Pollution & Sustainability
The objective of this project is to characterize the anthropogenic sources of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) contamination in the New York/New Jersey (NY/NJ) Harbor estuary. The research aims to inform pollution prevention strategies, reducing PAH contamination in the harbor. We used an industrial ecological approach to construct a regional inventory of primary PAH emissions sources. We find that all dominant sources are atmospheric sources, including residential fireplaces, motor vehicles, and volatilization from creosote-treated wood.
Since PAHs released to different environmental media (e.g., air, land, and surface water) from different locations do not have the same impact on the harbor, we constructed a regional fate and transport model to predict the transmission potential of each major emissions source for each of the sixteen EPA Priority PAH compounds, county-by-county, and by media of primary release. The potential for PAHs to bind to particles in the environment (including soot and suspended sediment), and the potential for those particles to reach surface water, drives transmission of PAHs to the estuary.
NY/NJ Harbor loadings come primarily from land-based emission sources including motor oil leaks, tire wear, and deterioration of coal tar-based parking lot sealants.
Finally, predicted loadings were compared by compound and by input source with measured loadings from environmental monitoring data. The near agreement for a wide range of compounds, among all major loadings pathways (e.g., atmospheric deposition, tributary inflows, urban runoff and combined sewer overflows) provides an external validation on the analysis.
This work highlights the need to consider both pollution prevention strategies and land-use planning and engineering controls that limit contaminant transmission to surface waters in the sustainable development of urban centers.
Peer-reviewed publications are in preparation. Overview of findings is available in the report of the New York Academy of Sciences:
Sandra Valle, Marta A. Panero, and Leslie M. Shor.
2007. “Pollution prevention and management strategies for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in the New York/New Jersey Harbor.”
New York Academy of Sciences, Harbor Consortium. New York, N.Y.
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