Toxics Subcommittee Meeting Minutes September 9, 2007 10am - 3pm Present: Cathleen Hapeman, USD A Hannah Bracken, CRC Fred Pinkney, USFWS Jamie Mitchell, VHRSD Harriett Phelps, UDC Ning Zhou, VA Tech Agenda Item and Desired Outcome Notes and Action Items Introductions and Announcements Businesses for the Bay award winners have been selected. There are 11 winners. Awards will be presented in Richmond, VA during the 1st week of November. The Mercury Monitoring and Ecosystem Modeling workshop date has been set, October 2-4 at the Maritime Institute Conference Center. The subcommittee discussed the fact that "toxics" is not an actual word. This has been problematic for some when trying to publish work. Characterization Data Presentations A.K. Leight presented a summary of findings from the NOAA/NOS/NCCOS water column characterization study. Laura McConnell summarized results from the USD A charterization data collection for pesticides in the water column. Ian Hartwell presented the results of the NOAA/NOS/NCCOS sediment contamination data collection. Discussed potential challenges with B-IBI in nearer to the mouth of the Bay where the species profile is different. Review B-IBI decision rules and give input for the Characterization - Ian Hartwell If possible, it may be useful and informative to include land use information with the Characterization results. Look into options for including land use information in Characterization - Hannah Point Source Data Retrieval Ning presented the point source loadings summaries which include a chemical specific listing of total loads. This loading data does not have good QA/QC but is the best point source date available. Dennis Howard, MDA Laura McConnell, USD A Greg Allen, USEPA Rob Hofstetter, MDA Steve DeBord, USEPA A.K. Leight, NO A A MaryLynn Willhere, ACB Alex Barron, VADEQ Leonard Schugam, MDE Ian Hartwell, NOAA ------- The tables give an overall pictures of the data available. Several issues must be addressed to make this information more useful. Detection limit reporting presents one uncertainty. Back River WWTP uses the same value every month. Talk to permit writers/DMR to determine what is done when values are missing, estimated, etc. - Leonard The TSC can use this information to focus on priorities, we can see where the big point source contributors are for priority chemicals, or identify facilities loading multiple chemicals in large amounts. Indicator Selection for next Bay Health Report Outcome: with recommended changes TSC recommends the 303(d) and TMDL Tidal Indicator for use in the 2007 Bay Health Report. Change the segment of the Chesapeake mainstem to show MD does not list their portion as impaired for PCBs. - Hannah Action Items: Review B-IBI decision rules and give input for the Characterization - Ian Hartwell Look into options for including land use information in Characterization - Hannah Talk to permit writers/DMR to determine what is done when values are missing, estimated, etc. - Leonard Change the segment of the Chesapeake mainstem to show MD does not list their portion as impaired for PCBs. - Hannah ------- |