Abstract
Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) were measured in 182 sediments from the Huron–Erie Corridor, North America. The median (5–95 percentile) Corridor ∑PBDE concentration was 1.03 ng/g dry wt (0.25–13.48 ng/g dry wt). Dry weight ∑PBDEs were elevated in U.S. waters of the Detroit River (US DR) and lowest in Canadian waters of Lake St. Clair (CA LSC). Sediment total organic carbon (TOC) explained some of the variation in ∑PBDEs, particularly in upstream waterbodies except for the Detroit River where local sources were apparent in the US DR and TOC-dilution occurred in CA DR. Canadian Federal Sediment Quality guidelines were exceeded at 19 stations, 14 occurring in the US DR. ∑Hazard Quotients (∑HQ) had a median (5–95 percentile) Corridor value of 0.46 (ND to 2.27). By strata, 43.2% of US DR stations had ∑HQ’s greater than 1 while 21.3% of US SCR stations exceeded a value of 1.
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Acknowledgments
This work was funded by a Great Lakes Sustainability Fund (Environment Climate Change Canada, Grant No. ARN13-305) grant and Canada-Ontario Agreement funds (Environment Ministry Conservation and Parks, Ontario) to Ken G. Drouillard and Alice Grgicak-Mannion. Additional support was provided by Esri Canada via scholarship support of Mr. Joe Lafontaine and in-kind contributions to GIS software to the University of Windsor.
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Drouillard, K.G., Qian, Y., Lafontaine, J. et al. Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers (PBDEs) in Sediments of the Huron–Erie Corridor. Bull Environ Contam Toxicol 102, 450–456 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00128-019-02581-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00128-019-02581-6