Concentrations of selected neutral organic contaminants and stable isotope ratios of carbon, nitrogen and deuterium/hydrogen in invertebrates and fish were compared from near a large, 60m deep municipal waste outfall near Los Angeles, California, where waste has a measurable influence on the structure of the marine food web, and from a reference area off Santa Barbara, California. Objectives were to investigate (1) the degree of utilization of sewage organic matter in the food web, especially by 3 species of fish, (2) differences in contaminant accumulation between these benthophagous fish and (3) the behavior of organic contaminants relative to each other and to organic matter through several trophic levels. Isotopically lighter carbon and nitrogen and higher concentrations of most chlorinated hydrocarbons were found in tissues of organisms from near the outfall.