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Aquatic Risk Assessment of Metals in Sediment from South Florida Canals

A major watershed restoration effort is underway in south Florida, yet there are significant gaps in scientific information on exposure and risks of contaminants to its natural resources. We conducted a two-tier aquatic screening-level ecological risk assessment for metals that were monitored in sediment at 32 sampling sites in south Florida freshwater canals from 1990–2002. For tier 1, the chemicals (or metals) of potential ecological concern (COPECs) were identified as arsenic, cadmium, chromium, copper, lead, nickel and zinc based on their exceedences of Florida sediment quality guidelines at 10 sites. For tier 2, we used a probabilistic risk assessment method to compare distributions of predicted pore water exposure concentrations of seven metal COPECs with distributions of species response data from laboratory toxicity tests to quantify the likelihood of risk. The overlap of pore water concentrations (90th centile for exposure) for metal COPECs and the effects distributions for arthropods (10th centile of LC50s) and all species (10th centile of chronic NOECs) were used as a measure of potential acute and chronic risks, respectively. Arsenic (25%) in the Holey Land tracts, in Broward County north of Everglades National Park (ENP), and chromium (25%) in the C-111 freshwater system, at the east boundary of ENP, were the most frequently detected COPECs in sediment. Antimony (6%), zinc (6%) and lead (5%) were the least frequently detected COPECs in sediment. The 90th centile concentrations for bulk sediment were highest for zinc (at S-178) and lead (at S-176) in the C-111system. The 90th centile concentration for pore water exposure was highest for arsenic in the Holey Land tracts and lowest for cadmium and chromium. The estimated acute 10th centile concentration for effects was lowest for copper and arthropods. The probabilities of pore water exposures of copper exceeding the estimated acute 10th centile concentration from the species sensitivity distributions (SSD) of acute toxicity data (for arthropods) were 57 and 100% for copper at S-177 and S-178 in the C-111 system, respectively. The probability of pore water exposures of copper exceeding the estimated NOEC 10th centile concentration from the SSD of chronic toxicity data (for all species) was 93 and 100% for copper at S-177 and S-178, respectively. Uncertainties in exposure and effects analysis and risk characterization are identified and discussed. The study presents a straightforward approach to estimate exposure and potential risks of metals detected in sediment from south Florida canals.