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Pre-Remedy Baseline Characterization of the Ottawa River using Physical, Biological, and Chemical Lines of Evidence
Citation:
Mills, Marc A., J. Schubauer-Berigan, J. Lazorchak, K. Fritz, AND J. Meier. Pre-Remedy Baseline Characterization of the Ottawa River using Physical, Biological, and Chemical Lines of Evidence. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, EPA/600/R-17/355, 2017.
Impact/Purpose:
This report summarizes the site characterization and data collection tasks carried out in Phase 1 prior to the onset of environmental dredging activities in May 2010. This Phase 1 report was prepared with a view toward setting the stage for the reports to follow. The objective of the Phase 1 study was to provide a pre-remedy baseline assessment of sediment, water column, and food web characteristics against which to measure the immediate and long-term improvements in environmental and ecosystem conditions produced through the application of dredging in selected zones of the Ottawa River. The final goal of this project after completion of the aforementioned data summary reports will be to integrate the results of the entire Ottawa River project into a comprehensive interpretive final report coupled with an REA (remedy effectiveness assessment).
Description:
International concern about contaminated sediments is increasing as sustainable practices are needed to maintain our water resources and waterways as important economic, commercial, recreational, and community resources. Sediments often serve as long-term sinks for legacy pollutants, such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), inorganics, and other emerging and known contaminants of concern (COCs). U.S. EPA's Office of Research and Development (ORD) conducts interdisciplinary contaminated sediments research projects within the Agency's Sustainable and Healthy Communities (SHC) Research Program to evaluate the effectiveness of risk management strategies and develop innovative treatment technologies. These projects have investigated and documented methods and approaches to assess remediation projects in the short term (project driven goals) and over long-term restoration and recovery periods (programmatic goals). Research described in this report focuses on the development of methods and approaches to conduct a remedy effectiveness assessment (REA) on environmental remediation projects. Several monitoring and sampling approaches were utilized and evaluated during the remediation of contaminated sediments in the Ottawa River within the Maumee River Area-of-Concern (AOC). These approaches have been developed on contaminated sediments sites by ORD in cooperation with U.S. EPA's Great Lakes National Program Office (GLNPO) and U.S. EPA's Superfund (SF) Program. More recently, methods and metrics were developed, standardized, and demonstrated on a sediment remediation project in the Ashtabula River AOC initiated in 2006 by GLNPO under the Great Lakes Legacy Act (GLLA). As with the Ashtabula River project, environmental dredging was also designated as the remedy-of-choice for the Ottawa River project. The Ottawa River is part of the much larger Maumee River AOC, which drains into Lake Erie at Toledo. Environmental dredging was employed on the most contaminated areas or units within Reaches 2, 3, and 4 of the Lower Ottawa River stretching upstream (generally south and west) from River Mile (RM) 3.5 to RM 8.4. A total of 18 sampling stations were established between RM 3.2 and RM 8.8, six for each reach with three of the six located in remediated zones and three in un-remediated zones for comparison. In partnership with GLNPO, a comprehensive sustained research program (2009-2015) was implemented by ORD for the Ottawa River dredging remediation project to evaluate and optimize the assessment and monitoring methods first developed and evaluated as part of the larger ORD Research Program. These methods were conceived and developed along biological, chemical, and physical lines of evidence (LOEs) that can be used in a weight of evidence (WOE) framework to assess sediment remedies. This report summarizes the site characterization and data collection tasks carried out in Phase 1 prior to the onset of environmental dredging activities in May 2010. Additional data reports will follow that document the subsequent phases of the Ottawa River project. The objective of the Phase 1 study was to provide a pre-remedy baseline assessment of sediment, water column, and food web characteristics against which to measure the immediate and long-term improvements in environmental and ecosystem conditions produced through the application of dredging in selected zones of the Ottawa River. The final goal of this project will be to integrate the results of the entire Ottawa River project into a comprehensive interpretive final report coupled with an REA. The Ottawa River REA report will complement and build on the model developed for the Ashtabula River to evaluate and quantify changes in environmental conditions following a remedial action.