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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:
- Potholes Reservoir: Screening Survey for Dieldrin, Other Chlorinated Pesticides, and PCBs in Fish, Water, and Sediments
- PCBs, Dioxins, and Furans in Fish, Sediment, and Wastewater Treatment Plant Effluent from West Medical Lake
- Yakima River Pesticides and PCBs Total Maximum Daily Load: Volume 1. Water Quality Study Findings
- Quality Assurance Project Plan: Control of Toxic Chemicals in Puget Sound Phase 3: Characterization of Toxic Chemicals in Puget Sound and Selected Major Tributaries
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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:
- An Assessment of the PCB and Dioxin Background in Washington Freshwater Fish, with Recommendations for Prioritizing 303(d) Listings
- Quality Assurance Project Plan: Seasonal Water Quality Study of Vancouver Lake Tributaries for PCBs, Dioxin, and Chlorinated Pesticides
- Vancouver Lakes PCBs,
Chlorinated Pesticides, and Dioxins in Fish Tissue and Sediment
- Results from Monitoring
Endosulfan and Dieldrin in Wide Hollow Creek, Yakima River Drainage, 2005-06
- South Puget Sound
Verification of 303(d) Listings for Chemical Contaminants in Fish and Shellfish
- Verification of 303(d) Listings for Fish Tissue in the Skagit and Pend Oreille Rivers
- Verification of 303(d)-listed Sites in Northwest, Central, and Eastern Regions of Washington State
- Concentrations of 303(d) Listed Pesticides, PCBs, and PAHs Measured with Passive Samplers Deployed in the Lower Columbia River
- Verification of 1998 303(d) PCB Listing, Inner Budd Inlet
- Quality Assurance Project Plan: Blue-Green Algae Toxins in Fish and Sediment from Washington Lakes: Microcystins and Saxitoxin
- Quality Assurance Project Plan: Analyzing Toxaphene at Water Quality Criteria Levels in Treated Lakes and Agricultural Streams
- Perfluorinated Compounds in Washington Rivers and Lakes
- Focus on Perfluorinated Compounds: PFCs in Washington State Rivers and Lakes
- Quality Assurance Project Plan: Evaluating the Toxicity of Arsenic and Lead in the Soils of the Tacoma Smelter Plume Footprint and Hanford Site Old Orchards Areas.
- General Characterization of PCBs in South Lake Washington Sediments
- PBT Monitoring: PBDE Flame Retardants in Spokane River Fish, 2009
- Quality Assurance Project Plan: Assessing the Potential for Excessive Lead and Arsenic in Construction Site Stormwater Discharges
- Blue-Green Algae Toxins in Washington Lakes: Screening Fish Tissue for Microcystins and Anatoxin-a
- Focus on Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products
- Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products in Municipal Wastewater and Their Removal by Nutrient Treatment Technologies
- Contaminant Loading to the Lower Duwamish Waterway from Suspended Sediment in the Green River
- Quality Assurance Project Plan: Assessment of Aquatic Toxicity in North Creek, Gig Harbor.
- American Plating Post-Interim-Action Groundwater Monitoring Results: May and September, 2008
- Puget Sound Boatyards: Zinc, Copper, Lead, and Hardness Concentrations in Receiving Waters
- Quality Assurance Project Plan: Leach Creek (Pierce County) Mercury and Copper Monitoring.
- Baseline Characterization of Nine Proposed Freshwater Sediment Reference Sites, 2008
- 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
- 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)
- 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: 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.
