A risk assessment approach to contaminants in Port Curtis, Queensland, Australia

Port Curtis is one of Australia's leading ports for which substantial industrial expansion is proposed over the next decade. However, there has been little attempt to date to assess the extent of contamination in waters, sediments and biota or to characterize the potential impacts of contaminants on aquatic biota. Contaminants of potential concern to biota and human health were investigated in the Port Curtis estuary using a screening-level risk assessment approach. Dissolved metal concentrations in waters were below [ANZECC/ARMCANZ, 2000. Australian and New Zealand Guidelines for Fresh and Marine Water Quality, Vol. 1. The Guidelines, Australian and New Zealand Environment and Conservation Council and Agriculture and Resource Management Council of Australia and New Zealand] trigger values, suggesting low risk of these contaminants. In sediments, arsenic, nickel and chromium concentrations exceeded interim sediment quality guidelines-low (ISQG-low), but were also high in the reference zone suggesting a natural origin. Historical data on naphthalene in Harbour sediments showed that it was also of potential concern. Bioaccumulation of contaminants in a range of biota was also used as an indicator of contaminant exposure. Biota were generally enriched in metals and tributyltin, which was also elevated in water and sediments. Although not unique to Port Curtis, mercury in barramundi was identified as a potential risk to human health

Contaminant pathways in Port Curtis : final report

The Port Curtis Estuary has a well-developed and expanding industry within its catchment. It is also one of Australia's leading ports and is located adjacent to the World Heritage-listed Great Barrier Reef Marine Park. As a consequence of increasing population and industrial activities, the Port Curtis Estuary is expected to receive increasing quantities of contaminant inputs from diffuse sources (e.g. urban runoff) and point source discharges (e.g. industrial effluents). Sources of chemical stressors are many, and multiple contaminants are likely to be transported to the estuary by air and/or water. The challenge for coastal management within the region is the long-term sustainable anagement of further port and industrial development, related population growth, and the management of potentially significant impacts on coastal resources. The release, fate and impacts of contaminants generated within the region by industrial and urban activities are issues of obvious concern. When the Cooperative Research Centre for Coastal Zone, Estuary and Waterway Management (Coastal CRC) first started its activities in Port Curtis in 1998, there were few published studies describing contaminant distributions in Port Curtis. During the first phase of its activities, the CRC undertook the Port Curtis screening level risk assessment (SLRA) (Apte et al. 2005) which employed a rigorous, riskbased approach to identify and prioritise contaminant issues of potential concern. While there were no issues of regulatory concern, the SLRA identified some contaminant-related issues worthy of further investigation which included tributyltin (TBT) in waters, the anomalous bioaccumulation of metals by biota from Port Curtis and slightly elevated concentrations of arsenic, TBT and naphthalene in sediments. Recommendations were made for future investigations. A separate CRC project developed a pilot-scale hydrodynamic model of Port Curtis which enabled water movement to be predicted. The model has clear applications to the prediction of contaminant movement, especially point source discharges associated with industrial activities. Contaminant Pathways in Port Curtis was part of Phase 2 of the CRCs activities in Port Curtis and focused on some of the key issues that were identified in the SLRA

Ecotoxicology

This chapter of Expert Evidence is designed to provide background information for lawyers engaged in investigations or hearings related to chemicals and their potential impacts in the environment. The chapter details procedures for measurement, interpretation and prediction of effects with laboratory- and field-based data. A series of case studies relevant to the Australian environment are presented