NATIONAL
ESTUARY
PROGRAM
CONTAMINANT REDUCTION
Toxics contamination is considered one of the most serious and challenging problems facing the New York-New Jersey Harbor Estuary Program.
Contaminants such as mercury, PCBs, dioxins, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons made their way into the estuary years ago, accumulating and settling
in estuarine sediments.
Despite some progress made to clean past contamination and reduce or prevent more deposits, contaminants still enter the estuary via a variety of sources
such as erosion of historically contaminated sediments, combined sewer overflows, atmospheric deposition, and tributary runoff. Scientists are still studying the full range of
contaminant effects to the ecosystem; however, sediment toxicity and impaired benthic community structure are apparent and persistent problems.
THE NATIONAL ESTUARY PROGRAM IN ACTION
New York-New Jersey Harbor Estuary Program
Reducing point and non-point
sources of contaminants enter-
ing the harbor is one of many
goals HEP has defined in its ac-
tion plan to address contami-
nated sediment. Multi-partner
efforts are taking place to help
reduce toxicity levels in new
sediment deposits as well as
finding ways port operators can
safely dredge and reuse sedi-
ment. In a similar vein, HEP is
taking a lead role in developing
Total Maximum Daily Loads
(TMDLs) for toxics in the harbor.
Of particular focus and concern
are efforts to dredge the harbor
and increase the depth of the
channel to accommodate in-
creasingly bigger container
ships. With much of the harbor
sediment already contaminated,
a large dredging project could
have serious impacts on habitat
and water quality. Dredging con-
taminated sediment requires
proper treatment and/or disposal
of the material—a complex and
expensive responsibility that no
single entity is equipped to un-
dertake alone.
To determine the origins of con-
tamination and to assess the va-
Photo Credit: NY-NJ Harbor Estuary Program
EFFECTIVE
EFFICIENT
ADAPTIVE
COLLABORATIVE
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riety of actions needed to reduce
inputs, the states and PANYNJ
embarked on a 10-year, $30-mil-
lion-dollar project collecting field
data to develop a state-of-the-
art model to identify areas with
the greatest threat to different
water body uses and set the
groundwork for developing ef-
fective management strategies.
A consortium of agencies and
institutions evaluated contami-
nant levels in water, biota, and
sediments and studied numer-
ous contamination sources, such
as tributaries, legacy sediments,
sewage treatment plants, land-
fills, wastewater, combined sew-
er overflow, and stormwater dis-
charges. In 2007, the group
completed the Assessment
Phase of the Contamination As-
sessment and Reduction Project
(CARP)—considered by many
experts to be the largest and
most advanced effort of its kind.
The team also developed sedi-
ment decontamination process-
es and considered various
options for implementing man-
agement programs. The U.S. En-
vironmental Protection Agency
(EPA) plays an important role, as
two of the largest sources of
sediment contamination to the
harbor are designated Superfund
sites. HEP also facilitates and
supports research, mathemati-
cal modeling, and assessments
to inform regulatory actions tak-
en by the states and the EPA.
HEP's Toxics Work Group is cur-
rently developing a technical
analysis for attainment of stan-
dards for toxics and any neces-
sary reduction targets. HEP is
using the CARP model to assist
with creating the new TMDL for
toxics, which they plan to finish
in early 2010, along with new
TMDLs for pathogens and nutri-
ents. And since one contaminant
can impact another, HEP is
studying the interrelationships
and impacts of all categories to
help enable states to roll out all
the TMDLs simultaneously. As a
result, treatment plant operators
and others will be able to imple-
ment the necessary load reduc-
tion programs more efficiently
and cost-effectively. Meanwhile,
managers can access the CARP
tool and evaluate different sce-
narios in order to assess their
potential contribution to the
quality of the Harbor Estuary.
Visit www.harborestuary.org
to learn more about this and
other HEP efforts.
EPA's National Estuary Program
(NEP) is a unique and successful
coastal watershed-based program
established in 1987 under the
Clean Water Act Amendments.
The NEP involves the public and
collaborates with partners to pro-
tect, restore, and maintain the wa-
ter quality and ecological integrity
of 28 estuaries of national signifi-
cance located in 18 coastal states
and Puerto Rico.
For more information about the
NEP go to www.epa.gov/owow/
estuaries.
The NEP: Implementing the Clean Water Act in ways that are Effective, Efficient, Adaptive, and Collaborative.
EPA-842F09001
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