WaterNews for January 20, 1998

WaterNews is a weekly on-line publication that announces publications, policies, and activities of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Water.

EPA Releases National Inventory of Contaminated Sediments

On January 7, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency released its first-ever national report on the quality of sediments in the nation's rivers and other inland and coastal waterways. The report finds that the majority of watersheds do not pose probable adverse risks but that seven percent of the surveyed watersheds are sufficiently contaminated with toxic pollutants to pose potential risks to people who eat fish from them and to fish and wildlife. The data show that every state has some sediment contamination and that streams, lakes and harbors can be affected. Sites where the highest levels of sediment contamination were measured tend to cluster around larger urban areas and industrial centers and in regions affected by agricultural and urban runoff.

The national inventory of sediment quality, compiled at the request of Congress under the Water Resources Development Act of l992, was prepared in consultation with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the Army Corps of Engineers and other federal, state and local agencies.

Additional information on local contamination is available from EPA's Index of Watershed Indicators on the Internet at http://www.epa.gov/surf/iwi/. Copies of EPA's fact sheet (EPA 823-F-98-001) or the three-volume report: "The Incidence and Severity of Sediment Contamination in Surface Waters of the United States" (EPA 823-R-97-006, EPA 823-R-97-007, and EPA 823-R-97-008) are available from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, National Center for Environmental Publication and Information, 11029 Kenwood Road, Bldg. 5, Cincinnati, Ohio 45242; fax: 1-515-489-8695; e-mail: waterpubs@epamail.epa.gov.

The fact sheet is also available on the Internet at http://www.epa.gov/waterscience/cs/. For more information, please call Elizabeth Southerland at 202-260-3966.

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