Discharges Of Concern In Estuarine And Coastal Environments

In the last ten years water quality permitting programs carried out under the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit program have made great strides in controlling the discharge of "conventional~l pollutants into fresh water. However, research is still finding that coastal and estuarine waters are being dangerously impacted. In an effort to determine the magnitude and source of these impacts a list of "pollutants of concernll (POC) was compiled by determining what pollutants were pervasive in the estuarine and coastal environment.. A list of major dischargers to estuarine and coastal areas was amassed using the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) National Coastal Pollutant Discharge Inventory (NCPDI). The effluents of these major industries were examined in an attempt to ascertain where pollutants of concern coincided with major estuarine and coastal dischargers. Particular attention was devoted to those pollutants that were found in sediments, as it appears that there are many pollutants impacting sediments and biota that are not sufficiently addressed using water quality standards.