Field Investigation to Determine the Extent of Sediment Recontamination at the United Heckathorn Superfund Site, Richmond, California

This field investigation was undertaken to determine the present condition of sediment in Lauritzen Channel and Parr Canal approximately 2 years after completion of sediment remedial actions at the United Heckathorn Superfund site. The study was designed to supplement the post-remediation monitoring program by determining the extent and identifying potential sources of observed pesticide contamination in marine sediments near the site. Core samples collected from Lauritzen Channel and Parr Canal in July 1999 were described geologically, and samples were prepared from different sediment types, such as younger bay mud or older bay mud. Sediment samples were analyzed for grain size, organic carbon, and DDT compounds. Only minor changes have occurred in Parr Canal since remedial actions were taken in 1996-1997, but in Lauritzen Channel, DDT concentrations exceed the remedial goal of 590 ug/kg dry weight in nearly all the unconsolidated sediment (younger bay mud, sand, and disturbed older bay mud). The source of contaminated sediment could not be confirmed by this study; there was no clear correlation between high DDT concentrations and sediment remaining between the pilings, as was originally suspected. There also was no correlation between high DDT concentrations in sediment and the locations of outfalls, although some of the contamination retained by the creosote-treated wood appeared to be highest close to the known outfalls

Fourth Annual Report: 2007 Pre-Construction Eelgrass Monitoring and Propagation for King County Outfall Mitigation

King County proposes to build a new sewer outfall discharging to Puget Sound near Point Wells, Washington. Construction is scheduled for 2008. The Point Wells site was selected to minimize effects on the nearshore marine environment, but unavoidable impacts to eelgrass (Zostera marina) beds are anticipated during construction. To mitigate these impacts and prepare for post-construction restoration, King County began implementing a multiyear eelgrass monitoring and restoration program in 2004, with the primary goal of returning intertidal and shallow subtidal habitat and eelgrass to pre-construction conditions. Major program elements related to eelgrass are (a) pre-construction monitoring, i.e., documenting initial eelgrass conditions and degree of fluctuation over 5 years prior to construction, (b) eelgrass transplanting, including harvesting, offsite propagating, and stockpiling of local plants for post-construction planting, and (c) post-construction planting and subsequent monitoring. The program is detailed in the Eelgrass Restoration and Biological Resources Implementation Workplan (King County 2006). This report describes calendar year 2007 pre-construction activities conducted by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) for King County. Activities included continued propagation of eelgrass shoots at the PNNL Marine Sciences Laboratory (MSL) in Sequim, Washington, and monitoring of the experimental harvest plots in the marine outfall corridor area to evaluate recovery rates relative to harvest rates. In addition, 490 eelgrass shoots were also harvested from the Marine Outfall Corridor in July 2007 to supplement the plants in the propagation tank at the MSL, bringing the total number of shoots to 1464. Eelgrass densities were monitored in four of five experimental harvest plots established in the Marine Outfall Corridor. Changes in eelgrass density were evaluated in year-to-year comparisons with initial harvest rates. A net increase in eelgrass density from 2004 post-harvest to 2007 was observed in all plots, despite density decreases observed in 2006 in all plots and at most harvest rates. Eelgrass densities within individual subplots were highly variable from year to year, and the change in density in any interannual period was not related to initial 2004 harvest rate. Harvest rates of neighboring subplots did not appear to affect subplot eelgrass density (Woodruff et al. 2007). Three years post-harvest, eelgrass shoot densities were not significantly different from pre-harvest shoot densities at any harvest level. Additional plans are being discussed with King County to harvest all eelgrass from the construction corridor and hold in the propagation tanks at the MSL for post-construction planting. Under this plan, plants that would have been lost to construction will be held offsite until construction is completed. This strategy reduces and possibly eliminates the need to harvest eelgrass from donor beds located south of the construction area, allowing them to remain undisturbed. However, if eelgrass is harvested from donor beds, the monitoring of eelgrass growth at different harvest rates should help determine an optimum harvest rate that supports rapid recovery of donor eelgrass beds

Entrainment of Dungeness Crab in the Desdemona Shoals Reach of the Lower Columbia River Navigation Channel

Proposed dredging of the Columbia River has raised concerns about related impacts on Dungeness crab in the Columbia River Estuary (CRE). This study follows two major efforts, sponsored by the Portland District of the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) to quantify the number of crabs entrained by a hopper dredge working in the CRE. From June 2002 through September 2002, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) conducted direct measurements of crab entrainment in the CRE from the mouth of the Columbia River (MCR, river mile -3 to +3) upriver as far as Miller Sands (river mile 21 to 24). These studies constituted a major step in quantifying crab entrainment in the CRE, and allowed statistically bounded projections of adult equivalent loss (AEL) for Dungeness crab populations under a range of future construction dredging and maintenance dredging scenarios (Pearson et al. 2002, 2003). In 2004, PNNL performed additional measurements to improve estimates of crab entrainment at Desdemona Shoals and at Flavel Bar, a reach near Astoria that had not been adequately sampled in 2002 (Figure 1). The 2004 data were used to update the crab loss projections for channel construction to 43 ft MLLW. In addition, a correlation between bottom salinity and adult (age 2+ and 3+, >100 mm carapace width) crab entrainment was developed using 2002 data, and elaborated upon with the 2004 data. This crab salinity model was applied to forecasting seasonal (monthly) entrainment rates and AEL using seasonal variations in salinity (Pearson et al. 2005). In the previous studies, entrainment rates in Desdemona Shoals were more variable than in any of the other reaches. Pearson et al. (2005) concluded that ?the dynamics behind the variable entrainment rates at Desdemona Shoals are not fully understood,? as well as finding that juvenile crab entrainment was not significantly correlated with salinity as it was for older crab. The present study was undertaken to address the question of whether the high age 1+ entrainment rate at Desdemona Shoals in June 2002 unusual, or would it be observed again under similar conditions? PNNL and USACE personnel directly measured crab entrainment by the USACE hopper dredge Essayons working in Desdemona Shoals in June 2006. In addition to quantifying crab entrainment of all age classes, bottom salinity was directly measured in as many samples as possible, so that the relationship between crab entrainment and salinity could be further evaluated. All 2006 data were collected and analyzed in a manner consistent with the previous entrainment studies (Pearson et al. 2002, 2003, 2005)

Effects of burial by the disposal of dredged materials from the Columbia River on Pacific razor clams (Siliqua patula)

Annual maintenance of the Columbia River navigation channel requires the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) to dredge sediment from the river and dispose of the sediment in coastal areas at the mouth of the Columbia River. Some of these disposal areas can be as shallow as 12 m deep in waters off the coastal beaches, and dredged material disposal activities have therefore raised concerns of impacts to local razor clam (Siliqua patula) populations that are prevalent in the area. The Corps’ Portland District requested that the Marine Sciences Laboratory of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory conduct laboratory experiments to evaluate the potential impacts of burial by dredged material to razor clams during disposal. Prior modeling of disposal events indicates three stresses that could have an impact on benthic invertebrates: convective descent and bottom encounter (compression forces due to bottom impact), dynamic collapse and spreading (surge as material washes over the bottom), and mounding (burial by material). Because the razor clam is infaunal, the effects of the first two components should be minimal, because the clams should be protected by substrate that is not eroded in the event and by the clams’ rapid digging capabilities. The mound resulting from the disposal, however, would bury any clams remaining in the footprint under as much as 12 cm of new sediment according to modeling, and the clams’ reaction to such an event and to burial is not known. Although the literature suggests that razor clams may be negatively affected by siltation and therefore perhaps by dredging and disposal activity, as well, impacts of this type have not been demonstrated. The primary purpose of this study was to evaluate the potential impacts of dredge material disposal on adult subtidal razor clam populations at the mouth of the Columbia River. Using the parameters defined in a previous model, a laboratory study was created in which a slurry was added to experimental chambers seeded with adult razor clams to produce burial mounds of various thicknesses. The laboratory results presented here have two implications for disposal operations

Organics Verification Study for Sinclair and Dyes Inlets, Washington

Sinclair and Dyes Inlets near Bremerton, Washington, are on the State of Washington 1998 303(d) list of impaired waters because of fecal coliform contamination in marine water, metals in sediment and fish tissue, and organics in sediment and fish tissue. Because significant cleanup and source control activities have been conducted in the inlets since the data supporting the 1998 303(d) listings were collected, two verification studies were performed to address the 303(d) segments that were listed for metal and organic contaminants in marine sediment. The Metals Verification Study (MVS) was conducted in 2003; the final report, Metals Verification Study for Sinclair and Dyes Inlets, Washington, was published in March 2004 (Kohn et al. 2004). This report describes the Organics Verification Study that was conducted in 2005. The study approach was similar to the MVS in that many surface sediment samples were screened for the major classes of organic contaminants, and then the screening results and other available data were used to select a subset of samples for quantitative chemical analysis. Because the MVS was designed to obtain representative data on concentrations of contaminants in surface sediment throughout Sinclair Inlet, Dyes Inlet, Port Orchard Passage, and Rich Passage, aliquots of the 160 MVS sediment samples were used in the analysis for the Organics Verification Study. However, unlike metals screening methods, organics screening methods are not specific to individual organic compounds, and are not available for some target organics. Therefore, only the quantitative analytical results were used in the organics verification evaluation. The results of the Organics Verification Study showed that sediment quality outside of Sinclair Inlet is unlikely to be impaired because of organic contaminants. Similar to the results for metals, in Sinclair Inlet, the distribution of residual organic contaminants is generally limited to nearshore areas already within the actively managed Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility Superfund Site, where further source-control actions and monitoring are under way

Preliminary Assessment of Potential Impacts to Dungeness Crabs from Disposal of Dredged Materials from the Columbia River

Dredging of the Columbia River navigation channel has raised concerns about dredging-related impacts on Dungeness crabs (Cancer magister). The overall objectives of this effort are to synthesize what is known about disposal effects on Dungeness crabs (Phase 1) and to offer approaches to quantify the effects, including approaches to gain a population-level perspective on any effects found in subsequent studies (Phase 2). This report documents Phase 1, which included (1) development of a conceptual model to integrate knowledge about crab biology and the physical processes occurring during disposal, (2) application of physics-based numerical modeling of the disposal event to understand the physical forces and processes to which a crab might be exposed during disposal, (3) conduct of a vulnerability analysis to identify the potential mechanisms by which crabs may be injured, and (4) recommendations of topics and approaches for future studies to assess the potential population-level effects of disposal on Dungeness crabs. The conceptual model first recognizes that disposal of dredged materials is a physically dynamic process with three aspects: (1) convective descent and bottom encounter, (2) dynamic collapse and spreading, and (3) mounding. Numerical modeling was used to assess the magnitude of the potentially relevant forces and extent of mounding in single disposal events. The modeling outcomes show that predicted impact pressure, shear stress, and mound depth are greatly reduced by discharge in deep water, and somewhat reduced at longer discharge duration. The analysis of numerical modeling results and vulnerabilities indicate that the vulnerability of crabs to compression forces under any of the disposal scenarios is low. For the deep-water disposal scenarios, the maximum forces and mounding do not appear to be sufficiently high enough to warrant concern for surge currents or burial at the depths involved (over 230 ft). For the shallow-water (45 to 65 ft), short-duration disposal scenarios, the shear force and surge currents estimated from the modeling and observed previously in the field at Palos Verdes, California appear to be sufficiently high to mobilize and transport the bottom sediment and at least juvenile crab. Behavioral response to surge currents probably occurs and may reduce the occurrence and extent of movement and any associated impacts. There evidence that burial by dredged materials can effect crab survival, but confounding factors in previous experiments preclude conclusions about thresholds and extent of effects. We recommend that future studies focus on burial effects during shallow water, short duration disposal events and take into account the potential for behavioral responses to mitigate any effects

Third Annual Report: 2006 Pre-Construction Eelgrass Monitoring and Propagation for King County Outfall Mitigation

King County proposes to build a new sewer outfall discharging to Puget Sound near Point Wells, Washington. Construction is scheduled for 2008. The Point Wells site was selected to minimize effects on the nearshore marine environment, but unavoidable impacts to eelgrass (Zostera marina) beds are anticipated during construction. To mitigate for these impacts and prepare for post-construction restoration, King County began implementation of a multi-year eelgrass monitoring and restoration program in 2004, with the primary goal of returning intertidal and shallow subtidal habitat and eelgrass to pre-construction conditions. Major program elements are a) pre-construction monitoring, i.e., documenting initial eelgrass conditions and degree of fluctuation over 5 years prior to construction, b) eelgrass transplanting, including harvesting, offsite propagating and stockpiling of local plantstock, and post-construction planting, and c) post-construction monitoring. The program is detailed in the Eelgrass Restoration and Biological Resources Implementation Workplan (King County 2006). This report describes calendar year 2006 pre-construction activities conducted by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) in support of King County. Activities included continued propagation of eelgrass shoots and monitoring of the experimental harvest plots in the marine outfall corridor area to evaluate recovery rates relative to harvest rates. Approximately 1500 additional shoots were harvested from the marine outfall corridor in August 2006 to supplement the plants in the propagation tank at the PNNL Marine Sciences Laboratory in Sequim, Washington, bringing the total number of shoots to 4732. Eelgrass densities were monitored in the five experimental harvest plots established in the marine outfall corridor. Changes in eelgrass density were evaluated in year-to-year comparisons with initial harvest rates. Net eelgrass density decreased from 2004 post-harvest to 2006 in all plots, despite density increases observed in 2005 in some plots and at some harvest rates. Eelgrass densities within individual subplots were highly variable from year to year, and the change in density in any interannual period did not correlate to the initial 2004 harvest rate. Continued monitoring should help project managers determine an optimum harvest rate that supports rapid recovery of donor eelgrass beds

Laboratory Assessment of Potential Impacts to Dungeness Crabs from Disposal of Dredged Material from the Columbia River

Dredging of the Columbia River navigation channel has raised concerns about dredging-related impacts on Dungeness crabs (Cancer magister) in the estuary, mouth of the estuary, and nearshore ocean areas adjacent to the Columbia River. The Portland District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers engaged the Marine Sciences Laboratory (MSL) of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory to review the state of knowledge and conduct studies concerning impacts on Dungeness crabs resulting from disposal during the Columbia River Channel Improvement Project and annual maintenance dredging in the mouth of the Columbia River. The present study concerns potential effects on Dungeness crabs from dredged material disposal specific to the mouth of the Columbia River

Investigation of the Hyporheic Zone at the 300 Area,Hanford Site

The Remediation Task of the Science and Technology (S&T) Project is intended to provide research to meet several objectives concerning the discharge of groundwater contamination into the river at the 300 Area of the Hanford Site. This report serves to meet the research objectives by developing baseline data for future evaluation of remedial technologies, evaluating the effects changing river stage on near-shore groundwater chemistry, improving estimates of contaminant flux to the river, providing estimates on the extent of contaminant discharge areas along the shoreline, and providing data to support computer models used to evaluate remedial alternatives. This report summarizes the activities conducted to date and provides an overview of data collected through July 2006. Recent geologic investigations (funded through other U. S. Department of Energy (DOE) programs) have provided a more complete geologic interpretation of the 300 Area and a characterization of the vertical extent of uranium contamination. Extrapolation of this geologic interpretation into the hyporheic zone is possible, but there is little data to provide corroboration. Penetration testing was conducted along the shoreline to develop evidence to support the extrapolation of the mapping of the geologic facies. In general, this penetration testing provided evidence supporting the extrapolation of the most recent geologic interpretation, but it also provided some higher resolution detail on the shape of the layer than constrains contaminant movement. Information on this confining layer will provide a more detailed estimate of the area of river bed that has the potential to be impacted by uranium discharge to the river from groundwater transport. Water sampling in the hyporheic zone has provided results that illustrate the degree of mixing that occurs in the hyporheic zone. Uranium concentrations measured at individual sampling locations can vary by several orders of magnitude depending on the river and near-shore aquifer elevations. It is shown in this report that the concentrations of all the measured constituents in water samples collected from the hyporheic zone vary according to the ratio of groundwater and river water in the sample. One important aspect of this is that specific conductance provides a sensitive indicator of the relative contribution of groundwater and river water in a particular sample. This is because of the large difference is specific conductance of groundwater (~400 μS/cm) and river water (~130 μS/cm). It appears that in the hyporheic zone, advection of contaminates occurs very quickly, and variations in concentrations are a function of dilution rather than any chemistry effects caused by the difference in water chemistry between groundwater and river water

Patient Safety in the Cardiac Operating Room: Human Factors and Teamwork: A Scientific Study from the American Heart Association

The cardiac surgical operating room (OR) is a complex environment in which highly trained subspecialists interact with each other using sophisticated equipment to care for patients with severe cardiac disease and significant comorbidities. Thousands of patient lives have been saved or significantly improved with the advent of modern cardiac surgery. Indeed, both mortality and morbidity for coronary artery bypass surgery have decreased during the past decade. Nonetheless, the highly skilled and dedicated personnel in cardiac ORs are human and will make errors. Refined techniques, advanced technologies, and enhanced coordination of care have led to significant improvements in cardiac surgery outcomes