Tag: PCBs

Second PCB symposium focuses on source identification and tracking

English sole are among the fish in Puget Sound that pick up contaminants from PCBs through the food they eat. Photo: biodiversityguy https://biodiversityguy.smugmug.com/Underwater/Reference-List-Photos-of/i-3GgD5hB/A
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This Thursday, June 15th, the Puget Sound Institute will host the second in a series of symposiums focusing on contaminant PCBs in regional waterways. The program will include three case studies about PCB source tracking in San Francisco Bay, the Newton Creek Superfund site, and Anacostia River & Lower Beaver Dam Creek. The presentations will be followed by a panel discussion and include opportunities for participant questions. More information is available on PSI’s Cross Program Contaminant Working Group web page. The symposium takes place on June 15, 2023 from 9 […]

Findings and reports: February 2023

Image of San Juan Islands from the Salish Sea Model
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Salish Sea Model provides insights on circulation and residence times The amount of time water circulates and “resides” in Puget Sound is of intense interest to regulators and emergency response officials who want to understand how quickly wastewater is flushed out of Puget Sound and into the ocean. A paper in the journal Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science reports that contrary to expectation, flushing of deeper waters may take longer in wintertime in large fjord-like basins such as Hood Canal. A new, higher resolution version of the Salish Sea Model […]

Symposium grapples with long-lasting PCBs

An aerial image of the lower Duwamish River as it flows into Puget Sound. The river is heavily contaminated with PCBs and other toxic chemicals. Photo courtesy of NOAA.
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Researchers at the Puget Sound Institute hosted a two-day symposium last month to share information about the science and management of PCBs in the environment. The online workshops, held January 24th and 25th, were organized by PSI researchers Andy James, Joel Baker, and Marielle Larson, in coordination with colleagues Will Hobbs (Washington State Department of Ecology) and Katrina Radach (PSP), along with Greg Allen and Doug Austin (US EPA Chesapeake Bay). Despite their ban in the U.S. in 1979, PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) remain one of the most pressing and stubborn […]

New guidance for cleanup of toxics in Puget Sound

Toxics in Fish report cover.
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An EPA-funded team of scientists and other experts has completed draft recommendations for the future cleanup of toxic chemicals in Puget Sound. The group’s Toxics in Fish Implementation Strategy addresses pollutants such as PCBs and a slew of emerging contaminants that can affect species throughout the waterway. The strategy will be available for public review until October 16th after which it may be revised and submitted to the Puget Sound Partnership’s Leadership Council for approval. The Washington State Department of Ecology is co-developing the strategy with the Department of Commerce […]

How air pollution becomes water pollution with long-term effects on Puget Sound

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When thinking of air pollution, I used to think only of breathing toxic chemicals into our lungs, with uncertain health effects. That’s bad enough, but air pollution — which is everywhere — is also getting into our waterways and penetrating deep into our food webs. Rivers, lakes and Puget Sound, no body of water escapes toxic chemicals dropping out of the sky. Until recently, I never gave much thought to the chemicals riding on air currents, secretly falling to the ground, especially during rainstorms. I began to look at the […]

PCBs in fish remain steady while other toxics decline

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A new study shows a surprising decline in some toxic chemicals in Puget Sound fish, while levels of PCBs increased in some cases. Scientists say the study shows that banning toxic chemicals can work, but old contaminants remain a challenge as they continue to wash into Puget Sound. Read our story in Salish Sea Currents. 

New theory rethinks spread of PCBs and other toxics in Puget Sound

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Last month, more than 1100 scientists and researchers converged on Vancouver, B.C. to attend the Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference. The biennial conference is the region’s largest gathering on the state of the ecosystem, and we sent a group of reporters to bring back some of the highlights. Over the next several months, we’ll be collecting those highlights into a new series on the Encyclopedia of Puget Sound. We kick things off today with a must-read story from Christopher Dunagan. He reports that scientists may be changing their view of how PCBs and other […]