The stated goal of the Duwamish River cleanup is to remove the buildup of harmful chemicals from the river's sediment as well as to monitor and limit future industrial and urban waste discharged into the river. Sewage is the largest contributor to marine pollution and contains a multitude of pathogens, heavy metals and organic compounds (7). The highly organic nature of sewage can also create low oxygen concentrations in water. In addition to chemicals, bacteria and viruses can enter a marine ecosystem through sewage discharge. It has been suggested that some of these pathogens can be transmitted from human waste to marine mammals (7).
Photo from http://www.sealsitters.org/learning/toxic_seals.html
Recontamination
The conclusion of the EPA's cleanup project is not the final stage for the Duwamish River restoration. Monitoring and further steps to curb pollution are needed in order to create a healthier urban-ecosystem environment. An anlysis of 20 sediment remedial projects in which recontamination occured showed a variety of sources can lead to recontamination. These include point sources (industrial and sewage discharge), sediment from outside the contaminated area, runoff (erosion, agriculture), and other sources such as atmospheric deposition (11).
Flesh out the salmon experiment some more. Make clear what your control group, variable group, etc are (I can guess what they are, but it would be nice to have it displayed obviously in front of me.)
ReplyDeleteI don't really think that future monitoring section really fits with this tab. I think the information on sewage could go on the previous tab, or even on current programs. It doesn't detail any specific efforts in making the area better.
ReplyDeleteIt's cool that you proposed two different studies - both very interesting. I think that you could break this page up into two tabs, one that's more about how well the program is going （which I'm curious about now and would like to see more on) and the future concerns, and separate one for your proposed research, just because it's a lot of information for one page!
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