Measurement of PAH loadings to Massachusetts Bay from various waterborne sources
- Menzie-Cura and Associates, Inc., Chelmsford, MA (United States)
- Massachusetts Bays Programs, Boston, MA (United States)
This poster presentation provides the results of a study designed to measure the concentrations of PAHs in various nonpoint and point sources which discharge to Massachusetts Bay. The authors sampled municipal NPDES discharges, CSOs, and storm sewers from residential and/or commercial/industrial areas; sampled major rivers entering the bay; analyzed samples for PAH, TOC, TSS, and O and G; explored statistical relationships between PAH and the concentrations of conventional pollutants; and, calculated the loadings of PAHs to the Massachusetts Bay system. The highest concentration of total PAH compounds measured was in urban stormwater. Among the POTWs, both total and carcinogenic PAH concentrations are lowest in the effluent from the secondary treatment plant. There are statistically significant differences in stormwater and river PAH concentrations between urban and nonurban areas. Correlation and linear regression analyses indicated that conventional pollutants can be good predictors of PAR concentrations for specific source types and land use categories, but poor for other sources of land use types. In Massachusetts Bay watershed, river runoff is the most important nonpoint source contributor of carcinogenic PAH compounds, and consequently the most important source, generally. The Merrimack River and the rivers entering Boston Harbor are equally important in terms of their contribution of carcinogenic PAH compounds to Massachusetts Bay. The substantial variability observed within source types (particularly the urban sources) and the weak correlations (with high error terms) calculated for most variables indicate that it would be difficult to extrapolate these results to other areas, especially to other urban areas. The relationships the authors identified may not hold for other regions, particularly those with different climates.
- OSTI ID:
- 390158
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-9511137--; ISBN 1-880611-03-1
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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