DRAFT Buffalo River Remedial Action Plan 2008 Status Report Prepared By: Buffalo Niagara Riverkeeper Table of Contents PAGE __________________________________________________________________ 1. Introduction………………………………………………………………………………..1 1.1 Location of Buffalo River Area Of Concern (AOC)…………………………………...1 1.2 Purpose of Status Report……………………………………………………………….1 2. Beneficial Uses & Impairment and Delisting Criteria & Restoration Targets……………4 3. Accomplishments Between 2002 – June 2008……………………………………………8 3.1 Water Quality…………………………………………………………………………..8 3.1.1 Major Accomplishments…………………………………………………………..8 3.1.1.1 Rotating Intensive Basin Studies (RIBS)…………………………………….8 3.1.1.2 Assessment of Phytoplankton and Eutrophication…………………………...9 3.1.1.3 Buffalo Sewer Authority LTCP……………………………………………...9 3.1.1.4 BRIC………………………………………………………………………...10 3.2 Contamination………………………………………………………………………...10 3.2.1 Major Accomplishments…………………………………………………………11 3.2.1.1 Upper Buffalo River Remedial Investigation/Feasibility Study……………11 3.2.1.2 Great Lakes Legacy Act Project (Lower Buffalo River)…………………...11 3.2.1.3 BUI #7………………………………………………………………………11 3.2.1.4 NY State Superfund Sites…………………………………………………..12 3.2.1.5 VCP/BCP/ERP Sites………………………………………………………..13 3.2.2 Next Steps and Commitments……………………………………………………14 3.2.2.1 Contaminated Sediments……………………………………………………14 3.2.2.2 Inactive Hazardous Waste Sites…………………………………………….14 3.3 Fish, Wildlife, and Macroinvertebrates……………………………………………….15 3.3.1 Major Accomplishments…………………………………………………………15 3.3.1.1 Delisting Criteria Adopted………………………………………………….15 3.3.1.2 Rotating Intensive Basin Study (RIBS)…………………………………….16 3.3.1.3 Assessment of Potential Aquatic Habitat Restoration Sites………………..17 3.3.1.4 Fish Contaminant Study…………………………………………………….19 3.3.1.5 Herpetological Survey………………………………………………………20 3.3.1.6 Bird Population Survey……………………………………………………..20 3.3.1.7 Buffalo River Habitat Restoration Project………………………………….20 3.3.1.8 Buffalo River Urban Canoe Trail…………………………………………...22 3.3.1.9 Brownfield Opportunity Areas (BOA)……………………………………...22 3.3.1.10 Elk Street Revitalization and Planning………………………………….….24 3.3.1.11 Buffalo River Greenway Implementation…………………………………..24 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1. Location of Buffalo River Area of Concern (AOC) The Buffalo River is located in the City of Buffalo, Erie County, in western New York State. The river flows from the east and discharges into Lake Erie at the head of the Niagara River. The Buffalo River Area of Concern (AOC) “impact area” extends from the mouth of the Buffalo River to the farthest point upstream at which the backwater condition exists during Lake Erie’s highest monthly average lake level. The impact area is 6.2 miles (10 km) in length and the AOC also includes the entire 1.4 mile (2.3 km) City Ship Canal, located adjacent to the river (Figure 1-1). 1.2. Purpose of Status Report As required for all Areas of Concern through the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement, a combined Stage 1 and Stage 2 Remedial Action Plan (RAP) was completed and issued for the Buffalo River in November 1989. Between 1989 and 2002, NYS Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), as RAP Coordinator, tracked the progress within the Buffalo River AOC through a series of Status Reports. The objective of the RAP was to document the issues concerning the Buffalo River and a strategy to remediate/improve those issues. The main issues that affected the Buffalo River included: Water Quality, Contaminated Bottom Sediments, Inactive Hazardous Waste Sites, Municipal and Industrial Wastewater Facilities, Combined Sewer Overflows, and Fish and Wildlife Habitat. In October 2003, the USEPA Great Lakes National Program Office (GLNPO) selected 1 Buffalo Niagara Riverkeeper (formerly Friends of the Buffalo Niagara River) to coordinate the implementation of the Buffalo River Action Plan. Through the coordination of Buffalo Niagara Riverkeeper and with the assistance of the Remedial Advisory Committee (RAC), NYSDEC, and other governmental and non-governmental agencies and organizations, the Buffalo River AOC has made significant progress towards delisting the AOC. Buffalo Niagara Riverkeeper produced a Status Report in 2005 that documented this progress towards delisting between April 2002 and October 2005. This Draft Status Report document includes all progress and commitments that have been identified between 2002 and June 2008. The projects listed are neither excusive nor exhaustive, and a more thorough analysis of the AOC will be available later this year. Buffalo Niagara Riverkeeper, with assistance from the Remedial Advisory Committee (RAC), is in the process of revising and rewriting the entire Remedial Action Plan. The rewrite will not change the foundation of the original RAP, but will incorporate newly-developed data, research, investigations, and remedial progress into the status of Beneficial Use Impairments and the updated Remedial Strategy. All documents identified in this Draft Status Report, including the previous status reports and the original RAP, are available by contacting Buffalo Niagara Riverkeeper. 2 Figure 1-1 Location of Buffalo River AOC 3 2. Beneficial Uses & Impairments and Delisting Criteria & Restoration Targets The Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement (GLWQA) lists “use impairments as “changes in the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the Great Lakes System that create barriers to the use of the water resource.” These use impairments have become the template for determining the extent to which the river is degraded and for measuring progress toward its clean up. Once a “beneficial use” has been restored, it can be “delisted” using the IJC’s criteria as guidance. But more importantly, delisting criteria or targets are locally developed through a process of assessment and are always consensus-based. In December 2001, the US Policy Committee published “Restoring Great Lakes Areas of Concern – Delisting Principles and Guidelines.” These guidelines allow for the delisting of individual use impairments in the entire AOC under the following circumstances: • When locally derived delisting criteria have been met; • When the use impairment is due to natural rather than man-made causes; • When the use impairment is not limited geographically to the AOC, but rather is typical of regional conditions; • When the source of the use impairment is outside the boundaries of the AOC; or • When the beneficial use cannot be fully restored, even when all practical remedial actions have been implemented. Table 2-1 identifies the Beneficial Use Indicators (BUI), their status over time, and its likely cause. The 1989 RAP determined that eight BUIs were either “impaired” or “likely impaired.” Since that time, a thorough review of the BUIs has been conducted. Several changes 4 have been determined, including the change of “Degradation of Aesthetics” from not impaired to impaired and “Degradation of Zooplankton” from unknown to not impaired. Table 2-1 - Buffalo River AOC Beneficial Uses Impairment Indicator 1989 2005 Status 2008 Status Known of Likely Cause Status 1. Restrictions on Fish Impaired Impaired Impaired PCB’s and Chlordane & Wildlife in sediments. Consumption 2. Tainting of Fish & Likely Likely Likely Impaired PAHs in sediments. Wildlife Flavor Impaired Impaired 3. Degradation of Fish Likely Likely Impaired/Likely Low dissolved oxygen, & Wildlife Impaired Impaired Impaired* river channelization, Populations and contaminated sediments. *Fish Populations are Impaired while Wildlife Populations are Likely Impaired. 4. Fish Tumors and Impaired Impaired Impaired Sediments, navigational Other Deformities dredging. 5. Bird or Animal Likely Likely Likely Impaired PCBs, DDT, and Deformities or Impaired Impaired metabolites in sediments. Reproductive Problems 6. Degradation of Impaired Impaired Impaired Sediments, navigational Benthos dredging. 7. Restrictions on Impaired Impaired Impaired Various contaminants Dredging in sediments. 8. Eutrophication or Not Unknown Not Impaired Not Applicable. Undesirable Algae Impaired 9. Restrictions on Not Not Not Applicable Not Applicable. Drinking Water 5 Consumption or Impaired Applicable Taste and Odor Problems 10. Beach Closings Not Not Not Applicable Sediments, CSOs, and Impaired Applicable bacterial loading from upper watershed. 11. Degradation of Not Impaired Impaired Floatables, debris and Aesthetics Impaired foul odor from CSOs and upper watershed. 12. Added Costs to Not Not Impaired Not Impaired Not applicable. Agriculture and Impaired Industry 13. Degradation of Not Not Impaired Not Impaired Not applicable. Phytoplankton and Impaired for Zooplankton Zooplankton; Populations Unknown for Phytoplankton 14. Loss of Fish & Impaired Impaired Impaired Physical disturbance Wildlife Habitat such as bulk heading, dredging and steep slopes, and lack of suitable substrate. For Beneficial Uses that are considered “Impaired,” it is required that delisting criteria or targets be established. Once these targets are met, the BUI can then be considered “Not Impaired” and can be delisted. Table 2-2 describes the targets that have been established to date which need to be met in order to “delist” the beneficial uses of the Buffalo River. Like all US AOCs, the Buffalo River AOC is on track to finalize all of its delisting criteria and targets by December 2008. 6 Table 2-1 - Summary of Delisting Criteria/Restoration Targets BUI # Beneficial Use Status Delisting Criteria/Restoration Target(s) 1 Restriction on Impaired 1) There are no AOC-specific fish and wildlife Fish