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U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

The Great Waters Second Report to Congress: Summary of scientific and technical activities

Conference ·
OSTI ID:617695
 [1]
  1. Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, NC (United States)
The Great Waters program is an activity of U.S. EPA`s air program, dealing with deposition of airborne hazardous pollutants to the Great Lakes, Lake Champlain, Chesapeake Bay, and coastal waters (National Estuary Program and National Estuarine Research Reserves). The Great Waters Second Report to Congress is presently undergoing peer and office review, but its key findings in scientific and technical areas are summarized here. Recent publications, especially from EPA, which address the concerns of the Great Waters program are summarized, along with general, scientific literature. The Second Report and the literature and program activities it summarizes support the conclusions in the First Report: adverse effects in humans and ecosystems are associated with exposures to the pollutants of concern (which are persistent and tend to bioaccumulate); atmospheric deposition can contribute significant amounts of hazardous chemicals to the waterbodies; many sources of the pollutants of concern can be identified in general terms, but distant, regional, and local sources all can contribute to the atmospheric burden at a particular waterbody. Several on-going activities such as the IADN monitoring network, Lake Michigan Mass Balance study, and airshed modeling for Chesapeake Bay are briefly described. In general, the new information supports the concerns for adverse effects of persistent and bioaccumulative pollutants, and the importance of their deposition from the air to the waterbodies.
OSTI ID:
617695
Report Number(s):
CONF-9610359--
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English