Profiles of Selected Pollutants in Bayou Texar, Pensacola, FL
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Profiles of Selected Pollutants in Bayou Texar, Pensacola, FL Dr. Carl J. Mohrherr Center for Environmental Diagnostics and Bioremediation University of West Florida Dr. Johan Liebens Department of Environmental Studies University of West Florida Dr. J. Eugene Lepo Center for Environmental Diagnostics and Bioremediation University of West Florida Dr. K. Ranga Rao Center for Environmental Diagnostics and Bioremediation University of West Florida May 10, 2005 FOREWORD This study is a component of the "Assessment of Environmental Pollution and Community Health in Northwest Florida, " supported by a USEPA Cooperative Agreement award X- 9745502 to The University of West Florida (Project Director: Dr. K. Ranga Rao). The contents of this report are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the USEPA. The study was undertaken because of the increasing concern for environmental pollution and potential impacts on human health in Northwest Florida. It was designed to assess environmental impacts of toxic pollutants in Bayou Texar with an emphasis on possible superfund site impacts upon the bayou. Kristal Flanders managed the spatial databases for the project and drafted the maps. Her assistance has been invaluable. Alan Knowles, Jason Moore, Jeff Seebach, Kevin Bradley, and Tony DiGirolamo helped with the fieldwork and some laboratory procedures. We wish also to thank Michael Lewis, Ecosystem Assessment Branch of the US EPA Gulf Ecology Division for discussing some data from US EPA studies on Bayou Texar with us. ii Table of contents EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................... 1 2. STUDY AREA ........................................................................................................................ 2 2.1. Description ............................................................................................................................ 2 2.2 Clean Water Act Classification .............................................................................................. 3 3. ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORY OF BAYOU TEXAR ......................................................... 3 3.1 Pre 1990 .................................................................................................................................. 3 3.2 20th Century ............................................................................................................................ 3 3.3 Bathymetry and Sedimentation of the Bayou/Creek System ................................................. 4 4. Current Public Works Activities .............................................................................................. 8 4.1 Sediments ............................................................................................................................... 8 4.2 Stormwater ............................................................................................................................. 9 4.2.3 Shore Erosion .................................................................................................................... 10 5. NATIONAL PRIORITIES LIST SITES ............................................................................... 11 5.1 Public Perception of Superfund Site Impacts ....................................................................... 11 5.2 ACC and ETC National Priorities List Sites ........................................................................ 11 6. CONTAMINANTS OF CONCERN, LITERATURE REVIEW .......................................... 12 6.1 Sediments ............................................................................................................................. 12 6.2 Nutrients ............................................................................................................................... 13 6.3 Fluoride ................................................................................................................................ 14 6.4 Radium ................................................................................................................................. 14 6.5 Semivolatiles ........................................................................................................................ 16 6.5.1 Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs)............................................................. 16 6.5.2 Dinitrotoluene (DNT) ............................................................................................... 17 6.5.3 Organochlorine Contaminants of Concern .............................................................. 17 6.6 Dioxins ................................................................................................................................. 18 6.6.1 Dioxins at ETC ........................................................................................................ 18 6.7 Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs) ...................................................................................... 19 6.8 Pesticides .............................................................................................................................. 19 6.9 Heavy Metals ....................................................................................................................... 20 6.10 Bacteria .............................................................................................................................. 21 7. OBJECTIVES ........................................................................................................................ 21 8. METHODS ............................................................................................................................ 22 iii 9. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION ............................................................................................ 24 9.1 Gaps in existing data ............................................................................................................ 24 9.2 Bathymetry ........................................................................................................................... 25 9.3 Fluoride in Porewater ........................................................................................................... 25 9.4 Fluoride in Sediments .......................................................................................................... 26 9.5 Fluoride in Bayou Bottom Water ......................................................................................... 27 9.6 Existence of 2nd Fluoride Hot Zone ..................................................................................... 28 9.7 Radium ................................................................................................................................. 28 9.7.1 Radium Activities .................................................................................................... 28 9.7.2 Radium Origin in The ACC Aquifer ....................................................................... 29 9.7.3 Radium in Bayou Sediments .................................................................................... 31 9.7.4 Bayou Texar Sediments and the Hagler Well .......................................................... 31 9.8 Semivolatile Compounds ..................................................................................................... 32 9.8.1 Distribution of Semivolatiles in Sediments ............................................................. 32 9.8.2 Total Petroleum and PAHs ...................................................................................... 33 9.8.3 PAH Ratios and PAH Origin ................................................................................... 33 9.8.4 Naphthalene Discharge to Bayou ............................................................................. 34 9.8.5 Dinitrotoluene (DNT), Phthalates and Carbazole .................................................... 35 9.9 Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs) ...................................................................................... 36 9.10 Pesticides ............................................................................................................................ 36 9.11 Metals ................................................................................................................................. 37 9.12 Bacteria .............................................................................................................................. 38 10. REMEDIAL CONSIDERATIONS ..................................................................................... 39 10.1 Erosion and Sedimentation ................................................................................................ 39 10.2 Pollution Concerns ............................................................................................................. 40 11. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS .................................................................................. 42 12. REFERENCES .................................................................................................................... 44 13. APPENDIX 1: TABLES....................................................................................................... 51 14. APPENDIX 2: MAPS........................................................................................................... 73 15. APPENDIX 3: CORE DESCRIPTIONS,