KPLU Local News
(2010-10-05)
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PNNL researcher Jill Brandenberger and her colleague Gary Gill, with one of the eight collection stations they set up around the Puget Sound to measure deposits of atmospheric pollution into the Sound.
Photo courtesy PNNL.
(KPLU) -
When you talk about pollution in Puget Sound, you tend to think of nasty stuff that gets dumped or washed into the water. But one source of contamination is toxic chemicals that literally fall from the sky. A new study shows there's less of that than we thought. But there's also a new threat we're only now starting to look at.
The study found that there's a lot less of the heavy metals - copper, lead, arsenic and such - falling into the Sound from the atmosphere than was thought; anywhere from 90 to 99 percent less. Compounds known as PAHs -- that comes from burning fossil fuels or wood -- showed sharp drops, too. Lead researcher Jill Brandenberger says one reason is that we've never really known just how much of this stuff was coming down in this region.
"There was no study that had looked at this in Puget Sound," she says, "so they had to rely heavily on studies outside of Puget Sound, such as Chesapeake Bay and other areas."
Brandenberger is with the Richland-based Pacific Northwest National Laboratories. She and her team put measuring stations around the Sound. They found that the decrease in most toxics was dramatic everywhere but at the Port of Tacoma, which showed a more modest reduction.
Meanwhile, a newer class of toxics known as PBDEs is showing up. These chemicals are widely used as flame retardants. They've been linked with liver and thyroid problems and may alter brain development. In 2007, Washington became the first state to ban some of these chemicals.
Still, Brandenberger says scientists are starting to measure these compounds in Puget Sound fish.
Brandenberger says the toxics that fall directly into the Sound represent a small fraction of the contamination that's there. A far greater amount comes from the land. How much - and how it gets there - will be the subject of future research.
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