Refocusing Mussel Watch on contaminants of emerging concern (CECs): The California pilot study (2009–10)
Introduction
To characterize the spatial extent and temporal trends in contaminant levels in the coastal ocean and Great Lakes, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science Mussel Watch Program (“Mussel Watch”) has collected and analyzed bivalves and sediments since 1986 (http://ccma.Nos.noaa.gov/stressors/pollution/nsandt). Representative samples of locally abundant bivalve species have been collected from more than 200 stations across the nation on a fixed, biennial schedule, e.g. during the winter months in California. To date, bivalve tissue samples have been analyzed for more than 100 trace metal and semi-volatile organic constituents and for overall condition using histopathology. After more than 20 years of assessment, a downward trend in levels of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) that have been phased out or severely restricted, such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane and its derivatives (DDTs) and chlordanes, is apparent nationwide (Kimbrough et al., 2008a). No such trend is discernable for other contaminant classes whose usage and discharge into the environment continues, such as total polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), a product of fossil fuel combustion, and trace metals such as arsenic, copper, nickel, lead and zinc.
Since most of the currently targeted POPs have been banned for use in the U.S., these trends are expected to continue into the foreseeable future. Thus, the value of continuing to analyze these contaminant classes via Mussel Watch is decreasing from the perspective of local and regional aquatic resource managers. In response to a waning demand for legacy contaminant data, NOAA held a workshop in 2009 with personnel from local, state, regional and federal agencies to identify the most relevant information emanating from the Mussel Watch Program. The workshop participants concluded that information on chemicals that are expected to increase in production and usage, whose discharge and fate characteristics favor environmental “persistence”, and that are currently not routinely monitored for and/or regulated, so-called “contaminants of emerging concern” (or CECs), was lacking (California Ocean Science Trust, 2009). The recommendation was made that Mussel Watch would be an excellent platform for examining CECs.
A wide variety of chemicals including pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs), flame retardants, contemporary use pesticides (CUPs) and even food additives (e.g. caffeine) are considered CECs. Except for those most recently formulated, many of these chemicals have likely been present in aquatic ecosystems for years and perhaps decades, but were not previously targeted or detectable using available monitoring methods. Public awareness and recent advances in analytical chemistry have since resulted in widespread detection of many CECs in the environment. Moreover, CECs possess a wide range of physicochemical properties, and thus exhibit differential behavior once discharged into the aquatic environment. Some, like polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE) flame retardants, are hydrophobic and display persistence and bioaccumulative potential (Kimbrough et al., 2008b, Meng et al., 2009). Others, such as DEET, sulfamethoxazole and other PPCPs are water soluble and are rapidly transformed in surface waters (Boreen et al., 2003, Guo and Krasner, 2009). Whereas bivalves or other aquatic species may be appropriate monitoring sentinels for bioaccumulative CECs, alternative approaches including the use of passive sampling devices (PSDs) that target water soluble compounds (Petty et al., 2004) as well as hydrophobic pollutants (Zeng et al., 2004) show promise for monitoring of CECs in natural waters.
A consortium of research, monitoring and regulatory agencies in California seized the opportunity to serve as an initial test bed to facilitate this transformation. During the 2007–08 Mussel Watch collection cycle, the Southern California Coastal Water Research Project Authority (SCCWRP), the Multi-Agency Rocky Intertidal Network (MARINe) and the Ocean Unit of the State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) teamed with NOAA to increase spatial coverage of Mussel Watch by doubling the number of existing Mussel Watch stations in California. In contrast to the original, overarching Mussel Watch strategy of selecting stations with no obvious anthropogenic perturbation, the new stations were selected to address differences in land use and the impact of point and non-point source discharge, including several that were located in areas of special biological significance (ASBS), defined by State law as those areas devoid of permitted or regulated discharge (http://www.waterboards.ca.gov/water_issues/programs/ocean/).
A steering committee was established for this “California pilot study”, with representatives from SCCWRP, the SWRCB, the San Francisco Estuary Institute (SFEI), NOAA and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), to design a two-year pilot study that addressed the following questions:
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What is the occurrence (frequency of detection, concentration) of CECs in the coastal California environment?
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How does CEC occurrence vary with land use?
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How does CEC occurrence vary with proximity to discharge of treated municipal wastewater effluent and storm water runoff?
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Which CECs are detectable in the water column using passive sampling devices (PSDs)?
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What is the relationship between CEC accumulation by PSDs and bivalve tissue?
The steering committee identified a list of high priority CEC classes based on the state of the science and availability of robust analytical methods, and designed a field study to address the above questions. This paper describes the process used to select target CECs, the field sampling design, analytical requirements including data quality objectives and quality assurance/quality control (QA/QC) provisions and strategies for data management and analysis. The results of the pilot study, which are documented in a series of papers also appearing in this special issue, will provide the basis for development of a robust comprehensive monitoring and assessment program for contaminants that will inform future management decisions concerning the quality of the California coastal environment.
Section snippets
Sampling locations
A total of 68 stations were identified for this study (Fig. 1). From 1986–2006, NOAA established 36 Mussel Watch stations in California, with 21 located in southern California (south of Point Conception) and the remainder in central and northern California, including San Francisco Bay (SFB) (Lauenstein et al., 1997). To increase coverage and to include stations that are subject to discharge from different and/or changing land uses, 32 new stations were identified in collaboration with MARINe, a
Acknowledgments
This study was supported by NOAA MOA-2006-054/7001, and by in-kind contributions from the SWRCB Ocean Unit, SCCWRP member agencies and the SFEI Regional Monitoring Program. The authors wish to thank P. Salop, R. Evans; M. Edwards, A. Jacob, E. Johnson, L. Nachbar, T. Collier, R. Callender and G. Matlock (NOAA); T. Grayson and L. Huff (USEPA); J. Kucklick (NIST), C. Beegan and E. Siegel (SWRCB); M. Sedlak, J. Davis and R. Hoenicke (SFEI); J. Ramirez and A. Fryer (TDI-Brooks Inc.); R. Grace, C.
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Present address: Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute, San Francisco, CA 94108, USA.