The Collaboration
Many regional/basin management programs (e.g., National Estuary Program) are actively working to address the presence and impacts of toxic contaminants in the environment. Work includes:
- Monitoring | to understand the presence and sources of different contaminants in the environment
- Research | to understand the effects of contaminant exposures on humans and wildlife, and the effectiveness of different mitigation/clean up methods
- Management | to reduce the amount of contamination in the environment
We are excited to convene groups of scientists, researchers, and managers who are actively involved in the work to share practical information, best practices, and lessons learned. This will help us all be more effective at reducing the effects of contaminants and, importantly, improve our ability to respond to future problematic compounds in the environment.
Please don’t hesitate to reach out if you want to learn more or get involved!
Meet the organizing committee
- Greg Allen, US EPA Chesapeake Bay Office (allen.greg@epa.gov)
- Doug Austin, US EPA Chesapeake Bay Office (austin.douglas@epa.gov)
- Will Hobbs, Washington State Department of Ecology (whob461@ECY.WA.GOV)
- Katrina Radach, Puget Sound Partnership (katrina.radach@psp.wa.gov)
- Joel Baker, University of Washington Puget Sound Institute (jebaker@uw.edu)
- Andy James, University of Washington Puget Sound Institute (jamesca@uw.edu)
- Marielle Larson, University of Washington Puget Sound Institute (marlars@uw.edu)
PCBs
Our initial focus will be on PCBs (Polychlorinated Biphenyls) since they are an active issue in many regional management areas, we have built a breadth of experience and knowledge on their fate, transport, occurrence, and impacts, and clean up and management strategies have been developed. This provides a good base of knowledge and experience that we can share with one another.
PCB Symposium January 24-25, 2023
We hosted a cross program symposium on January 24 & 25, 2023 focused on sharing practical advice to help improve the cleanup and management of PCBs. Representatives from the Puget Sound, Chesapeake Bay, Spokane River, Delaware River, Great Lakes, and New Bedford Harbor shared:
- An overview of the status and trends of PCBs in their system including the process and criteria that was used to define the magnitude of the PCB issue.
- Remedial, management, and mitigation activities that have proven effective or that are priorities moving forward