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Sewage Sludge and marine ecology effects off the Coast of

New York, the New York Bight

Since 1924, Manhattan and surrounding areas have been disposing of their municipal sewage sludge in different areas of the New York Bight (Krudge, 1999; Fuhrmann and Dayal, 1982).� The Bight consists of an area that is about 80 to 120 miles offshore of the New York and New Jersey metropolitan area, the most populated coastal area in the United States (Ahmed and Friedman, 1999; Moch and Friedman, 1999; Steimle, 1994; Pearce, 2000).� It is approximately 15,000 square nautical miles (Massa et al., 1996).� Because of the practice of using the area as a dumping ground, the pollutants from the sewage sludge have affected the marine ecology of the New York Bight, and it has become one of the world's most heavily polluted open coastal water bodies (Moch and Friedman, 1999).�

Site Locations

�� Two sites of the New York Bight have been used for sewage sludge disposal exclusively:� the 12-mile site and the 106-mile site/Deepwater Municipal Sludge Dump Site (DMSDS). These two sites were selected primarily for convenience (Hunt et al., 1996b, 3; Krudge, 1999; Draxler et al., 1996).� The 12-mile site is located 12 miles outside of the New York Harbor.� It was used between 1924 and 1987.��

The 106-mile site is located 115 nautical miles from Atlantic City, New Jersey (Draxler et al., 1996b).� It is also known as the Deepwater Municipal Sludge Dump Site, and it was used from 1986 until 1992 (Massa et al., 1996; Ahmed and Friedman, 1999; Fry and Butman, 1991) when it received 42 million (wet) tons of sludge (Albro et. al, 1996; Hunt et. al, 1996c).��It is situated over the continental slope (Churchill and Aikman, 1996; Moch and Friedman, 1999) and part of the Middle Atlantic Bight (Churchill and Aikman, 1996).� The method of transporting sewage sludge is using barges that move along a prescribed path at a speed of 3 miles/s (Churchill and Aikman, 1996).� Some areas were highly affected by the sludge disposal, such as the Station NY6, which is adjacent to the 106-mile site (Stemile, 1994).�

History��

�� The 12-mile site's purpose was to receive sewage sludge from treatment plants in Manhattan, in order to reduce the amount of hypoxia occurring in the Upper New York Harbor.�� In 1961, a small amount of sewage sludge was dumped at the 106-mile site (Fry and Butman, 1991).� In 1970, the United States government closed the Bight to commercial shell fishing (Moch and Friedman, 1999; Draxler et al., 1996a; Hunt et al., 1996b, 4; Hunt et al., 1996a).� Eventually in March 1986, sludge dumping was moved to the deepwater 106-mile site.�� In January 1988, the maximum dumping rate, eight million wet tons (Fry and Butman, 1991; Bothner et al., 1994; Moch and Friedman, 1999; Draxler et al., 1996a; Hunt et al., 1996c), occurred at the 106-mile site. By doing so, it was a prevention of contaminating commercial fishing grounds (Bothner et al., 1994).��

In 1992, all dumping was ceased (Draxler et al., 1996a) due to public concern on the impacts on the marine ecology in the New York Bight (Churchill and Aikman, 1996; Steimle, 1994; Bothner et al., 1994; Sayles et al., 1996; Zdanowicz et al., 1996; Steimle et al., 1996; Munns et al., 1996).� Until 1992, 36 x 106 wet tons had been dumped at 106-mile site (Sayles et al., 1996).

Commercial Uses

�� The New York Bight is an important economic source; it contains surf clams, ocean quahogs, lobsters, crabs and fish.� It also has recreational uses, such as swimming and fishing.� However, the dumping has limited recreational fishing activities (Moch and Friedman, 1999; Steimle, 1994; Pearce, 2000).� The New York Bight also provides access to the New York Harbor, which is one of the most important ports in the world.� But due to the pollutants of the sewage sludge dumping, large ships have great difficulty coming into the harbor (Ahmed and Friedman, 1999; Pearce, 2000).�

Pollution Impacts

�� As a result of the sewage sludge dumping in the New York Bight, inorganic pollutants have accumulated in both the 12-mile and 106-mile site, such as arsenic, cadmium, cobalt, copper, iron, lead, mercury, magnesium, and nickel (Friedman et al., 1999; Symes and Kester, 1985; Hunt et al., 1996b; Hunt et al., 1996a).�� In several stations in the 106-mile site, increases in cadmium and mercury levels have been detected at two- to three-fold to the normal levels (Draxler et al., 1996b).� Also silver has been determined to be elevated at various stations in the New York Bight.� Ag/Al ratios have been measured at five to six times the background levels (Draxler et al., 1996b).

�� Organic pollutants have also been disposed of in the New York Bight (Draxler et al., 1996b; Hunt et al., 1996a).� Such organic pollutants include polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons, high molecular weight and low molecular weight, hexachlorinated biphenyls, and DDT (Draxler et al., 1996b; Hunt et al., 1996c).� The concentrations of DDT range from 2.1 to over 4 ng/g in the 106-mile site (Draxler et al., 1996b).� The concentrations for all types of polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons range from 2 to 200 ng/g (Draxler et al., 1996b).�� When comparing the 12-mile site to the 106-mile site, the 12-mile site is more contaminated than the 106-mile site (Draxler et al., 1996b).

Marine Ecology Impacts

�� Due to the dumping of sewage sludge, the marine ecology in the New York Bight has been altered, particularly concerning fisheries managers (Steimle, 1994).� For over 60 years, the 12-mile site has become rich in organic material and chemical contaminants; this had an effect on marine animals off the coast of New York and New Jersey (Sennefelder et al., 1996).� Also, it has affected the health of fish and other marine animals (Sawyer et al., 1996).�

�� The winter flounder is considered to be an indicator species in the New York Bight area.� It is an abundant fish that is found off the coast of New York (Steimle et al., 1993).� The size of winter flounder was determined to be smaller than usual during the warmer months.� However in the colder months, the larger fish dominated the population.� In terms of the winter flounder's diet, during the warm months, the percentage of empty stomachs peaked (Steimle, 1994).� Some of the winter flounder's prey dominated all of the sites.�� The following species dominated winter flounder diets:� tube-dewelling anemone and small crustaceans (Steimle, 1994; Steimle et al.,1993).�� These results indicate that a continued feeding inhibition in New York Bight area, which is 2 times higher than normal (Steimle,1994).

�� The length of red hake was determined to range between 10 and 34 centimeters.� Unlike winter flounder, there are no seasonal trends of size composition (Steimle, 1994).� Red hake's prey includes the polychaete, shrimp, Atlantic rock crabs, and amphipods.� Sometimes human artifacts are found in red hake's stomachs (Steimle, 1994).� In terms of a feeding inhibition, there were no significant effects found in red hake (Steimle, 1994).� ��

�� Lobsters' sizes are now known to be small due to abnormal growth effects of PCBs (Gadbois et al., 1996) and there is a seasonal cycle in abundance.� The minimal availability occurs in the colder months, whereas, there is a large abundance during the warm months (Steimle, 1994).�� The following prey can be found in the lobsters' stomachs: Atlantic rock crabs and remains of fish.��

�� Sewage sludge dumping has caused lobsters to develop shell disease, where the carapace erodes away (Ziskowski et al., 1996).� The shell is also breaded and bacteria can settle in the carapace, which would cause an infection to occur (Ziskowiski et al., 1996) due to that the gills are exposed. There is a possible influence of the 12-mile site on the lobsters living in the 106-mile site (Ziskowiski et al., 1996).��

�� The disposal of sewage sludge could have caused changes in the diets of New York Bight resident organisms (Steimle, 1994).� It caused ?a substantial change in abundance of disposal-sensitive species in the benthic macrofuanal community (Steimle et al., 1993).�� The species richness of demersal fish in New York Bight is decreasing, which has limited energy availability in the trophic levels of the food web.� By limiting energy in the trophic levels affect the marine ecology because it causes 1) increased competition; 2) reduces species richness; and competitive exclusions (Musick et al., 1996).

�� The sewage sludge has enhanced oxygen consumption (Sayles et al., 1996).� In some cases, the oxygen is considered to be exhausted by 4.5 to 5 cm in half of the oxygen profiles from the New York Bight (Sayles et al., 1996).�

�� Concentrations of metals have been found in fish, especially lantern fish and hatchet fish, and plankton that are residents of the New York Bight (Zdanowicz et al., 1996).� The concentrations of these metals were considered to be higher than outside of the New York Bight (Zdanowicz et al., 1996).� The highest concentrations were detected in the 106-mile site when comparing to the rest of the New York Bight (Zdanowicz et al., 1996).

�� Some other species of fish (eel and blue hake), organic compounds were detected (Steinhauer et al., 1996).� Several of the detected metals were much higher at the 106-mile site than at the Hudson River (Steinhauer et al., 1996).� For instance, arsenic, lead, and mercury concentrations were two- to five-fold when comparing to normal concentrations (Steinhauer et al., 1996).

Conclusion

�� The 12-mile site and106-mile sites have definitely affected the marine ecology of the New York Bight in every way that is possible.� The marine ecology in this area will continue to be affected due to pollutants from sewage sludge dumping from the 1920s until the 1990s.

Literature Cited

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