By Jeff Rice
Scientists at the Puget Sound Institute (PSI) and the Center for Urban Waters have taken their research to the highest place on earth. The same techniques used to analyze water quality in Puget Sound are being applied at Everest base camp.
Water samples were collected on the mountain and sent back to PSI researchers Andy James and Justin Miller-Schulze as part of a study on potential human impacts on drinking water. New techniques can identify chemical tracers known as CECs that indicate human sources.
Read more
Category: March 2014
Reducing the risk of PCBs in sediments
Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs) were banned in the 1970s, but continue to persist in sediments at the bottom of Puget Sound. A vestige of earlier use and improper disposal, they remain among the most toxic pollutants in local waters, are implicated in the decline of the region’s endangered Southern Resident Killer Whale population, and are at the heart of the current debate about fish consumption rates in the Pacific Northwest. Cleaning up PCB-contaminated sediments such as those found in the Duwamish Waterway in Seattle is an expensive and often contentious issue. Traditional dredging and capping operation may not reduce the risk from PCBs to levels required by law or acceptable to the local communities.
A paper in the journal Water Research sheds new light on a novel ‘in place’ treatment option that effectively lowers risk by reducing the activity of PCBs in the sediment. The paper, co-authored by PSI director Joel Baker shows how adding granulated activated carbon (GAC) affects bacterial dechlorination of PCBs in Baltimore Harbor, which “has the potential to promote greater degradation [of PCBs] in situ.”
Read the full paper:
B.V. Kjellerup, C. Naff, S.J. Edwards, U. Ghosh, J.E. Baker, K.R. Sowers. 2014. Effects of activated carbon on reductive dechlorination of PCBs by organohalide respiring
bacteria indigenous to sediments. Water Research. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2013.12.030.
Read more about the effects of PCBs in the Encyclopedia of Puget Sound.
Reducing the risk of PCBs in sediments
Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs) were banned in the 1970s, but continue to persist in sediments at the bottom of Puget Sound. A vestige of earlier use and improper disposal, they remain among the most toxic pollutants in local waters, are implicated in the decline of the region’s endangered Southern Resident Killer Whale population, and are at the heart of the current debate about fish consumption rates in the Pacific Northwest. Cleaning up PCB-contaminated sediments such as those found in the Duwamish Waterway in Seattle is an expensive and often contentious issue. Traditional dredging and capping operation may not reduce the risk from PCBs to levels required by law or acceptable to the local communities.
A paper in the journal Water Research sheds new light on a novel ‘in place’ treatment option that effectively lowers risk by reducing the activity of PCBs in the sediment. The paper, co-authored by PSI director Joel Baker shows how adding granulated activated carbon (GAC) affects bacterial dechlorination of PCBs in Baltimore Harbor, which “has the potential to promote greater degradation [of PCBs] in situ.”
Read the full paper:
B.V. Kjellerup, C. Naff, S.J. Edwards, U. Ghosh, J.E. Baker, K.R. Sowers. 2014. Effects of activated carbon on reductive dechlorination of PCBs by organohalide respiring
bacteria indigenous to sediments. Water Research. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2013.12.030.
Read more about the effects of PCBs in the Encyclopedia of Puget Sound.
New approaches to ecosystem synthesis
Is technology changing the way we think about ecosystem information? PSI’s Encyclopedia of Puget Sound will host a two-part session on new approaches to ecosystem synthesis at this spring’s Salish Sea conference.
Presentations will run the gamut from demonstrations of visualization software to wiki-based conceptual models. The session will conclude with a 30-minute panel discussion featuring Joel Baker, University of Washington Puget Sound Institute, Rob Fatland of Microsoft Research, Amy Merten of NOAA’s Office of response and Restoration, Ian Perry of Fisheries and Oceans Canada, and Charles Simenstad, University of Washington School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences.
The conference will be held April 30 – May 2, 2014 at the Washington State Convention Center in Seattle. Read more.
New approaches to ecosystem synthesis
Is technology changing the way we think about ecosystem information? PSI’s Encyclopedia of Puget Sound will host a two-part session on new approaches to ecosystem synthesis at this spring’s Salish Sea conference.
Presentations will run the gamut from demonstrations of visualization software to wiki-based conceptual models. The session will conclude with a 30-minute panel discussion featuring Joel Baker, University of Washington Puget Sound Institute, Rob Fatland of Microsoft Research, Amy Merten of NOAA’s Office of response and Restoration, Ian Perry of Fisheries and Oceans Canada, and Charles Simenstad, University of Washington School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences.
The conference will be held April 30 – May 2, 2014 at the Washington State Convention Center in Seattle. Read more.
Updated habitat classifications for Puget Sound
Species and their habitats are a foundation of the ecosystem framework, but there is currently no generally agreed upon habitat classification system for Puget Sound. The closest thing for its marine and nearshore environments may be Dr. Megan Dethier’s 1990 resource A Marine and Estuarine Habitat Classification System for Washington State.
Much of the work for that document was done in the general vicinity of Puget Sound, and it has been an influential resource for major habitat mapping efforts in the region, such as Shorezone.
Last year, PSI’s Encyclopedia of Puget Sound commissioned Dr. Dethier to update some of the diagnostic species and “common associates”—the species you are likely to find in a given habitat—from this resource. Encyclopedia of Puget Sound topic editor Si Simenstad also contributed new information for area fish distributions.
These species and their descriptions will be linked to habitat maps, and we have started adding Dethier’s individual habitat descriptions to pages within the Encyclopedia. As far as we know, it’s the first time these classifications have been placed into a relational database. Stay tuned as we develop these sections. [Editor’s note: Habitat descriptions are now available.]
Stormwater conference focuses on cleanup strategies for businesses
Our colleague Kurt Marx is moderating a session at the Managing Stormwater in the Northwest conference on March 5th in Tacoma. Approximately 75% of the pollution in Puget Sound comes from stormwater runoff, and the conference looks at how businesses in particular can lower their impact. Visit the conference website.
The importance of synthesis to disaster planning and response
The U.S. government spends billions on disaster relief every year—$136 billion between 2011 and 2013 alone—but one crucial area tends to be overlooked. There are often major gaps in the scientific understanding of the environments in question.
When disasters hit, responders must often play catch up, using valuable time assessing prior ecological conditions or pulling together scattered sources of information.
In a recent paper in the Washington Journal of Environmental Law & Policy, Center for Urban Waters Distinguished Scientist in Residence Usha Varanasi proposes a new model for disaster-planning and response, in which baseline ecosystem data and syntheses are collected in advance of possible incidents. She calls it “frontloading the science,” and you can download the paper at the Encyclopedia of Puget Sound.
Citation:
Varanasi, Usha (2013), Making Science Useful in Complex Political and Legal Arenas: A Case for Frontloading Science in Anticipation of Environmental Changes to Support Natural Resource Laws and Policies, Washington Journal of Environmental Law & Policy, Vol. 3, Number 2.
The importance of synthesis to disaster planning and response
The U.S. government spends billions on disaster relief every year—$136 billion between 2011 and 2013 alone—but one crucial area tends to be overlooked. There are often major gaps in the scientific understanding of the environments in question.
When disasters hit, responders must often play catch up, using valuable time assessing prior ecological conditions or pulling together scattered sources of information.
In a recent paper in the Washington Journal of Environmental Law & Policy, Center for Urban Waters Distinguished Scientist in Residence Usha Varanasi proposes a new model for disaster-planning and response, in which baseline ecosystem data and syntheses are collected in advance of possible incidents. She calls it “frontloading the science,” and you can download the paper at the Encyclopedia of Puget Sound.
Citation:
Varanasi, Usha (2013), Making Science Useful in Complex Political and Legal Arenas: A Case for Frontloading Science in Anticipation of Environmental Changes to Support Natural Resource Laws and Policies, Washington Journal of Environmental Law & Policy, Vol. 3, Number 2.
PSI report examines selection of near-term actions in Island County
Local communities play an important role in the development of the state’s Action Agenda for Puget Sound recovery. The Puget Sound Partnership has established a series of Local Integrating Organizations (LIOs) in nine geographic regions to help establish conservation priorities. A 2014 report from the Puget Sound Institute looks at this process as it occurred in the Island County region. Read more