A Review of Polychlorinated Dibenzofurans and Polychlorinated Dibenzodioxins in Sediments in the United States and International Waterways

ABSTRACT Polychlorinated dibenzodioxins, PCDDs, and polychlorinated dibenzofurans, PCDFs, have the potential to accumulate in sediments given their low water solubilities and correspondingly high sorbent potential to solids. There are numerous sources of these compounds which include not only waste products from current or past manufacturing of specific industrial and agriculture chemicals but also a variety of combustion processes including municipal incinerators, automobile and truck exhaust, and wood-burning stoves, among others. Consequently, there has been a corresponding interest in the potential presence of PCDDs and PCDFs in the sediments of major harbors, rivers, and lakes. This paper presents a comprehensive review of sediment quality data for PCDDs and PCDFs for major surface water bodies in the US and abroad. The data sources include interviews with government agencies in the US and Canada as well as peer reviewed literature and technical reports. The paper includes Type I data which provide o...