Publication Summary

This publication summarizes what Ecology knows about dioxin sources in Washington State and recommends actions Ecology might take to improve its understanding of dioxin sources and reduce the magnitude and impact of these sources on the state′s citizens and environment.

The Washington State Dioxin Source Assessment:

- Summarizes what Ecology knows and does not know about dioxin sources in Washington State. - Recommends actions Ecology might take to (1) improve its understanding of dioxin sources and (2) reduce the magnitude and impact of these sources on the state′s citizens and environment.

The report provides background information on chlorinated dioxins and furans. A simple source and fate model describes the movement of dioxins from source to environmental and human receptors.

The report discusses steps taken to locate and process data for confirmed and potential dioxin sources in Washington State. The limitations imposed by sparse data are also discussed.

Information provided for source categories includes: - Available data on the amount of dioxin generated by, or released by, sources in each category. - The potential for dioxin generated by these facilities to be dispersed or contained. - The number of facilities in each category and the relative data coverage (e.g., the proportion of facilities in each source category have dioxin data). - Whether the calculated dioxin loads were from facilities that continue to operate, or from facilities that are now closed. - The national rank, estimated from the relative magnitude of each source category, based on EPA′s 1994 national dioxin source assessment.

Based on this information source categories are assigned two importance rankings: 1) the importance of collecting additional dioxin data, and 2) the importance of additional source control and reduction.

Sources discussed include incinerators, hog-fuel (wood waste) boilers, pulp and paper bleaching, cement kilns, activated carbon regeneration, municipal wastewater treatment, wood treating, cleanup sites and oil refineries.

Finally, overall conclusions and associated recommendations, many of which are based on the importance ratings for each source category, are provided.