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Ecology PSAMP/National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) National Status and Trends (NS&T) Partnership 1997-1999

Ecology and NOAA staff rinsing Van Veen sampler.

Environmental Management Application

Results from the 1997-1999 PSAMP/NOAA assessment of Puget Sound sediment quality:

1. Provided environmental managers with information on the severity, spatial patterns, and spatial extent of sediment contamination and toxicity, and the quality of sediment-dwelling invertebrate communities  throughout the Sound.
2. Identified relationships among these measures.

The spatial extent of degraded sediment quality in Puget Sound will be used as a baseline. These values will be compared with similar values generated by the PSAMP Sediment Component in the future to determine whether sediment quality throughout Puget Sound is getting better, worse, or staying the same over time.

Background

In 1997, Ecology entered into a Cooperative Agreement with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) National Status and Trends (NS&T) Bioeffects Assessment Program, to jointly examine measures of sediment quality throughout Puget Sound. This three-year monitoring effort included sampling of 100 stations annually in north, central, and south Puget Sound using a stratified, probabilistic, random sampling approach.

Goals and Objectives

1. Determine the incidence and severity of sediment toxicity.
2. Identify spatial patterns and gradients in chemical concentrations and toxicity.
3. Estimate the spatial extent of chemical contamination and toxicity in surface sediments.
4. Estimate the apparent relationships between toxicant concentrations, measures of sediment toxicity, and communities of sediment-dwelling organisms.
5. Compare the quality of sediment among different regions of Puget Sound.

Sampling Design

Surface sediment (upper 2-3 cm) from 300 randomly chosen locations throughout Puget Sound were tested for a list of parameters to determine acute toxicity in four laboratory tests, quantify concentrations of over 150 chemical parameters, and describe the community structure of sediment-dwelling organisms. Standardized methods, quality assurance, and quality control methods adopted by both Ecology and NOAA were applied in this survey to ensure acquisition of highest quality data. A Sediment Quality Triad Index was developed to quantitatively characterize sediment quality throughout Puget Sound.

Puget Sound study area and sampling locations for the PSAMP/NOAA sediment quality survey.

 

Quality Assurance Project Plan (QAPP)

Dutch, M., E. Long, W. Kammin, and S. Redman. 1998. Puget Sound Ambient Monitoring Program: Marine Sediment Monitoring Component - Final Quality Assurance Project and Implementation Plan. Measures of bioeffects associated with toxicants in Puget Sound: Survey of sediment contamination, toxicity, and benthic macroinfaunal community structure. Washington State Department of Ecology, Olympia, WA. 31 pp.

Findings

• Degraded sediment conditions were measured for about 1% of the total study area. In these sediments, one or more chemical concentrations exceeded numerical, effects-based guidelines or criteria; toxicity occurred in at least one laboratory test; the number and diversity of benthic organisms living in the sediments at these locations were depressed relative to uncontaminated sediments, and/or the infauna were dominated by pollution-tolerant species. These conditions invariably occurred in samples collected within urbanized bays and industrial waterways, especially near Everett, Seattle, Tacoma, and Bremerton, where degraded conditions had been reported in previous studies.

• High quality sediment conditions (as indicated by no toxicity, no contamination, and the presence of abundant and diverse sediment-dwelling organisms) occurred in samples that represented about 68% of the total study area.

• Sediments for which results of the three kinds of analyses were not in agreement were classified as either intermediate/high quality (27% of the total study area) or intermediate/degraded quality (4% of the total study area). This relatively large area with intermediate sediment quality is suggested as in most need of continued surveillance because of its nearshore location and role as critical habitat for numerous marine organisms.

• Relative to many other estuaries and marine bays along the U.S. coastline, Puget Sound sediments were ranked among the least contaminated and toxic.

Publications

Data

Raw data can be obtained by downloading the compressed Microsoft Access 97 database (PSAMP Sediment Monitoring database),or by contacting Sandra Aasen sgei461@ecy.wa.gov.