Chemical-Quality Reconnaissance of the Water and Surficial Bed Material in the Delaware River Estuary and Adjacent New Jersey Tributaries, 1980-81
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50272-101 REPORT DOCUMENTATION I-1~REPORT NO. 3. Recipient's Accession No. - PAGE - 4. Title and Subtitle 5. Report Date Chemical-quality reconna1ssance of the water and surficial bed June 1982 material in the Delaware River estuary and adjacent New Jersey 6. trih11t::~r1 PR 1980 81 -- 7. Author(s) 8. Performing Organization Rept. No. Joseph J. Hochreiter~ Jr. USGS/WRI/NTIS 82-36 9. Performing Organization Name and Address 10. Project/Task/Work Unit No. U.S. Geological Survey Water Resources Division 11. Contract(C) or Grant(G) No. Room 430 Federal Building (C) 402 East State Street Trenton, New Jersey 08608 (G) 12. Sponsoring Organization Name and Address U.S. Geological Survey, Water Resources Room 430 Federal Building 402 East State Street Trenton, New Jersey 08608 15. Supplementary Notes Prepared in cooperation with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, Division of Water Resources 16. Abstract (Limit: 200 wordslThis report presents chemical-quality data collected from May 1980 to January 1981 at several locations within the Delaware River estuary and selected New Jersey tributaries. Samples of surface water were analyzed for Environmental Protection Agency "priority pollutants," including acid extractable, base/neutral extractable and volatile organic compounds, 1n addition to selected dissolved inorganic constituents. Surficial bed material at selected locations was examined for trace metals, insecticides, polychlorinated biphenyls, and base/neutral extractable organ1c compounds. Trace levels (1-50 micr&grams per liter) of purgeable organic compounds, particularly those associated with the occurrence of hydrocarbons, were found in about 60 percent of the water samples taken. DDT, DDD, DDE, PCB's and chlordane are present in most surficial bed material samples. Diazinon was the only organophosphorous insecticide detected in the study (1.6 micrograms per kilogram at one location). High values for select trace metals in bed material were discovered at two locations. Of the 10 sites sampled, the surficial bed material containing the most contamination was found along one cross section of Raccoon Creek at Bridgeport. An additional analysis of Raccoon Creek revealed bed material containing toluene, oil and grease, and trace quantities of 15 base/neutral extractable org~nic compounds, including polynuclear aromatic hydro carbons, phthalate esters, and chlorinated benzenes. 17. Document Analysis a. Descriptors '1~ater-quality' 7~ater pollution, 7rbottom sediments' 7rorganic compounds, *trace metals, DDT, polychlorinated biphenyls, pesticides, saline water, surface/ground-water relations. b. Identifiers/Open-Ended Terms Delaware River, EPA priority pollutants, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, volatile organ1c compounds. c. COSATI Field/Group 18. Availability Statement 19. Security Class (This Report) 21. No. of Pages No restriction on distribution UNCLASSIFIED 41 20. Security Class (This Page) 22. Price UNCLASSIFIED (See ANSI-Z39.18) See Instructions on Reverse OPTIONAL FORM 272 (4-77) {Formerly NTIS-35) Department of Commerce CHEMICAL-QUALITY RECONNAISSANCE OF THE WATER AND SURFICIAL BED MATERIAL IN THE DELAWARE RIVER ESTUARY AND ADJACENT NEW JERSEY TRIBUTARIES, 1980-81 By Joseph J. Hochreiter, Jr. U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY Water-Resources Investigations 82-36 Prepared in cooperation with the NEW JERSEY DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION, DIVISION OF WATER RESOURCES June 1982 UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR JAMES G. WATT, Secretary GEOLOGICAL SURVEY Dallas L. PecK, Director For additional information write to: U.S. Geological Survey Room 430, Federal Building 402 East State Street Trenton, New Jersey 08608 CONTENTS Page Abstract..................................................... 1 Introduction .. o............................................... 1 Purpose and scope...................................................... 2 Acknowledgments................................................... 2 The Delaware River estuary............................................... 2 Location and extent............................................ 2 Climate ................................................... o 3 Geography and geology............................................... 3 Ground-water hydrology..................................... 5 Surface-water hydrology......................................... 6 Land use. .. • .. .. 8 Data collection ...... ~&GG~··••e••···························· 10 Sample collection............................................... 10 Laboratory methodology......................................... 14 Results...................................................... 14 Water quality .............................................. 14 Sediment quality.............................................. 20 Discussion................................................... 27 S u mm a r y a n d c o n c 1 u s i on s • . • . .. .. .. 3 5 Suggestions for further study................................ 36 Selected references............................................ 36 ILLUSTRATIONS Figure 1.--Map of the Delaware River estuary showing the location of sampling sites...................... 4 2.--Monthly streamflow for the Delaware River at Trenton, N.J. .. .. ... ... .. ........ 7 3.--Stiff diagrams of major ions at five Delaware River estuary sampling locations, September 3-4, 1980 .............................. 19 4.--Concentration of DDT and its metabolites in the surficial bed material of selected sites........ 24 5.--Concentration of chlordane in the surficial bed material of selected sites...................... 25 6.--Concentration of PCB's in the surficial bed material of selected sites...................... 26 TABLES Table 1.--Comparison of mean monthly discharge with median and normal discharge at the Delaware River at Trenton, N.J. 8 2e--Land use by county for the Delaware Valley (1970).. 9 3.--Sampling frequency and location of the 13 sampling s it e s • . • . • •. • • . • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 1 1 III TABLES--Continued 4.--U.S. Environmental Protection Agency priority pollutants:' analysis list of specific volatile organic compounds detectable by the U.S. Geological Survey Central Laboratory............. 12 5.--U.S. Environmental Protection Agency priority pollutants: analysis list of acid extractable and base/neutral extractable organic compounds . .. ... 13 6.--Chemical analyses of selected surface-water sites in the Delaware River estuary ........•.......... $ 15 7.--Analyses of volatile organic compounds in the surface water of the Delaware River estuaryu..... 21 8.--Chemical analyses of surficial bed material in the Delaware River estuary........................... 22 9.--Insecticides for which analyses were done on most surficial bed material samples................... 23 10.--Results of a base/neutral extractable organic compound analysis of the surficial bed material at Raccoon Creek at Bridgeport, N.J., January 8, 1981. 28 11.--Results of a previous investigation of the surficial bed material in the Delaware River estuary, April 28, 1979. ... .... .. ... ...... ... ... 29 12.--Chemical properties and environmental significance of selected constituents......................... 31 IV GLOSSARY OF TERMS Appalachian Highlands. A major physiographic subdivision of the United States that, in New Jersey, includes parts of the following physiographic provinces: ( 1) Piedmont, ( 2) New England, (3) Valley and Ridge, and (4) Appalachian Plateaus. Each province is characterized by distinctive landforms related to the structure and types of rocks contained therein and to the geologic history of the province. DDT-T. A term used in this report to collectively identify DDT ( dichlorodiphenyl trichloroethane) and its metabolites, DDD (dichlorodiphenyldichloroethane) and DDE (dichlorodi phenyldichloroethylene). Delaware Estuary. The entire tidal segment of the Delaware River including the Bay, from river mile Q. 0 at the entrance of Delaware Bay to river mile 133 at the head of tide at Trenton, N.J. Delaware River estuary. That segment of the Delaware Estuary, not including the bay, from river mile 48.23 at the mouth of the Delaware River to river mile 133 at the head of tide at Trenton, N.J. Delaware Valley. For the purposes of this report, a region as defined by the Delaware Valley Regional-Planning Commission that covers a total of 3,840 square miles in the center of the eastern seaboard. This area includes Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, and Philadelphia Counties in Pennsylvania; Burlington, Camden, Gloucester, and Mercer Counties in New Jersey. Dissolved. That material in a representative water sample which passes through a 0. 45-micrometer membrane filter. This is a convenient operational definition used by Federal agencies that collect water data. Determinations of "dissolved" constituents are made on subsamples of the filtrate. EPA priority pollutants. A list of 129 materials developed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (Keith and Telliard, 1979) in implementing parts of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (Public Law 92-500) which deals with toxic pollutants in water. These materials include purgeable, acid extractable, and base/neutral extractable organic compounds, pesticides, metals, cyanides, asbestos, and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB's). Fall Line. A line characterized by the outcrop of bedrock that divides the rolling topography of the Piedmont physio graphic province from the relatively flat plains of the Coastal Plain physiographic