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Toxics Monitoring by Ecology
Ecology’s Environmental Assessment Program conducts various monitoring efforts to characterize toxic chemicals in Washington's environment. Some of our more recent efforts are described below.
Toxic contamination of our air, water, soil, and wildlife continues to be a concern in Washington State. Humans and wildlife face a variety of risks due to toxic chemicals in the environments. For many areas of Washington, information is lacking about the levels of toxic contaminants in freshwater fish and surface water. In 2000, Ecology developed the Washington State Toxics Monitoring Program to address these concerns.
Where water quality criteria are exceeded, the state of Washington may be required to develop a water cleanup plan known as the Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) process. Water Cleanup Plans involve watershed residents in choosing and implementing strategies to reduce pollution.
TMDL studies for toxics contaminants are intensive monitoring efforts of sediment, water, and fish to provide the information needed for developing water cleanup plans. Verification studies are performed where more information is needed to determine whether water quality criteria were exceeded and help determine the next course of action.
TMDL-related studies:
- Quality Assurance Project Plan:
Okanogan River DDT and PCB Total Maximum Daily Load Effectiveness Monitoring
- PBDE and Dioxin/Furans in Spokane
Stormwater
- Control of Toxic Chemicals in Puget
Sound: Phase 2, Development of simple numerical models: The
long-term fate and bioaccumulation of polychlorinated biphenyls in Puget
Sound.
- Palouse River Watershed PCB and Dieldrin Monitoring, 2007-2008: Wastewater Treatment Plants and Abandoned Landfills
- Quality Assurance
Project Plan: West Medical Lake Total PCBs and Dioxin (2,3,7,8-TCDD) Total
Maximum Daily Load
- Quality Assurance
Project Plan: Potholes Reservoir Assessment of Dieldrin and Other Chlorinated
Contaminants
- Spokane River PCB TMDL Stormwater Loading Analysis: Final Technical Report
- PCB Monitoring at
Walla Walla and College Place Wastewater Treatment Plants, 2006-07
-
Palouse River Chlorinated Pesticide and PCB Total Maximum Daily Load: Water
Quality Improvement Report and Implementation Plan
- Quality Assurance Project Plan: Yakima River Chlorinated Pesticides, PCBs,
Suspended Sediment, and Turbidity Total Maximum Daily Load Study
- Chlorinated
Pesticides, PCBs, and Dioxins in Yakima River Fish in 2006: Data Summary and
Comparison to Human Health Criteria
- Mission Creek
Watershed DDT Total Maximum Daily Load: Water Quality Improvement Report
- Similkameen River and
Palmer Lake Investigation of Arsenic in Fish Tissue
- Spokane River PCBs Total Maximum Daily Load
Study (DRAFT report)
- Lake Chelan DDT and PCBs in Fish Total
Maximum Daily Load Study
- A Total Maximum Daily Load Evaluation for Chlorinated Pesticides and PCBs in the Walla Walla River
- DDT Contamination and Transport in the Lower Mission Creek Basin, Chelan County: Total Maximum Daily Load Assessment
- TMDL Technical Assessment of DDT and PCBs in the Lower Okanogan River Basin
303d verification-related studies:
- Quality Assurance Project Plan: PBDE
Flame Retardants in Spokane River Fish Tissues and Osprey Eggs
- Quality Assurance Project Plan:
General Characterization of PCBs in South Lake Washington Sediments
- Irrigation Canal Effects on Copper Levels
in Water and Sediment of the Mid-Columbia and Wenatchee Rivers
- Lead and Copper Concentrations in North Creek, Gig Harbor
- Quality Assurance Project Plan: Des Moines, Massey, and McSorley Creeks Copper and Zinc Water Quality Assessment
- Mercury Sedimentation in Lakes in Western Whatcom County, Washington, USA and its Relation to Local Industrial and Municipal Atmospheric Sources
- Quality Assurance Project Plan: Screening for Blue-Green Algae Toxins in Lake Fish Tissues.
- Quality Assurance Project Plan: Loading of Contaminants to the Lower Duwamish Waterway from Suspended Sediments in the Green River
- Quality Assurance Project Plan: Receiving Water Study for Puget Sound Boatyards: Metals Translators and Hardness
- Quality Assurance Project Plan: Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products in Wastewater Treatment Systems
- Quality Assurance Project Plan: Evaluation of Candidate Freshwater Sediment Reference Sites
- Assessment of Sediment Toxicity near Post Point (Bellingham Bay)
- Dioxins, Furans, and other Contaminants in Surface Sediment and English Sole Collected from Greater Elliott Bay (Seattle)
- Quality Assurance
Project Plan: PBT Monitoring: Measuring Perfluorinated Compounds in Washington
Rivers and Lakes
- Control of Toxic Chemicals in Puget Sound: Identification and Evaluation of Water Column Data for Puget Sound and Its Ocean Boundary
- Quality Assurance
Project Plan: PCB and Dioxin Levels in Resident Fish from Washington
Background Lakes and Rivers
- Quality Assurance
Project Plan: Wenatchee and Mid-Columbia Basins, Impact of Copper Use on
Receiving Waters
- PBDEs Flame Retardants
in Washington Rivers and Lakes: Concentrations in Fish and Water, 2005-06
- PCBs, PBDEs, and
Selected Metals in Spokane River Fish, 2005
- Persistent Organic
Pollutants in Feed and Rainbow Trout from Selected Trout Hatcheries
-
Methoprene Concentrations in Surface Water Samples from Grant County Mosquito
Control District No. 1
-
Investigation of Petroleum Products in Black Lake Sediment and Surface Water
Adjacent to an Underground Storage Tank Site
- Dissolved Copper
Concentrations in Two Puget Sound Marinas
- Other PBT-related studies
In 2002, the Washington State Department of Agriculture (WSDA) contracted with the Washington State Department of Ecology (Ecology) to design and conduct a multi-year surface water monitoring program to characterize pesticide concentrations in salmonid-bearing streams.
The groundwater scientists of the Environmental Assessment Program conduct studies across a broad spectrum of groundwater-related issues. Many of these studies address toxic contamination of groundwater from accidental spills, leaking underground storage tanks, and leaching from landfills or agricultural practices. The
Groundwater Assessment website describes current monitoring efforts and strategic planning.
The Puget Sound Assessment and Monitoring Program (PSAMP) monitors toxic contaminants in sediments and fish throughout Puget Sound. Since 1989, Ecology has conducted the
Marine Sediment Monitoring Project part of PSAMP while the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife has tested for contaminants in marine fish.
Copyright © Washington State Department of Ecology. See http://www.ecy.wa.gov/copyright.html.
