SOURCES OF POLLUTION AND SEDIMENT CONTAMINATION IN NEWARK BAY, NEW-JERSEY

A review of historical water quality and sediment quality data and che mical body burdens in biota reveals significant levels of a wide range of chemicals and water quality stressors throughout the Newark Bay, N ew Jersey estuary. The estuary, which encompasses the Passaic River, H ackensack River, Kill van Kull, and the Arthur Kill, has been heavily impacted by both industrial and urban expansion for more than 200 year s. The available information was sufficient to identify the major sour ces of pollution and the contributions of various metals and organic c hemicals to the aquatic environment. Mass loadings for several chemica ls and water quality parameters were estimated for publicly owned trea tment works (POTWs) and combined sewer overflows (CSOs), industrial wa ste discharged either directly to the estuary or through POTWs, stormw ater runoff, and accidental spills of petroleum products and hazardous chemicals. The recent trend toward regionalized waste treatment syste ms to provide secondary levels of treatment have provided some reducti ons of overall contaminant mass loadings. However, CSOs remain a signi ficant source of untreated waste in the estuary. Additionally, the mag nitude of the major sources relative to the ability of the estuary to absorb and dilute the various waste streams suggests that much more mu st be done to reduce chemical inputs at the source. (C) 1995 Academic Press, Inc.