Sediments
Risk Assessment
- Overview
- Policy and Guidance
- Conceptual Site Models
- Fate and Transport of Contaminants
- Site Characterization
- Risk Assessment
- Remediation
- Additional Resources
Contaminated sediments present short and long-term toxic risks to human health and wildlife. Sediment contaminants include persistent organic pollutants, such as the polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and furans (PCDDs and PCDFs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and chlorinated pesticides. Recognized adverse impacts of long-term exposure of both human and wildlife receptors to PCDDs, PCDFs, and the dioxin-like PCBs include impairment of the immune, neurological, and reproductive systems, impaired development of the young, and an increased risk of cancer. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), present in fuel spills, coal tars, creosotes, and urban runoff, are frequent sediment contaminants and are known human and animal carcinogens. The chlorinated pesticides can impair the central nervous system and disrupt the endocrine systems of human and wildlife receptors. Contamination of sediment with heavy metals, such as cadmium, lead, arsenic, and mercury, can lead to kidney and nervous system damage and impaired development in ecological and human receptors.
The adverse effects of contaminated sediment on the structure and function of the benthic community can result in a loss of population for the wildlife communities that depend on them as their primary food source. Ecosystem processes that naturally purify water, such as the decomposition of organic matter and water filtration, can also be lost, resulting in environmental degradation.
The nature and magnitude of current and potential threats to human health and ecological receptors posed by contaminated sediment are characterized by the baseline risk assessment (BRA). A Superfund BRA is usually performed as part of the Remedial Investigation/Feasibility Study (RI/FS) phase of a response action.
Risk assessment supports risk management in the adoption of a management strategy for remediating contaminated sediment. Management strategies encompass a wide variety of actions, from intrusive remedies, such as dredging, removal, and treatment of contaminated sediment, to monitored natural recovery (MNR), or to a "no action" alternative. Each action has its own economic cost, engineering limitations and benefits, risks during implementation, and residual long-term risks to human and ecological receptors. Risk assessment provides a framework for identifying and ranking the risks associated with each alternative (US EPA 2005).
Contaminated Sediment Remediation Guidance for Hazardous Waste Sites
USEPA OSWER December 2005
Framework for Metals Risk Assessment
EPA, Office of Science Adviser, EPA 120/R-07/001, 172 pp, 2007
This document covers both human health and ecological risk assessment for metals.
Hudson River Natural Resources Damage Assessment Plan
Hudson River Trustee Council, 81 pp, 2002
This document describes the wide-ranging economic, cultural, and ecotoxicological impacts of PCB contamination on the Hudson River.
Implementation of Dredging Risk Assessment Modeling Applications for Evaluation of the No-Action Scenario and Dredging Impacts
U. S. Army Corps off Engineers (USACE), ERDC TN-DOER-R2, 14 pp, 2001
Importance of Implementation and Residual Risk Analyses in Sediment Remediation
Wenning, R.J., S. Sorenson, and V.S. Magar.
Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management, Vol 2, No 1, Jan 2006
This review links risk assessment to cost/benefit analysis and discusses two types of risk—biological and engineering—that deserve consideration when evaluating sediment remedy alternatives.
Risk Characterization Handbook
USEPA, Science Policy Council, EPA 100/B-00/002, 189 pp, 2000
The Risk Characterization Guide is designed to provide risk assessors, risk managers, and other decision-makers an understanding of the goals and principles of risk characterization, the importance of planning and scoping for a risk assessment, the essential elements to address in a risk characterization, the factors that are considered in decision making by risk managers, and the forms the risk characterization takes for different audiences. A discussion of the various administrative details regarding risk characterization completes the guide.
A Risk Management Strategy for PCB Contaminated Sediments
National Academy of Sciences, 452 pp, 2001
The summary of this document presents the 11 major conclusions and recommendations concerning the risks presented by PCB contaminated sediments and management options.
Sediment Toxicology
USGS Columbia Missouri Office
This Web page contains numerous primarily USGS produced documents and studies concerning toxicity assessments of sediment.
Toxicity of Sediments
Burton, G.A. and P.F. Landrum.
In the Encyclopedia of Sediments and Sedimentary Rocks, Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, p 748-751, 2003
This chapter includes a brief introduction to the subject of sediment toxicity.
Toxicological Profiles
Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR)
ATSDR publishes toxicological profiles for organic and inorganic chemicals, some of which may be found in sediment. Each profile lists the chemical?s health effects by route of exposure (oral, dermal, and inhalation); its toxicokinetics, chemical, and physical information; its potential for human exposure, including its environmental fate and transport; and methods of chemical analysis.
Proceed to "Bioavailability, and Bioaccumulation, and Biotransformation"
Return to "Site Characterization"
