sntal Protection Agency
Collection IPL-12J)
b Boulevard,
10604-3590
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Participants
The diverse activities of the study require a broad
base of expertise. The coordinating agencies are:
• USEPA - Great Lakes National Program Office
• Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.
Other participants include: USEPA Environmental
Research Laboratory, Duluth, MN; USEPA Large Lakes
Research Station, Grosse He, MI; USEPA Region V
Water Division and Waste Management Division;
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration;
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; U.S. Geological
Survey; U.S. Coast Guard; Illinois State Water Survey;
Michigan Department of Natural Resources; Wiscon-
sin Sea Grant; DePaul University; University of
Minnesota; LJniversity of Wisconsin; and Green Bay
Remedial Action Plan Implementation Committee.
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odeling
The Green Bay/Fox River Study will concentrate on
four representative Great Lakes contaminants:
•PCBs
• The pesticide dieldrin
• Cadmium
• Lead.
CONSUMPTION
Stored
within
system
Transformed
or degraded
within
system
OUTPUT
•••••
Exits
through
system
boundaries
The effort will involve many individual projects,
including:
• A first of its kind network of air monitors to meas-
ure the inputs of airborne toxics to Green Bay
• Sampling to calculate toxic inputs from major
rivers that enter Green Bay, such as the Fox River
• An indepth investigation of the distribution and
movement of contaminants from polluted sedi-
ments.
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J. here are numerous pathways for
pollutants to travel within an ecosystem
In an effort to learn more about toxic
contamination in the Great Lakes, the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency's (USEPA)
Great Lakes National Program Office and the
Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources,
in cooperation with other Federal and State
organizations, are sponsoring the Green Bay/
Fox River Mass Balance Study.
The Challenge:
Toxic Contaminants in the Gre
SIGNIFICANT PROGRESS has been made to reduce
contamination of the Great Lakes; however, accumu-
lation of toxics, such as PCBs, pesticides, and heavy
metals, remains a serious problem. These toxic sub-
stances, when concentrated at sufficiently high levels,
degrade water quality and cause health problems.
In 1983, the International Joint Commission re-
ported that more than 900 chemicals and heavy
metals potentially dangerous to human health and
aquatic life have been identified in the Great Lakes.
Annex 2 of the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement
subsequently required the development of Remedial
Action Plans (RAPs) to restore beneficial uses in 42
Areas of Concern (AOCs), including Green Bay.
Green Bay has been designated as an AOC due to
problems with eutrophication, toxic substances in the
water and sediment, fish consumption advisories, and
abnormalities in fish-eating birds.
A local citizens' task force, appointed by the Wis-
consin Department of Natural Resources, has drafted
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4* *
"jf Lakes
a RAP for the lower Fox River and southern Green
Bay. Reducing the contribution and impact of toxic
substances is the key to restoring many beneficial
uses. The Mass Balance Study will help target RAP
efforts by improving our understanding of the sources
and pathways of contaminants in Green Bay.
The primary reason for the study, however, is to
evaluate a mass balance approach to managing toxics
in the Great Lakes. The Great Lakes Water Quality
Agreement calls for the development of Lakewide
Management Plans to reduce loadings of critical
pollutants and restore beneficial uses in the Lakes.
To solve the problem of toxic contamination, the
sources of the contaminants and the rate at which the
system purges itself must be known. In short, what
is coming in and what is going out? And what is left
to produce an adverse effect? The Mass Balance Study
provides an opportunity to develop new scientific
methods and determine whether this approach can
be applied to the Great Lakes as a whole.
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The Study Plan: Mass Balance
L
THE STUDY WILL INCORPORATE mass balance
modeling, which is a method of accounting for the
many sources, transfer routes, and final destinations
of pollutants in an ecosystem.
Traditionally, improvement in water quality was
largely tied to control of point sources: industries,
wastewater treatment plants, and other discrete or
identifiable sources discharging contaminants directly
into waterways. The cur-
rent approach focuses also
on nonpoint sources, such
as rural and urban runoff
contaminated by causes
difficult to identify.
Investigators will meas-
ure contaminants coming
into, residing in, and leav-
ing the Green Bay ecosystem. According to the law
of conservation of mass, the following must add up:
the inputs; minus the quantities stored, transformed,
or degraded within the system; must equal the
outputs, as presented in the mass balance equation
above.
A mathematical model based on this equation can
help identify the most important pollutant sources,
transport mechanisms, and fates of toxic compounds.
Ultimately, this information can be used in guiding
and supporting regulatory activity.
INPUT
+ GENERATION
Enters Produced
through within
system system
boundaries
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Study Schedule
The study, which began in 1986, will be completed
in late 1991.
1986-87
Monitoring plan and quality assurance program de-
veloped for evaluating analytical and field methods
1988
Field methods tested and sampling initiated (includ-
ing contaminant sampling in the Bay waters, major
tributaries, and atmospheric deposition)
1989
Intensive field work conducted to provide compre-
hensive and coordinated data set describing contami-
nant dynamics in the ecosystem
1990
Samples analyzed and data interpreted
1991
Modeling results determined and final report written
; at*
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