Nicholas L. Clesceri

The integrated lake-watershed acidification study: Atmospheric inputs

Atmospheric inputs to Woods, Panther, and Sagamore Lake-Watersheds in the Adirondack Mountains of New York State were measured on a daily basis from March 1978 through December 1981. Precipitation quality was nearly identical at all sites on monthly and yearly bases; ion loadings to each watershed were principally controlled by the amount of precipitation. No yearly trend was evident for any ion concentration in wet deposition. Annual precipitation quantities showed little deviation from long-term averages for this region. Throughfall measured under various species of trees showed enrichment in most base cations and acid anions. Deciduous trees were found to increase the pH of incident precipitation, while coniferous canopies tended to decrease pH.

Dredged material decontamination demonstration for the port of New York/New Jersey

Management of contaminated dredged material is a significant challenge in the Port of New York and New Jersey as a result of more stringent regional ocean placement regulations with escalating costs for upland placement. One component of an overall management plan can be the application of a decontamination technology followed by creation of a product suitable for beneficial use. This concept is the focus of a project now being carried out by the US Environmental Protection Agency, Region 2, the US Army Corps of Engineers, New York District, the US Department of Energy, Brookhaven National Laboratory, and regional university groups that have included Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Rutgers University, New Jersey Institute of Technology, and Stevens Institute of Technology. The project has progressed through phased testing of commercial technologies at the bench scale (15 liters) (Marcor, Metcalf & Eddy, Gas Technology Institute, Westinghouse Science & Technology, BioGenesis, International Technology, and BioSafe) and pilot-scale (1.5-500m(3)) (BioGenesis, Gas Technology Institute, and Westinghouse Science & Technology) levels. The technologies developed by Gas Technology Institute and BioGenesis are now going forward to commercial demonstration facilities that are intended to treat from 23000 to 60000m(3) of dredged material during their first operational period in 2001-2002. Beneficial use products are soils and cement. Treatment costs for the final commercial facilities are estimated at US

Processing Contaminated Dredged Material From the Port of New York-New Jersey

39 per m(3). Selection of the technologies was made based on the effectiveness of the treatment process, evaluation of the possible beneficial use of the treated materials, and other factors. Major elements of the project are summarized here.

NTA biodegradation and removal in subsurface sandy soil

Shipping activities in the Port of New York-New Jersey are currently threatened by restrictions on dredging of navigational channels and private berthing areas becaused of concerns about the environmental effects caused by ocean disposal of the dredged material. Current proposals for solutions to the problem include ocean disposal of uncontaminated material, use of confined disposal facilities (both upland facilities and containment islands), subaqueous barrow pits, and processing and treatment for contaminated materials. A project to produce a complete “treatment train” for processing and decontaminating dredged material is described. The work is divided into several phases: treatability studies of commercial and nonproprietary technologies at volumes of 19 liters (bench scale) and up to 19 m3 (pilot scale); specification of a treatment train; and implementation of a large-scale facility that can process 76,000–382,000 m3 of dredged material per year. The goal is to achieve operational status for the facility by the end of 1999.

Integrated sediment decontamination for the New York/New Jersey Harbor

Abstract This lab-scale study examined the biodegradation and removal of nitrilotriacetic acid (NTA) in the subsurface environment, mainly sandy soils. Batch tests indicated that NTA adsorption on the sandy soils played a minor role in its removal in these soils. Removal of NTA was investigated in 50.5 mm i.d. by 1.17 m long soil columns under unsaturated conditions at 15°C. Septic tank effluent containing 20 mg NTA l−1 was dosed to soil columns four times a day at an overall loading rate of 1 gpd ft−2 for a 43-day period. This feed NTA concentration was routinely reduced to a steady-state concentration of 0.1 mg l−1 by passage through the 1.17 m of soil, after an indigenous soil microflora became sufficiently established over a 25 day period. In addition, the results of samples taken on day 21 demonstrated that greater than 75% removal of NTA can be expected in a soil depth of less than one-third meter.

Monitoring for land application of wastewater.

Disposal of dredged material taken from the New York/New Jersey (NY/NJ) Harbor is problematic because of the presence of inorganic and organic contaminants that under revised testing criteria render it unsuitable for return to the ocean or for beneficial reuse. Decontamination of the dredged material followed by beneficial reuse is one attractive component of the overall comprehensive dredged material management plan being developed by the US Army Corps of Engineers New York District. A demonstration program to validate decontamination processes and to bring them into full-scale use in the NY/NJ Harbor is now in progress. Tests of selected technologies have been completed at the bench scale and pilot-scale (2--15 m{sup 3}) levels. Procedures for demonstration testing on scales from 750 m{sup 3} to 75,000 m{sup 3} are being developed with the goal of producing a useable decontamination system by the end of 1999. The overall project goals and present status of the project are reviewed here.

Atmospheric deposition to remote receptors II. Temporal and spatial variation of inorganic ion species in precipitation over the Ilwas-network

In order to ensure adequate performance and warn of potential ground water contamination, land application systems must be monitored. The monitoring system for the Lake George Village Sewage Treatment Plant land application system is described, including suction lsyimeters, observation wells and tracer studies.

Statistical Assessment of a Limnological Data Set

Measurements of SO4−, NO3−, Cl−, NH4+, Ca++, Mg++ Na+, K+, pH, and specific conductance, were made on a precipitation event basis (defined as daily collection) in a 4 to 7 site network which operated for 45 mo in the Adirondack Park of New York State. Three of the seven sites (one in each of three watersheds) operated for the entire study period to provide a temporal record which is spatially resolved over an intersite distance of 30 km (or less). Species concentrations received by the three watersheds were quite similar. The highest H+ and S04− ion concentrations were observed during summer periods and N03 was found to be relatively invariant. Segregation by precipitation type indicated that the SO4/NO3 in winter rain was much larger than in snow. More than 50% of the total loading of major ions (H, NH4, Ca, SO4, NO3) to these watersheds occurred during a 4 mo period, May–September. Loading to one of the watersheds, Sagamore, averaged approximately 20% less than to the two watersheds, Panther and Woods.

Growth of Selenastrum capricornutum in natural waters augmented with detergent products in wastewaters

Abstract In a study of Wisconsin Lakes, to examine the effects upon water quality of imposition of a ban on detergent phosphorus, the design protocol employed the concept of test lakes and reference lakes. a pairing was made of each test lake with a reference lake having as many similar characteristics as possible with the test lake except for a loading of phosphorus from municipal wastewater effluent or septic tank seepage. the responses measured for each lake were physical, chemical and biological in nature. Measurements were taken both before and after imposition of the ban. To estimate the potential effect of the ban, three forms of statistical models were used; (i) for each test lake a model using the reference lake variable as a covariate and the ban as a classification variable, (ii) a comprehensive model for all of the lakes combined using the reference lakes as covariates and the test lakes as dummy variables, and (iii) multivariate models providing multiple comparison estimates for pre- and post-ban differences. the advantage to the paired lake approach is the potential for variance reduction, and an examination of this was made for several data sets. in this paper are discussed the comparisons of the modeling procedures as well as estimates of the “ban effects.” Also presented are some of the observed distributional characteristics of the measured responses.

Treatment by Application Onto Land

Abstract A determination of whether the removal of phosphate builders from detergents would modify the ability of domestic secondary treated sewage effluent to stimulate the growth of a test alga ( Selenastrum capricornutum -Printz) in receiving waters alone and augmented with detergent products was made. The lakes used as sources of test waters were located in northeastern New York State and possessed total phosphorus concentrations ranging from ca. 0.01 to 0.04 mg P1 −1 . The alga experienced stimulation in all three test lake waters from secondary sewage containing detergent with phosphate or detergent without phosphate. A concentration of 60 μg P 1 −1 was sufficient to effect significant algal growth in two of the test waters; however, concentrations ranging up to 110 μg P 1 −1 did not generate such a response in the third test water. This latter result and others suggested that neither phosphorus nor other nutrients from these wastewater additions were the factors fully accountable for the observed response(s).