The Hylebos waterway, located in White/Puyallup river watershed, is a hotspot for PCBs and PBDEs.

PSI senior research scientist Andy James has received a federally supported grant for $858,000 to track the sources of PCBs and PBDEs in the Hylebos waterway in Tacoma. The waterway is a hotspot for PCBs and PBDEs, and despite ongoing management efforts, amounts of the chemicals continue to increase in the water and fish there. That suggests ongoing sources of contamination, which could include air deposition, surface water/stormwater runoff, and flux from contaminated sediments. Funding for the project comes from the EPA-supported Stormwater Strategic Initiative and is a collaboration with the Washington State Department of Ecology and the Port of Tacoma. The project partners will work to create a prioritized list of potential sources and contaminant sites for use by managers, regulators and permit writers to reduce inputs of PCBs and PBDEs. The project will also coordinate with regional stakeholders such as the Puyallup Tribe of Indians, the City of Tacoma, and others, to optimize the study design and ensure the resulting data informs management plans.

Project abstract:

Water quality monitoring has demonstrated that the Hylebos waterway, located in White/Puyallup river watershed, is a hotspot for PCBs and PBDEs. West (2022) reported that total PCBs in fish from the Hylebos were the highest measured in any whole-body fish sampled by WDFW TBiOS over the past 30 years, and that juvenile Chinook from this area had PCB and PBDE concentrations that exceeded Vital Sign effects thresholds. The levels of PCBs in English sole in the area increased over the last 30 years. Despite ongoing management efforts, there continues to be elevated levels of PCBs and PBDEs in water, fish, and mussels in the Hylebos. This suggests there are ongoing sources entering the water column, which could include air deposition, surface water/stormwater runoff, and flux from contaminated sediments. We propose a multi-pronged source tracking study characterizing inputs of PCBs and PBDEs to the waterway. We will characterize loading via air deposition, surface water/stormwater, and sediments throughout the waterway, and its surrounding drainage. The output will be a comparable characterization of PCB/PBDE loadings from different pathways, supporting a prioritized list of sources and sites which can be utilized by managers, regulators and permit writers to reduce inputs of PCBs and PBDEs.

Funder: NEP program Stormwater Strategic Initiative