Determining the Fate and Ecological Effects of Copper and Zinc Loading in Estuarine Environments: A Multi-Disciplinary Program.

摘要

Copper and zinc are two of the most ubiquitous contaminants found in many industrial and nonpoint source effluents that enter the marine environment. The sources of these toxic metals include discharges from facilities, ships, and small craft, as well as inputs from sediment fluxes and sediments disrupted during dredging operations and ship movements. Potential DoD sources of copper include storm waters, point sources, hull coatings, and discharges from DoD ships and facilities. Previous studies have shown that copper and zinc are highly toxic to some marine organisms. Copper and zinc discharges often exceed existing water quality criteria (WQC) or standards in the effluent and copper often exceeds WQC in the receiving systems. Compliance and clean up actions associated with copper contamination are common at DoD/Navy facilities around the country. Regulatory compliance is challenging because of the many sources, both natural and anthropogenic, and the adoption of very conservative water quality standards (WQS). Present WQC for these metals are based on concentrations of total or dissolved copper. In contrast, a large body of scientific data indicates that it is the concentration of the "free" or aqueous species (i.e., Cu(II)aq) which correlates most closely with the toxicity of marine organisms. This report describes results and accomplishments of the interdisciplinary research conducted in San Diego Bay from August 2000 to December 2004 by a team including personnel from SPAWAR Systems Center San Diego (SSC-SD), Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC), San Diego State University Foundation (SDSUF), Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO), and the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL).