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PERSISTENCE OF CHLORINATED HYDROCARBON CONTAMINATION IN A CALIFORNIA MARINE ECOSYSTEM
Citation:
Young, D., R. Gossett, AND T. Heesen. PERSISTENCE OF CHLORINATED HYDROCARBON CONTAMINATION IN A CALIFORNIA MARINE ECOSYSTEM. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C., EPA/600/D-89/228 (NTIS PB90134354), 1989.
Description:
Despite major reductions in the dominant DDT and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB) input off Los Angeles (California, USA) in the early 1970s, the levels of these pollutants decreased only slightly from 1972 to 1975 both in surficial bottom sediments and in a flatfish bioindicator (Dover sole, Microstomus pacificus) collected near the submarine outfall. n contrast, the DDT and PCB concentrations in surficial sediment, Dover sole, and various sportfish species rom the outfall area decreased by about an order of magnitude between 1977 and 1981, when the input rate was relatively low and essentially constant. he total DDT :total PCB ratio in the fish species collected between 1972 and 1981 more closely resembled those in the bottom sediments than those in the wastewater input. oncentrations of these pollutants in the soft tissues of the mussel Alytilus californianus, collected intertidally well inshore of the highly contaminated bottom sediments, followed much more closely the decreases in the outfall discharges. hese observations suggest that contaminated sediments on the seafloor were the principal (although not necessarily direct) cause of the relatively high and persistent concentrations of DDT and PCB residues in tissues of seafood fishes and invertebrates from the study area 5-7 y after control of the dominant wastewater input. ive of 11 fish species averaged > 5 mpg kg -1 total DDT in their edible tissue, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) action guideline for interstate commerce. he highest value, 39 mg kg -1, was found in the muscle of white croaker (Genyonemus lineatus), the most popular sportfish caught in southern California. he average concentration of total PCB in this species, 2.8 mg kg -1, also exceeded the 2 mg kg -1 FDA action guideline for PCB. n 1980, concentrations in the muscle tissue of white croaker from the outfall study area still averaged 7.6 mg kg -1. he study indicated that residues of the higher-molecular-weight chlorinated hydrocarbons, such as DDT and PCB, can be highly persistent once released to coastal marine ecosystems and that their accumulation in surficial bottom sediments is the most likely cause of this persistence observed in the biota of the discharge zone.
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PERSISTENCE OF CHLORINATED HYDROCARBON CONTAMINATION IN A CALIFORNIA MARINE ECOSYSTEM