Development of Sediment Quality Objectives for Enclosed Bays and Estuaries
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چکیده
Background The Sediment Quality Objectives (SQO) indirect effects assessment determines whether sediments meet California’s narrative SQO for human health: Pollutants shall not be present in sediments at levels that will bioaccumulate in aquatic life to levels that are harmful to human health. This program determines whether sediment contamination at a site results in an unacceptable health risk to humans because of the consumption of contaminated fish and shellfish (i.e., seafood). Evaluation of the narrative SQO involves two assessment questions: Do pollutant concentrations in seafood pose unacceptable health risks to human consumers? Is sediment contamination at a site a significant contributor to the seafood contamination? These questions are evaluated using two indicators: Consumption Risk and Sediment Contribution. For the consumption risk indicator, seafood contamination measurements from the site are used to determine risk posed to local seafood consumers. For the sediment contribution indicator, the same seafood contamination measurements are compared to estimated seafood concentrations that would result from local site exposure. Estimated site exposure is calculated using a bioaccumulation model. The data collection and bioaccumulation model for the assessment framework are organized based on a dietary guild approach. Eight dietary guilds are defined, and model parameters are developed based on representative species for each dietary guild (SQO Science Team 2010). A Decision Support Tool (DST) has been developed to efficiently perform calculations in the assessment framework.
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Development of Sediment Quality Objectives for California Bays and Estuaries Workplan for: INCORPORATING MULTIPLE LINES OF EVIDENCE INTO SEDIMENT QUALITY OBJECTIVES
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