, including pharmaceutical compounds, due to the fact that these classes of pollutants originate from the same point source inputs within Narragansett Bay. Future research needs include identifying key CECs of concern in coastal waters such as Narragansett Bay assessing their behavior, fate and potential to impart adverse effects.
