Bailey's Creek Pilot Study

In 2009, the first commercially-produced SediMite pellets were applied to a small test plot of PCB-impacted sediments of Bailey's Creek, a brackish intertidal salt marsh system.  Pre- and post-application samples were analyzed for sediment contaminant concentration, carbon content, benthic community, and bioavailable portion of the contaminants using passive samplers and laboratory bioaccumulation assays.

Activated carbon delivered via SediMite was found in the sediments of Bailey's Creek samples collected during the final post-application monitoring event 15 months after application.  The activated carbon had become incorporated to depths of up to 10 cm.  Sediment samples with 1% activated carbon saw porewater PCB concentrations reduced by 60%, while those concentrations in sediments with at least 3% activated carbon were reduced by 96%.  Laboratory bioaccumulation assays using sediments with 5% activated carbon revealed greater than 70% reductions in tissue PCB concentrations over control sediments.

The benthic community samples shown no significant effects to abundance or diversity between pre- and post-application analyses.

This study was supported by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, Superfund Basic Research Program