Toxcity concerns rise along the Gulf Coast vacation spots.
Since the BP oil spill in April, obvious concerns have risen over the water quality along Gulf Coast vacation destinations. From Galveston to Gulf Shores to Panama City, residents, businesses, and city government municipalities have been inundating local EPA offices with questions, so much so that the EPA has set up an FAQ page on its website to address some of the those concerns. On the page, the EPA assures visitors that it is actively gathering and testing water, sediment samples in states along the Gulf, as well as monitoring the toxicity in the air.
From the EPA website:
EPA is currently collecting and analyzing water and sediment samples to help states and other federal agencies understand the immediate and long-term impacts of oil contamination along the Gulf coast and to ensure that residents in affected areas have access to information about the quality of their water. The results and the interpretation of all data collected by EPA will be posted to http://www.epa.gov/bpspill as often as it is available.
A quick search of the URL listed above brings one to a page that lists some basic and rudimentary results of recent air, water, and sediment tests.
EPA surface water samples collected July 8 12, 2010, along the Gulf Coast found no compounds exceeding chronic water benchmarks. These results include data for compounds found in dispersants.
Surface water results collected May 21 through July 12, 2010 along the coast of Louisiana were measured for four of the chemicals associated with dispersants (2-Butoxyethanol, 2-Ethylhexyl Alcohol, Propylene Glycol, and Dioctyl sulfosuccinate) but did not detect them.
On July 16, News 5 WKRG TV in Pensacola ran a news story in which the station collected its own water samples along Gulf Shores, Orange, Katrina Key and Dauphin Island beaches. Testing for oil content in the water (rather than dispersants) including areas where no oil was visibly present yielded some surprising results. The tests detected from 16 ppm to 221 ppm for oil in the samples along public beaches results way over the level considered safe. In one test, a sample actually exploded a test container when it was mixed with the testing agent a possible result of high levels of methane, methanol, or the dispersant Corexit.
From WKRG TV in Pensacola.
From the EPA website:
We are aware that oil is present on some beaches and marshes along the coastline and are collecting samples in or close to these areas. It takes several days from the point of collection to posting the data on the website so data posted may not reflect real-time conditions.
**Map of Louisiana sampling locations
EPA results for Water Quality Benchmarks for Aquatic Life**
Acute Benchmark (µg/L)
Chronic Benchmark (µg/L)
Citation
74
8.2
50
None
None
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None
None
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None
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CHEMICAL
CAS Number
Acute Potency Divisor (µg/L)
Chronic Potency Divisor (µg/L)
Citation
PAH Mixtures** (Oil-Related Organic Compounds), µg/L
PAH Mixtures
--
--
Benzene
71-43-2
27,000
5,300
Cyclohexane
110-82-7
1,900
374
Ethylbenzene
100-41-4
4,020
790
Isopropylbenzene
98-82-8
2,140
420
108-38-3
3,560
700
Methylcyclohexane
108-87-2
463
91.0
Toluene
108-88-3
8,140
1,600
Naphthalene
91-20-3
803
193
C1-Naphthalenes
--
340
81.7
C2-Naphthalenes
--
126
30.2
C3-Naphthalenes
--
46.1
11.1
C4-Naphthalenes
--
16.9
4.05
Acenaphthylene
208-96-8
1,280
307
Acenaphthene
83-32-9
232
55.8
Fluorene
86-73-7
164
39.3
C1-Fluorenes
--
58.1
14.0
C2-Fluorenes
--
22.0
5.30
C3-Fluorenes
--
7.99
1.92
Phenanthrene
85-01-8
79.7
19.1
Anthracene
120-12-7
86.1
20.7
--
31.0
7.44
--
13.3
3.20
--
5.24
1.26
--
2.33
0.559
Fluoranthene
206-44-0
29.6
7.11
Pyrene
129-00-0
42.0
10.1
C1-pyrene/fluoranthenes
--
20.3
4.89
Benz(a)anthracene
56-55-3
9.28
2.23
Chrysene
218-01-9
8.49
2.04
--
3.56
0.856
--
2.01
0.483
--
0.699
0.168
--
0.294
0.0706
Perylene
198-55-0
3.75
0.901
Benzo(b)fluoranthene
205-99-2
2.82
0.677
Benzo(k)fluoranthene
207-08-9
2.67
0.642
Benzo(e)pyrene
192-97-2
3.75
0.901
Benzo(a)pyrene
50-32-8
3.98
0.957
Indeno(1,2,3-cd)pyrene
193-39-5
1.14
0.275
Dibenz(a,h) anthracene
53-70-3
1.17
0.282
Benzo(g,h,i)perylene
191-24-2
1.83
0.439