Tag: Toxic pollution

December 3, 2020

Could tire discovery go beyond impacts on coho?

Scientists have suspected for several years that chemicals from tire wear particles are to blame for the deaths of thousands of coho salmon that have returned to spawn in Puget Sound’s urban streams. Sometimes referred to as “pre-spawn mortality” or “urban runoff mortality syndrome,” these deaths typically occur in streams near roads, and scientists have been analyzing a wide variety of automobile-derived chemicals to see if they produced similar toxic effects.
Now, thanks to some painstaking detective work by our partners at the University of Washington Center for Urban Waters (our groups are affiliated and share lab space) and many other collaborators, researchers can point to 6-PPD-quinone, a derivative from a preservative in tires called 6-PPD. The finding is as unexpected as it is fraught with implications. The chemical comes about only when the tire preservative is exposed to naturally occurring ground-level ozone in the environment creating a “transformation product” not previously identified. A paper outlining the discovery is published today (Dec. 3) in the journal Science and you can read more details from Christopher Dunagan in our magazine Salish Sea Currents.

A dying female coho salmon in the Lower Duwamish spotted by Puget Soundkeeper volunteers in October 2017. Photo: Kathy Peter

In some ways the research on 6-PPD-quinone is just beginning. What started out as a local mystery could now catalyze studies around the world. Scientists wonder if the newly identified chemical is harming more than just coho.
“This is the first thing I’ve worked on in my career where I have no idea where the story ends,” says the paper’s co-senior author Ed Kolodziej. “It’s kind of what keeps you up at night. You’re wondering, ‘How wide is it?'”
Tires and similar rubber products are found everywhere in the world, he points out, and while 6-PPD-quinone has not been shown to kill some other species of salmon (it doesn’t appear to harm chum, for example) there is speculation that the impacts could be more widespread.
“We just have no idea,” he says. “All these questions are just totally wide open because there’s just no information out there.”
Given the potential ramifications, scientists may now begin to search for similar impacts among often vulnerable species such as stream invertebrates and amphibians, but it is also clear that humans are sometimes exposed to similar 6-PPD compounds. “We know the 6-PPD parent compound [has been documented] in house dust,” Kolodziej offers as an example. It also occurs in recycled tires that are used for crumb rubber playing fields and gym mats. “We’re generating a billion tires a year globally that need to be disposed of,” says Kolodziej. “All these things and all those recycled products likely contain some level of 6-PPD and the 6-PPD quinone as well. So, humans, I think, have a variety of exposure pathways.”
Could that endanger human health? “Again, we just have no idea,” Kolodziej says.
What is known, however, are the implications for coho salmon. In the short term, Kolodziej hopes that the revelations in the Science paper will at least lead to more “salmon safe” tires.
“Tires need these preservative chemicals to make them last,” Kolodziej told UW News. “It’s just a question of which chemicals are a good fit for that and then carefully evaluating their safety for humans, aquatic organisms,” and other species, he says. “We’re not sure what alternative chemical we would recommend, but we do know that chemists are really smart and have many tools in their toolboxes to figure out a safer chemical alternative.”

View a video about the discovery below.

September 22, 2020

New guidance for cleanup of toxics in Puget Sound

An EPA-funded team of scientists and other experts has completed draft recommendations for the future cleanup of toxic chemicals in Puget Sound. The group’s Toxics in Fish Implementation Strategy addresses pollutants such as PCBs and a slew of emerging contaminants that can affect species throughout the waterway. The strategy will be available for public review until October 16th after which it may be revised and submitted to the Puget Sound Partnership’s Leadership Council for approval.
The Washington State Department of Ecology is co-developing the strategy with the Department of Commerce and the Washington Stormwater Center. [Puget Sound Institute scientist Andy James was a member of the core team that wrote the report.] The new recommendations, if approved, will address the Puget Sound Partnership’s Toxics in Fish Vital Sign which tracks contaminants in adult and juvenile Chinook salmon, English sole and Pacific herring.
Policy discussions of toxics in fish have often centered around the occurrence of cancer-causing PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) in the environment, particularly as they turn up in salmon. The state has been under pressure to reduce PCB levels to meet federal water quality standards and to address healthy fish consumption rates for humans. The governor’s orca task force also identified PCBs as a serious threat to Puget Sound’s endangered southern resident orcas, which feed mostly on contaminated Chinook. While PCB reduction continues to be a high priority, the new strategy will address a much wider array of chemicals that affect wildlife across the spectrum.
Among the new concerns are contaminants known as endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs). These include pharmaceuticals, pesticides and other products that can pass through wastewater treatment plants and have biological effects on species throughout the ecosystem. The strategy recommends increased monitoring and prioritization of these contaminants to overcome what it calls “key data gaps” regarding their toxicity in Puget Sound.
EDCs may have wide-ranging effects on species. Estrogenic compounds in the water, possibly from pharmaceuticals like birth control pills, are causing male species of English sole in Puget Sound to produce egg proteins not typically seen in that sex. Scientists are looking for similar impacts on juvenile Chinook salmon and Pacific herring. Thousands of chemical compounds ranging from illicit drugs and opioids to personal care products and pesticides pass into Puget Sound waters every day. Researchers say they hope to determine which of these compounds will do the most harm to species. If the strategy is approved, this will be the first time that such contaminants will be included in the state’s Vital Sign measurements.
The strategy also addresses two additional categories of toxic chemicals, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and polybrominated diphenylethers (PBDEs). PAHs occur naturally in coal and crude oil and are commonly found in creosote that has been added to wood pilings or railroad ties as a wood preservative. Such chemicals can harm fish embryos in ways that mimic the effects of an oil spill. PBDEs are often used as flame retardants and can wash into Puget Sound through stormwater and wastewater or can be deposited as dust particles. Although banned from many products, PBDEs are still in circulation and can cause neurological problems in wildlife and humans. [Read more about these and other harmful “rogue chemicals” in the Encyclopedia of Puget Sound.]
In addition to identifying these key concerns, the strategy proposes management solutions such as “finding and fixing toxic hotspots; incentivizing redevelopment in high loading areas to reduce toxic loading; and accelerating in-water near-water cleanup of toxics.” The report was developed as part of a series of state and federal implementation strategies designed to provide a roadmap for Puget Sound recovery efforts.
The draft strategy is available for review at the Puget Sound Partnership website.

September 22, 2020

New guidance for cleanup of toxics in Puget Sound

September 17, 2020

PSI researcher receives EPA funding to study contaminants of emerging concern in the Columbia Basin

Reprinted by permission of the Environmental Protection Agency:
Puget Sound Institute senior scientist Andy James and his colleagues at the Center for Urban Waters are the recipients of a $76,601 grant from the Environmental Protection Agency to evaluate and prioritize contaminants of emerging concern in the Lower Columbia River (OR, WA) . James and his team will use the funding to monitor previously unmonitored contaminants, such as endocrine disruptors, in the Columbia River to determine whether they harm important species. Monitoring will take place from the Portland metro area to Wauna, Oregon, and also at locations in the Willamette River. Key partners include the Columbia River Basin Restoration Working Group and the Puget Sound Ecosystem Monitoring Program.

News Releases from Region 08

EPA awards $2 million in grants to reduce toxics throughout Columbia River Basin

09/16/2020

Contact Information:

Bill Dunbar (dunbar.bill@epa.gov)

206-553-1019

Laura Flynn Jenkins (jenkins.laura@epa.gov)

303-312-6256

(Seattle and Missoula) – Today, the Seattle and Denver offices of the Environmental Protection Agency announced they are awarding $2,053,903 in grants to 14 organizations, universities, and government agencies to reduce and assess toxics affecting the Columbia River Basin watershed. (See below for the list of grantees and the work they will be performing.)
The grants are the first from the Columbia River Basin Restoration Funding Assistance Program which was established by Congress in 2016 in part to reduce toxics that have long affected the health of the waters throughout the basin. Human activities have significantly altered the Columbia River Basin’s ecosystem where dozens of local, state, tribal, and federal agencies, universities, conservation districts, community groups, and NGOs have spent decades mitigating impacts on fish and wildlife.
“These grants represent a critical new component of EPA’s efforts to protect and restore the Columbia River Basin,” said EPA Region 10 Regional Administrator Chris Hladick. “We expect that these grants will encourage others to invest in complementary work that will provide significant reductions in toxics in the Basin.”
“EPA Region 8 has a strong history of working with our state and tribal partners to enhance environmental and human health in the Columbia River Basin,” said EPA Regional Administrator Greg Sopkin. “I am pleased to announce this grant award to the University of Montana to monitor methylmercury in fish from Flathead Lake and impacts on users of local food pantries in western Montana.”
The Columbia River Basin Restoration Program was created in 2016, through an amendment to the Clean Water Act. It established both a Funding Assistance Program and a working group made up of state governments, tribal governments, industry representatives, and others.
Under the Clean Water Act, water quality is addressed by reducing pollution, including toxics that can accumulate in water, sediment, and fish tissues. Tribal people and other populations who rely on fish for a substantial portion of their diet can be particularly affected by pollution in the basin.
Grant award totals range from $67,597 to $200,000, with an average award of $146,707. Below are the organizations that will receive funding:
IDAHO

Nez Perce Tribe — $200,000
- Clearwater River watershed
- Monitoring contaminants (DDT, mercury, other metals, nutrients, plastics) in water and fish tissues

University of Idaho — $198,957
- Spokane River Basin, Boise River Basin
- Monitoring of mercury in crayfish

MONTANA

University of Montana — $128,992
- Flathead Lake
- Monitoring methylmercury in fish, impact on users of local food pantries

OREGON

PNW Pollution Prevention Resource Center – $88,304
- Portland metro area
- Reduction of pollutants from automotive and landscaping industries
Salmon Safe – $200,000
- Oregon, eastern Washington, northern Idaho
- Pesticide & erosion reduction, habitat protection & enhancement, farmer certification
Multnomah County – $174,045
- Lower & middle Columbia River, Deschutes, Willamette, Hood watersheds, and southwest Washington
- Pesticide reduction outreach with focus on Latinx community
Lower Columbia Estuary Partnership – $67,597
- St. Helens & Rainier, Oregon, Longview, Washington
- Deployment of Grattix boxes to reduce zinc and copper run-off to lower Columbia River
Cascade Pacific Resource, Conservation & Development — $199,999
- Eugene, Springfield, Lane County
- Green stormwater infrastructure to reduce metals, PAHs, pesticides in run-off
Columbia Riverkeeper – $91,991
- Hood River County, Wasco County, & Klickitat County (WA)
- Pollution prevention education focused on youth education

WASHINGTON

Washington State Department of Agriculture – $200,000
- Palouse River and Yakima River watersheds
- Pesticides monitoring, reduction, and collection
Yakama Nation – $188,378
- U.S.-Canada border to Bonneville Dam
- Tracking of toxics in fish tissues, water, and sediments
Washington State Department of Ecology – $105,000
- Vancouver/Clark County
- Pollution prevention
University of Washington – Tacoma – $76,601
- Portland to Wauna, Oregon
- Monitoring of unmonitored contaminants, e.g., endocrine disruptors
City of Vancouver – $144,039
- Columbia Slope sub-watershed within the city
- Water quality and stormwater sampling

For more about the Columbia River Basin Restoration Program, as well as to read summaries of each grant recipient’s work, please visit: https://www.epa.gov/columbiariver/columbia-river-basin-restoration-funding-assistance-program
To learn more about EPA’s work in the Columbia River Basin on tribal fish consumption, chemicals of emerging concern, and other related topics, please visit https://www.epa.gov/columbiariver

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April 16, 2019

Salish Sea toxics synthesis report

The Puget Sound Institute’s Andy James is the corresponding editor of a 2019 report on monitoring and research activities focused on toxic contaminants in the Salish Sea. The report from the Puget Sound Ecosystem Monitoring Program covers a range of case studies including the occurrence of microplastics and pharmaceuticals in shellfish, PCBs in river otters and new findings on persistent contaminants and heavy metals in fish. Copies are available on the Encyclopedia of Puget Sound and other sources on the Web.

November 16, 2018

Orca task force releases recommendations

By Jeff Rice
The governor’s Southern Resident Orca Task Force released its final report and recommendations today, focusing on three key threats to Puget Sound’s endangered orcas: Lack of food, disturbance from noise and vessel traffic, and toxic contaminants. In all, the report makes 36 recommendations for recovering the fast-declining orca population, which now stands at 74 animals.
“The extinction of these orcas would be an unacceptable loss,” reads the report, which identifies a wide variety of potential actions that will require extensive funding and long-term commitment on the part of state and federal agencies. The task force met six times between May and November of this year and received more than 18,000 comments from the public.
Of the 36 recommendations, the first and most extensive is the improvement of habitat for Chinook salmon, the orcas’ primary source of food, including habitat acquisition and additional funding in support of ongoing restoration efforts. The report also calls for an increase in the production of hatchery Chinook and recommends establishing “a stakeholder process to discuss potential breaching or removal of the lower Snake River Dams” seen as a barrier to Chinook spawning. Other measures would include bolstering forage fish populations, which Chinook eat in abundance. Several of the recommendations, such as improved enforcement of habitat protection would require legislative action.
Among the potentially sensitive issues addressed by the report are new studies showing high predation of juvenile Chinook salmon by seals and sea lions, in particular Puget Sound’s booming harbor seal population. The report recommends a study to determine the potential impact of pinniped predation on Chinook to “evaluate potential management actions” such as the removal of some animals or the altering of select haul out sites.
Task force members voted 33 to 1 to approve the recommendations, with six members abstaining and seven absent from the vote. The lone dissenting vote was cast by a representative on behalf of the Pacific Whale Watch Association which objected to the task force’s recommendations to curtail commercial whale watching for the next 3 to 5 years.
“The association feels strongly that Recommendation 28 restricting viewing on the Southern Residents was not properly vetted and the implementation will lead to unintended consequences,” the Pacific Whale Watching Association wrote in a statement. “PWWA is working in partnership with the scientific community to develop a science-based vessel management plan to mitigate risk of harm to the Southern Residents.”
Many of the threats listed in the report are well-known, such as the impacts of toxic chemicals including PCBs and PBDEs that accumulate in Chinook and have led to a high incidence of miscarriages among southern resident orcas [for more on this subject, read our story in Salish Sea Currents, “For declining orcas, food is fate”]. The task force is encouraging legislative action in 2019 “for a program that incentivizes the accelerated removal of primary legacy sources of PCBs, PAHs, PBDEs and per and polyfluoroalkyl substances present in the built environment in the central Puget Sound.” It also calls for improvements in the effectiveness and enforcement of permits for the discharge of toxic chemicals harmful to orcas.
The task force is expected to continue its work into 2019 and will prepare a follow-up document assessing its progress by October 1, 2019.

September 19, 2018

Chemicals from automobile tires suspected in coho deaths

Findings authored this month by University of Washington scientists at the Center for Urban Waters and their collaborators provide new insight into “urban runoff mortality syndrome” affecting Puget Sound coho.
By Jeff Rice
Chemicals linked to automobile tires have been found in stormwater associated with the widespread deaths of coho salmon in Puget Sound. The findings were presented this month in the journal Environmental Science & Technology and elevate tires as a prime suspect in “urban runoff mortality syndrome,” a condition that has been endangering coho salmon runs in the region.
For nearly two decades, researchers have been mystified by sudden die-offs of coho entering Puget Sound’s urban streams, particularly after it rains. The syndrome is thought to affect more than a third of the coho’s local range and may wipe out some spawning stocks entirely, scientists say.
As runoff from rain and snow flows downhill into Puget Sound, it picks up toxic chemicals from roadways and other surfaces. This deadly mixture will kill adult coho salmon within hours of exposure, but scientists have so far been unable to identify which of the potentially thousands of chemicals found in stormwater are lethal to the fish or where they come from.
While the authors caution that the findings do not show a definitive link between tires and coho deaths, they report that “the results indicate that [tire wear particles] are an under-appreciated contaminant source in urban watersheds.” They argue that the assessment of tires as a potential source of toxic contaminants should be a research priority.
The paper, co-authored by scientists at the University of Washington Center for Urban Waters, identifies a “chemical signature” of tire particles present in water samples where coho mortality was observed [Editor’s note: the Center for Urban Waters is a partner and collaborator with the Puget Sound Institute].
The paper’s lead author, University of Washington research scientist Kathy Peter, compared the findings to a chemical fingerprint. “We detect as many chemicals as possible in [each water sample],” Peter says, “and the chemicals that we detect in every sample that killed a coho are the chemical fingerprint of the mortality syndrome.”
Samples included stormwater runoff from the 520 bridge in Seattle and two other locations around Puget Sound where coho salmon were found dead or dying from exposure to stormwater. Researchers found chemicals from tire wear particles in every sample. Other chemicals from automotive sources such as motor oil, gear oil and antifreeze were also present in smaller numbers, but those from tire wear particles had the clearest chemical signature. Scientists have long suspected vehicles and roadways as a major culprit because the coho deaths most often occur in proximity to roads.
The research is part of a collaboration between scientists at the University of Washington, Washington State University, and NOAA. Authors of the paper include UW scientists at the Center for Urban Waters, the Southern California Coastal Water Research Project, NOAA and Washington State University School of the Environment.
The study was conducted using a new method of non-targeted screening of stormwater samples through high resolution mass spectrometry conducted at the Center for Urban Waters labs in Tacoma. These sensitive instruments allow scientists to identify hundreds to thousands of chemical compounds at low levels in every sample.
“When you run a stormwater sample, you might see 1,000 or 2,000 features, and each feature is a chemical,” Peter told our publication Salish Sea Currents earlier this year. “Some of them will be natural, but some will be synthetic compounds that you need to test.”
Paper co-author Ed Kolodziej of the University of Washington heads the lab where the study was conducted and will continue research into contaminant signatures of stormwater with support from a recent NSF grant. The project includes a collaboration with citizen scientists who will alert project members to salmon die-offs as they are happening. Kolodziej’s team will then collect and analyze water and tissue samples from these sites.
While scientists continue their research into identifying the chemical source of urban runoff mortality syndrome, scientists at Washington State University and NOAA have found that a relatively simple mixture of sand and soil can filter out many of the contaminants and can prevent the deadly effect on fish. Wildlife managers across the West Coast are hoping to eventually reduce coho deaths through a combination of stormwater filtration and eventually source control.
Citation:
Using High-Resolution Mass Spectrometry to Identify Organic Contaminants Linked to Urban Stormwater Mortality Syndrome in Coho Salmon. Katherine T. Peter, Zhenyu Tian, Christopher Wu, Peter Lin, Sarah White, Bowen Du, Jenifer K. McIntyre, Nathaniel L. Scholz, and Edward P. Kolodziej. Environmental Science & Technology. DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.8b03287

August 27, 2018

PSI collaborator receives NSF grant to study coho deaths

PSI collaborator Ed Kolodziej has received a $330,000 National Science Foundation grant to expand his research on toxic pollutants in Puget Sound. Kolodziej’s project will identify chemicals in stormwater that are killing coho salmon and endangering some spawning runs. The project includes a collaboration with citizen scientists who will alert project members to salmon die-offs as they are happening. Kolodziej’s team will then collect water and tissue samples from these sites that they will analyze at the labs of PSI’s parent group the Center for Urban Waters.
Project summary
In rapidly urbanizing areas of the Unites States, stormwater runoff is a major water quality and treatment problem because it accumulates many harmful chemicals from our homes, roads, and cities as it flows downstream. However, the chemical make-up of urban stormwater runoff is poorly understood although it is known to be harmful to fish and aquatic ecosystems (often called “urban stream syndrome”). This project will focus on identifying toxic chemicals in urban stormwater, especially focusing on understanding the link between stormwater pollution and observations of acute mortality in adult coho salmon in the Pacific Northwest. This project will measure harmful pollutants in stormwater so we can better manage urban water quality and protect fish such as the economically and culturally important coho salmon. Citizen scientists will help monitor watersheds for salmon mortality as it happens, and alert project researchers to collect water and tissue samples during acute mortality events. The project will work with citizen science groups, regional agencies, and the Center for Urban Waters (Tacoma, WA) to collaborate with local, regional, state, and tribal communities who are very interested in protecting salmon for economic and cultural reasons.
Relative to well-studied urban pollutant sources such as municipal wastewater effluent, very little is known about the chemical composition of urban stormwater runoff despite its importance as a major source of chemical pollutants to receiving waters.In fact, in the Pacific Northwest, an unexplained acute mortality phenomena occurs widely in urbanized watersheds where 50-100% of adult coho salmon quickly (1-4 h) perish after urban stormwater exposure.Because salmon mortality occurs prior to spawning and severely compromises reproductive output, local extinctions and failed stream restoration efforts focused on salmon habitat and health are expected. This project will focus on characterizing the identity and quantity of novel contaminants in urban stormwater using high-resolution mass spectrometry, especially seeking to identify stormwater contaminants with problematic structures (e.g. metabolic poisons that inhibit mitochondrial electron transport and induce cellular hypoxia).Water and tissue samples collected by citizen scientists will be screened using broad spectrum, suspect and non-target analyses to identify novel pollutants in urban stormwater. Chemical bioactivity will be selectively screening via in-silico receptor docking to detect novel bioactivity from high interest detections. Collaborating with ongoing ecotoxicology efforts, selective fractionation and chemical screening will be used to identify toxicant candidates in toxicologically active samples and link toxicant chemical characteristics to typical stormwater runoff treatment systems mechanistically. Project outputs will be broadly disseminated through collaboration and outreach efforts to local and regional citizen science programs. Through the project affiliation with the Center for Urban Waters, additional outreach to local, regional, state, and tribal stakeholders, many of them very interested in salmonid health for economic and cultural reasons, will occur.Project collaborations will include regional municipalities and agencies such as the Puget Sound Partnership, a Washington state agency dedicated to protecting the Puget Sound ecosystem, as well as NOAA-NMFS researchers and regulators focused on the health of economically important salmon populations. Via project characterization efforts, the management of urban stormwater quality can be improved by improved capabilities for chemical source control and optimization of treatment technologies.
Related story in Salish Sea Currents: What is killing the coho?

August 27, 2018

PSI collaborator receives NSF grant to study coho deaths

July 16, 2018

New studies on emerging threats to salmon

Chemicals, disease and other stressors can increase a salmon’s chance of being eaten or reduce its ability to catch food. We wrap up our series on the Salish Sea Marine Survival Project with a look at some of the lesser-known, but still significant factors contributing to salmon declines in the Salish Sea.
Read the story in Salish Sea Currents.