Assessing ecological risks of PAH-contaminated sediments

The paper is based on assessment experience at Manufactured Gas Plant sites. The paper lays out the current thinking regarding the planning, conduct and use of ecological risk assessment for decision making for PAH-contaminated sediments in the United States; emphasizes the importance of developing management goals; describes the application of tiered assessment program to determine when more sophisticated methods are appropriate; discusses the process for developing assessment endpoints; describes and illustrates the use of multiple lines of evidence methods; discusses the importance of the DQO process and other aspects of sampling for risk assessment purposes; describes and illustrates the development of conceptual models specific for PAH-contaminated sediments; provides an overview of PAH-specific issues associated with bioaccumulation and the food-web; discusses and illustrates the methods used to describe, characterize, or model risk including quotient methods, critical body residues, lines of evidence etc. (i.e., the various tools); and, provides an overview on how risk assessment information is, should, or could be used to inform decision making; this would include evaluating options including the risks of remediation, integration with human health and other concerns, and achieving net environmental benefits. The development of this paper was supported by the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), Palo Alto, CA.