Comparison of Bacterial Levels from Water and Sediment among Upper and Lower Areas of Guion Creek
Anna Yeung-Cheung, Ph.D., Dept. of Biology, Manhattanville College, 2900 Purchase St., Purchase, NY 10577, Tel: 914-323-5203, Fax:  914-323-5480, Email: cheunga@mville.edu
Peter Chu, Dept. of Biology, Manhattanville College, 2900 Purchase St., Purchase, NY 10577, Tel: 914-323-5203, Fax:  914-323-5480, Email: chup@mville.edu
Jetmira Dega, Dept. of Biology, Manhattanville College, 2900 Purchase St., Purchase, NY 10577, Tel: 914-323-5203, Fax:  914-323-5480, Email: degaj@mville.edu

Harbor Island Park located in Mamaroneck Harbor was frequently closed due to the exceeding level of Enterococci.  A filter system Gunderboom® BPSTM (Beach Protection System) was installed in 2002 in the beach to lower bacterial levels in swimming area.  Our previous studies in 2006 showed that the densities of E. coli and coliform bacteria recovered from water and sediment were significantly lower inside the Gunderboom® when compared to the outside and the surrounded watersheds: Mamaroneck River, Guion Creek, and Shore Acres Beach.  However, higher densities of bacteria were found in Guion Creek in which the water from the creek drains into the harbor.  The current study focus in the comparison of E. coli and enterococci levels from water and sediment samples collected from the upper areas of Guion Creek (Beaver Swamp, the stream at Rye Neck High School and Upper Guion Creek) and the lower areas of Guion Creek(Lower Guion Creek, outside and inside of the Gunderboom®).  Water and sediment specimen were collected bi-weekly in these 6 sites from May to November of 2007, especially after heavy rainfall.  The results showed that the densities of E. coli and enterococci were significantly lower inside the Gunderboom® proved again the effectiveness of the filter in lowering bacteria in water.  In addition, the densities of enterococci and E. coli were found significantly higher in water and sediment samples collected in Beaver Swamp, Rye Neck High School and Upper Guion Creek than the other 3 lower regions.  In conclusion, our study suggests some non-point source bacterial contamination locate in the upper areas of the Guion Creek and may contribute to the increased densities of E. coli and entercocci in the Mamaroneck Harbor. 

Characterizing the Nature and Extent of Oil Releases to Freshwater Sediment and Assessing Ecological Risk
Janet Keating-Connolly, LSP, Sanborn, Head & Associates, Inc., 1 Technology Park Drive, Westford, MA 01886, USA, Tel: 978-392-0900, Fax: 978-392-0987, Email: jkconnolly@sanbornhead.com
Jerome J. Cura, Ph.D., LSP, The Science Collaborative, PO Box 545, Winchester, MA 01890, USA, Tel: 617-460-3608, Fax: 617-460-3608, Email: jjcura@sciencecollaborative.com

There have been historical observations of sheens on surface water in an urban river adjacent to and immediately downstream of a former vinyl product manufacturing facility.  Our initial assessments revealed the appearance of surface water sheens immediately after disturbance of sediments in depths of 1 to approximately 8 feet of water.   These observations prompted a further investigation of the vertical and horizontal distribution of oils in sediments by systematic push coring along a 1,000-foot reach of the river located between two dams.  In-field observations of sediment cores and vertical profiling indicate that oil-impacted sediments exist in this reach of the river at depths of up to 3 feet depending on grain size.  A marked change in the distribution of oil by sediment depth was observed.  Specifically, oil-contaminated sediments were observed at shallower core depths and in the finer sediment, and oil-free sediments were observed at deeper core depths in the coarser fraction sediment.  The presence of this oil meets the definition for Readily Apparent Harm as defined in the Massachusetts Contingency Plan.  This Readily Apparent Harm condition in the subsurface sediments appeared not to affect the health of the wetland habitat bordering the river based on a Wetland Functional Assessment conducted using U.S. Department of Transportation methodology.  The distribution of contaminants in the sediment were testing using Saturated Hydrocarbon Analysis and other laboratory analyses; these same analyses were also performed on free phase product collected from groundwater monitoring wells on the upland portions of the manufacturing facility.  Forensic analysis of the sediment samples and product samples were used to identify potential sources of contamination and migration pathways for these oils to reach the freshwater sediment.

Chemical-physical Treatments of Marine Contaminated Sediments – a Comparison
Vincenzo Gente , Sapienza Università di Roma, Dept. of Raw Material Engineering, via eudossiana 18, 00184 Roma, Italy, tel.: +39.06.44585.430, fax.: +39.06.44585.618, Email: vincenzo.gente@uniroma1.it
Serena Geraldini , ICRAM -Istituto Centrale per la Ricerca scientifica e tecnologica Applicata al Mare, via di Casalotti, 300, 00166 Roma, ITALY, tel: +39.06.61570.543, fax: +39.06.61570.543, Email: s.geraldini@icram.org
Floriana La Marca , Sapienza Università di Roma, Dept. of Raw Material Engineering, via eudossiana 18, 00184 Roma, Italy, tel.: +39.06.44585.615, fax.: +39.06.44585.618, Email: floriana.lamarca @uniroma1.it
Francesco Palombo, Sapienza Università di Roma, Dept. of Raw Material Engineering, via eudossiana 18, 00184 Roma, Italy, Email: francesco.palombo@hotmail.it

Managing of sediments coming from dredging operations in ports, harbour areas and navigation waterways has to deal with huge quantities of highly contaminated material. As a matter of fact, due to routine operations, to the need of deepening fairways and ports and, eventually, to remediation activities, every year more than 200×106 m3 of dredged materials are produced throughout Europe.

Chemical-physical treatments are generally used in order to separate a contaminated fraction from a clean one in order to reduce the quantity of sediments to be disposed of.

Within this research work, carried out by the Department of Chemical Material Environment Engineering of Sapienza University of Rome and ICRAM (Central Institute for technological and scientific Research Applied to Marine environment), sediments coming from a harbour area characterised by strong metal contamination have been treated adopting three different technologies: flotation, hydro-cycloning and sieving. The tests have been conducted in lab scale under different operation conditions.

Dredged sediments and the fractions obtained by laboratory treatments have been analysed by Inductively Coupled Plasma-mass Spectrometry (ICP-AES) for determining the metal content. Moreover, granulometric analyses have been conducted in order to correlate the efficacy of the chemical-physical treatments with grain sizes and contamination.

Results show that flotation, hydro-cycloning and sieving are able to concentrate metals obtaining recovery up to 30% for flotation tests, 80% for hydro-cycloning and 50% for sieving.

Nevertheless, in order to further reduce metal content in the cleaned fraction, the examined treatment cannot stand alone as a single step, but a multi steps or a combination of treatments have to be considered.

Fluvial Sediments Characterization: Triad Approach and Field Determination of TPH Concentration with Hanby Environmental Test
Rudi Ruggeri , General Manager, ENSR Italia, Via Francesco Ferrucci 17/A, Milano, 20145, Italy, Tel: +39 02 318077235, Fax: +39 02 34537410, Email: rruggeri@ensr.aecom.com
Paolo Pucillo, ENSR Italia Via Francesco Ferrucci 17/A, Milano, 20145, Italy, Tel: +39 02 318077.1, Fax: +39 02 34537410, Email: ppucillo@ensr.aecom.com
Giorgio Zecchini, ENSR Italia Via Francesco Ferrucci 17/A, Milano, 20145, Italy, Tel: +39 02 318077.1, Fax: +39 02 34537410, Email: gzecchini@ensr.aecom.com
Raffaele Pellegatta, ENSR Italia Via Francesco Ferrucci 17/A, Milano, 20145, Italy, Tel: +39 02 318077.1, Fax: +39 02 34537410, Email: rpellegatta@ensr.aecom.com

  On July 2003 a serious fire accident occurred at a lubricant depot in Italy, with release of hydrocarbons (heavy oils) in the environment. A spill of oil reached a creek - used for irrigation in the surrounding agricultural areas - which encompasses the facility boundary, and floated on the water body. Emergency safety measures were suddenly implemented on the river waters and sediments and then 1200 m of the creek bed were investigated in order to assess the distribution of residual contamination on the sediments. The adopted sampling grid was extremely detailed in order to minimize the volume of impacted sediments to be remediated. To optimize the characterization s Triad approach has been adopted:

1. systematic planning,
2. dynamic work strategies,
3. real-time measurement systems.

The interested portion of the creek, downstream the facility, was subdue in four main sections, and each section in smaller portions ( 25 m long each). For each of this sub-section, four grab samples and a composite one were collected. Surface sediment (top 15 cm ) has been sampled using a hand auger. The samples have been analyzed by Hanby Environmental Test kit (Hanby test). The Hanby test can be used in the field and provides a real-time estimation of organic compounds concentration. Before the beginning of the field activities, the Hanby test was calibrated on sediment samples with laboratory analysis (method EPA8440/1996). In order to verify the field results, 10% of the total samples (24/240) were also analyzed in the laboratory.

The adopted approach allowed reducing the number of analyses. Finally 6 contaminated sub-sections exceeding the target limit for TPH were identified and remediated. Furthermore, the adoption of the Hanby tests reduced the analytic time (the procedure for one sample takes approximately 10 minutes), determining significant cost and time savings for the site owner.

Heavy Metal Contaminated Soils Transported in Surface Sediments in Three Ephemeral Washes, Nelson, Nevada (USA)
Douglas B. Sims, School of Earth Sciences and Geography, Kingston University London, Penrhyn Road, Kingston Upon Thames, Surrey, UK, Tel: 512-809-5094, Email: doug@simsassociates.net

Three ephemeral washes in the Nelson, Nevada area were studied to determine if movement of contaminants down gradient via dry ephemeral washes was possible.  Mercury and CN- were used to depict the movement because it is believed that they will mimic other contaminates (As, Cu, Cr, Pb, Ni, Ba) found in desert soils.  Mercury and CN- were chosen as two key contaminants because CN- is anthropogenic in origin and not naturally occurring in this area while Hg is both geopogenic and anthropogenic in origin.  Practices at the abandoned mines in Nelson produced concentrated naturally occurring metals as a byproduct by employing techniques utilizing a cyanide and mercury flotation systems.  Forty-Two soil samples were collected from three wash systems from three major canyons that where the focal point of the largest mining operations in the area.  It is believed that these three washes contain significantly elevated contaminant levels as a result of historical mining.  Preliminary studies found elevated metals and CN- throughout the wash system with Hg and CN- 30- and 95- times higher than background concentrations.  Concentrations of various heavy metals corresponded well with the concentrations of Hg and CN- throughout the Techatticup wash system to 400 meters below the location where tailings were entering the system.  This study expanded the sampling design from every 20 meters up to 400 meters to 4 miles down gradient from the sources of tailings to Lake Mojave.

The Use of Calcium Peroxide CaO₂  for Biochemical Degradation of PAH’s in the Bottom Sediments of Dam Reservoir
Prof. Jan Suschka, Institute of Environmental Engineering PAS, ul. M. Sklodowskiej – Curie 34 , 41-800 Zabrze, Poland, Email: jsuschka @ath.bielsko.pl
Maciej Kostecki, Ph.D., Institute of Environmental Engineering PAS, ul. M. Sklodowskiej – Curie 34 , 41-800 Zabrze, Poland, Email: kostecki@ipis.zabrze.pl
Jerzy Mazierski, Ph.D., Institute of Environmental Engineering PAS, ul. M. Sklodowskiej – Curie 34 , 41-800 Zabrze, Poland, Email: mazier@ipis.zabrze.pl

Results of investigations on calcium peroxide application as a oxidizing agent on biochemical degradation organic pollutants in bottom sediment of the dam reservoir. Particularly the note is taken on the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons degradation.

A laboratory reactor  was filled with a sample of 5 liters taken from the bottom of the reservoir. To the reactor a dose equivalent to 300 g/m² CaO₂ was added. The reactor was continuously mixed and the temperature kept was 20^oC. Experiments were carried out for 150 days. In a field experiment on a selected area of the reservoir two metal chamber were placed, measuring 300 x 300 cm . To the first chamber a single dose of calcium peroxide of 100 g/m² , and to the second a dose of 200 g/m² was added. The experiments were carried for seven month The total organic matter as well as the 16 different PAH’s according to EPA.

The sediment samples were air dried and extracted with methylene chloride. For quantitative analyses gas chromatography was adopted. In the laboratory experiments the concentration of total PAH”s in the sediments has decreased form 13 mg/kg to about 3 mg/kg. It has to be stressed that the lowest concentration was observed after 15 days of carried out experiments. The predominant component was Fluoronathene, Pyrene, Phenenthrene, Benzo(b)fluoranthene, and Benzo(g,h,i)pyrene.

Within the conditions of the carried out experiments, the highest reduction values were obtained for Dibenzo(a,h)antharcene            100%, Benzo(g,h,i)perylene 97 %, Acenaphtene 96 %, Fluorene 91 %, Anthracene 87 % The average concentration reduction for 16 determined PAH’s was 83 %. Most rapidly Acenaphtalen, Fluorene and Antracene were degraded, i.e. three cyclic hydrocarbons. In comparison to those hydrocarbons, the degradation rate of hydrocarbons with a greater number of cycles was much slower. The most resistant hydrocarbons are Piren and Benzo(b)fluoranthene

Under “ín situ’ conditions , applying a dose of 100g CaO₂/m² an average reduction of PAHs concentration was 60 %. The increase of the dose to 200 mgCaO₂/m², resulted in an average PAHs reduction of 68 %

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