Sludge Watch ==> PBDE - escapes sewage treatment plants into river, fish, & people

[Maureen Reilly]

Flame retardant among Columbia pollutants





Tuesday, May 08, 2007
BY ERIK ROBINSON, Columbian staff writer

A flame retardant intended to save people is probably harming salmon in the 
Columbia River, according to new research released Monday in Vancouver.

The research, summarized during a scientific conference at the Red Lion 
Hotel at the Quay, revealed the presence of a chemical flame retardant 
within the tissue of juvenile salmon in the river. The level of 
polybrominated diphenyl ethers, commonly known as PBDEs, in Columbia River 
salmon far exceeds levels found within fish swimming near downtown Seattle.

Scientists have linked PBDEs to neurological damage and thyroid issues in 
rodents, and researchers suspect similar effects in aquatic life.

The common fire-suppression compound is an example of emerging contaminants 
afflicting the river.

Like pharmaceuticals and other increasingly common pollutants that find 
their way through wastewater treatment plants and into the environment, 
PBDEs won't kill a salmon outright. It may just make them dumber.

"If a predator comes, they may not get out of the way," said ­Lyndal 
Johnson, a zoologist with the Northwest Fisheries Science Center in Seattle. 
"They wouldn't be able to find prey as effectively."

The Environmental Protection Agency last year placed cleanup of the Columbia 
on a par with six other major waterways in the country, so scientists are 
focusing more attention on toxic pollutants in the river.


Uncovering new layers

In some ways, the river is cleaner since the days when industrial pipes 
dumped pollutants unfettered by laws such as the Clean Water Act of 1972.

"What we're finding now is the stuff you can't see," said ­Jennifer Morace, 
a hydrologist with the U.S. Geological Survey in Portland. "It's the stuff 
we didn't know enough to ask about before that we're seeing now."

Morace teamed with Johnson on the study conducted for the bi-state Lower 
Columbia River Estuary Partnership. The ­research, underwritten by a $2.3 
million grant from the Bonneville Power Administration, will serve as the 
backbone of a report due to be finalized later this summer.

"Much more needs to be done," said Debrah Marriott, director of the estuary 
partnership. Members of the estuary partnership hope to use the report as a 
starting point for continuing to monitor and improve water quality in the 
Columbia, a huge water body that drains an area the size of France.

Johnson and Morace also found so-called "legacy" pollutants, production of 
which has been banned in the United States since the 1970s. The pesticide 
DDT and polychlorinated biphenyls, used as an industrial lubricant, both 
appeared in fish tissue but their concentration appears to be declining in 
the water.

PCBs don't readily break down in the environment.

A small and relatively safe amount lay suspended in the air, water or 
sediment backed up against hydroelectric dams. A tiny bottom-dwelling 
critter acts like a biological sponge, scooping up the toxins and thereby 
concentrating them. A bigger fish eats the critter, and a person ultimately 
eats the fish. Never in this cycle does the toxin simply break down in the 
environment, as is the case with some pollutants.

http://www.columbian.com/news/localNews/05082007news137228.cfm