Research Areas > Contaminants > Contaminants of Emerging Concern > Ecosystems Advisory Panel

Project: Advisory Panel for CECs in Freshwater, Coastal, and Marine Ecosystems

Background and Objectives

Environmental managers are challenged with addressing contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) in the face of limited knowledge about their sources, pervasiveness, and effects. The State of California recently convened a panel of experts to provide recommendations on how current knowledge of CECs should influence their regulatory activities; however, this effort is limited in context and scope to the State’s Recycled Water Policy. Many of the questions to be addressed by the recycled water panel are also relevant to ambient aquatic environments. To leverage that effort, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation partnered with SCCWRP to support a second panel that will provide the State with recommendations on how to best limit the impact of CECs on oceans, estuaries and coastal wetlands. More recently, the State Water Board expanded the panel’s charge to also provide guidance on appropriate monitoring and management strategies for CECs in California’s freshwater ecosystems.

This panel will address the following questions:

1. What are the relative CEC contributions of wastewater and stormwater discharges released into inland freshwater and coastal aquatic systems*?

2. What specific CECs, if any, are most appropriate for monitoring in discharges to inland freshwater and coastal aquatic systems and what are the applicable monitoring methods and detection limits?

3. How are these priority constituents affected by the chemistry, biology, and physics of wastewater treatment processes, discharge into and transport by streams, rivers and estuaries, and mixing and dilution with receiving inland, coastal, and ocean waters?

4. What approaches should be used to assess the biological effects of CECs on sentinel species in inland freshwater and coastal aquatic systems?

5. What is the appropriate design (e.g. media, frequency, locations) for a CEC monitoring and biological effects assessment program given current monitoring methods, and what level of effects will be detectable with such a monitoring program? How does the sensitivity of the monitoring and assessment program vary with investment?

6. What concentrations of CECs or levels of biological effects should trigger further actions and what options should be considered for further actions?

* Inland freshwater systems refer to surface waters including streams, rivers, lakes and reservoirs. Coastal aquatic systems are the territorial marine waters of the State as defined by California law, i.e., those extending up to three miles offshore. This question also refers to releases outside three miles that impact state waters or any ground and surface waters (fresh, brackish, or saline) within state boundaries that are hydrologically connected to the coastal ocean.

Status

This project was initiated in 2009 with anticipated completion in 2012.

Methods

Seven panel members were chosen for their expertise in the following fields: biochemistry, analytical chemistry, civil engineering, coastal/marine resources, epidemiology/risk assessment, ecotoxicology, and human health toxicology. This panel will review the scientific literature regarding CECs in aquatic systems, and hold several meetings to discuss how to answer the key questions. The project also allows for some additional data collection and analysis as needed to assist the expert panel in filling any data gaps. The knowledge gleaned through this effort will be synthesized into written recommendations for the management community.

Calendar

Partners

This project is being conducted in collaboration with the Packard Foundation, the State Water Resources Control Board, and panel members (below), with stakeholder input from a variety of public and private entities.

Panel Members:

• Dr. Paul Anderson - Human Health Toxicologist
• Dr. Geoff Scott - Coastal/Marine Resources
• Dr. Nancy Denslow - Biochemist
• Dr. Jörg Drewes - Civil Engineer
• Dr. Adam Olivieri - Epidemiologist/Risk Assessor
• Dr. Daniel Schlenk - Environmental Toxicologist
• Dr. Shane Snyder - Analytical Chemist

Stakeholder Advisors:

• Chris Crompton (California Stormwater Quality Association)
• Jim Colston (Tri-TAC)
• Mark Gold (Heal the Bay)
• Amber Mace (Ocean Protection Council)
• Rick Moss (State Water Resources Control Board)
• Linda Sheehan (California Coastkeeper Alliance)