Source apportionment of polychlorinated biphenyls in the New York/New Jersey Harbor

doi:10.1016/j.chemosphere.2011.02.058

Chemosphere

Volume 83, Issue 6, April 2011, Pages 792-798

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2011.02.058 Get rights and content

Abstract

The New York/New Jersey Harbor (also known as the Hudson River Estuary) is heavily contaminated with polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) arising in part from inputs from the Upper Hudson River, which is a Superfund site containing historical PCB contamination, and also due to inputs from the New York City metropolitan area. The Contamination Assessment and Reduction Project (CARP) measured PCBs and other contaminants in ambient water samples collected throughout the Harbor region during 1998–2001. In order to investigate the sources of PCBs to the NY/NJ Harbor, this data base of PCB concentrations was analyzed using Positive Matrix Factorization (PMF). This analysis resolved seven factors that are thought to be associated with sources such as the Upper Hudson River, storm water runoff, combined sewer overflows (CSOs), and wastewater effluents. The PMF model also produced a factor that appears to be related to sites contaminated with Aroclor 1260. To the extent that the NY/NJ Harbor is typical of urbanized estuaries throughout the United States, these results suggest that storm water runoff is probably a significant source of PCBs to surface waters in urban areas.

Highlights

► A data set of 90 PCB congeners in 93 water samples was analyzed. ► PCB 11 is a tracer for wastewater, stormwater, and combined sewer overflows. ► Aroclor 1254 sources are widespread; Aroclor 1260 sources are localized. ► The Upper Hudson River contributes 41% of the external loads of PCBs to the Harbor. ► PCB reductions require remediation of contaminated sites and stormwater management.

Introduction

The New York/New Jersey Harbor runs through the New York City metropolitan area. Its watershed is home to approximately 20 million people. It contains several major ports and is heavily industrialized. As such, the harbor is contaminated with many anthropogenic chemicals, including polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). ΣPCB concentrations in the harbor near New York City are in the tens of ng L⁻¹, several orders of magnitude higher than the Federal Water Quality Standard of 64 pg L⁻¹, which is based on the protection of human health for the consumption of water and organisms (USEPA, 2009). In addition to the urban sources, PCBs have long been recognized as a problem in the harbor due to inputs from the Upper Hudson River. General Electric discharged hundreds of kg of PCBs to the Upper Hudson from its plants at Fort Edward from the 1930s to the 1970s (USEPA, 2002). Because PCBs are very hydrophobic and sorb strongly to sediments, this legacy contamination is still an important source of PCBs to the harbor (Farley et al., 1999, Totten, 2005, HydroQual, 2007).

In order to inform management strategies for PCBs in the harbor, models of their fate have been constructed (Farley et al., 1999, HydroQual, 2007). These models require information on the sources of PCBs to the system, but this information was severely limited until recently, when the Contamination Assessment and Reduction Project (CARP) was initiated in the late 1990s to measure contaminants in suspected sources such as wastewater effluents and storm water outfalls, as well as in the ambient water column and the sediments of the system (Contamination Assessment and Reduction Project (CARP), 2007a, Contamination Assessment and Reduction Project (CARP), 2007b). The CARP measured metals such as mercury and cadmium, as well as a wide range of organic pollutants, including PCBs, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, organochlorine pesticides, and polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and -furans. This data has been used to construct loading estimates for input into a fate and transport model of pollutants that is being used to construct Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs) for key species in the harbor (Contamination Assessment and Reduction Project (CARP), 2007b).

In a separate effort, the CARP data was used to construct a loading assessment for PCBs in the harbor (Totten, 2005) which indicated that although the Upper Hudson River is responsible for about half of the ΣPCBs entering the harbor, this load is dominated by lower molecular weight (MW) congeners due to two factors: the use of the low MW Aroclor 1242 by General Electric and the extensive dechlorination of PCBs that occurs in the sediments of the Upper Hudson. For high molecular weight PCBs (those the seven or more chlorines), Totten (2005) suggested that storm water runoff and combined sewer overflows (CSOs) are the primary sources to the harbor. These are important sources of high MW PCBs because of their relatively large flows and the use of a variety of Aroclors in the urban area, including many that contain more high MW congeners than Aroclor 1242.

Previous studies have attempted to identify PCB sources in this area (Huntley et al., 1997, Monosson et al., 2003). This study differs from previous efforts in that it utilizes a much larger data set of 90 congeners measured in 93 samples. The present study also investigates a larger geographic area (Fig. 1). In this work, the CARP database was examined using Positive Matrix Factorization to identify co-varying congener patterns that are thought to be associated with sources. This analysis was intended to test the validity of the various loading estimates as well as to attempt to identify previously unrecognized PCB sources.

Section snippets

PMF data matrix

Thirty-eight sampling sites were repeatedly sampled between September 1998 and October 2001 at sampling locations ranging from the Upper Hudson to the NY/NJ Bight Apex (Fig. 1). Latitude and longitude data for each sample site is presented in Table 1. Although 209 congeners were measured, only 90 were included in the PMF model. The excluded congeners were either below detection limit in most samples and/or were not present in significant amounts in the Aroclors (Rushneck et al., 2004). This

Determination of the number of factors

A critical step in PMF is determining the correct number of factors that provide clear, physically meaningful results and, at the same time, reduce matrix dimensionality. If errors are accurately estimated, the calculated Q value should be approximately equal to the theoretical Q value. In the present case, the plot of calculated Q most closely matched the theoretical Q when seven factors were requested (see Supporting information, Figure S-1). Determination of the number of factors can also be

Acknowledgements

This work was funded by the Hudson River Foundation. We thank Simon Litten at the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation for helpful discussions. We also thank the anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments.

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¹: Present address: Guizhou State Key Laboratory of Environmental Geochemistry, No. 46, Guanshui Rd., Guiyang, Guizhou Province 550002, China.

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Source apportionment of polychlorinated biphenyls in the New York/New Jersey Harbor

Abstract

Highlights

Introduction

Section snippets

PMF data matrix

Determination of the number of factors

Acknowledgements

Atmos. Environ.

Chemosphere

Water Res.

Chemosphere

Chemosphere

Chemosphere

Factors influencing the rate of polychlorinated biphenyl dechlorination in Hudson River Sediments

Environ. Sci. Technol.

Determination of PCB metabolic, excretion, and accumulation rates for use as indicators of biological response and relative risk

Environ. Sci. Technol.

PCB loading from sediment in the Hudson River: congener signature analysis of pathways

Environ. Sci. Technol.

Statistics and Data Analysis in Geology

Source apportionment of PCBs in the Tidal Delaware River

Environ. Sci. Technol.