Water Resources Research Act Program

Details for Project ID 2013NJ337B

Detoxification of dioxins in sewers

Institute: New Jersey
Year Established: 2013 Start Date: 2013-03-01 End Date: 2014-02-28
Total Federal Funds: $5,000 Total Non-Federal Funds: $10,001

Principal Investigators: Yashika Dewani, Lisa Rodenburg

Abstract: The proposed work will use existing data to investigate whether dioxins are dechlorinated (and therefore detoxified) by bacteria in sewers. This is important because sewers are accumulators of dioxin pollution from many sources, and dioxins sorb to the solids in the sewer and have a long residence time there. Data from the Contamination Assessment and Reduction Project (CARP) will be used to investigate the dechlorination of dibenzo-p-dioxins and –furans (PCDD/Fs or ‘dioxins’) in the watershed of the New York/New Jersey Harbor. Preliminary investigations utilized CARP data to generate evidence that PCDD/Fs are dechlorinated in sewer systems. The proposed work will expand on this preliminary investigation. The original CARP data set contains information on the concentrations of the 17 2,3,7,8-substituted PCDD/F congeners. However, during the analyses of these 17 congeners, data is also generated to measure other non-2,3,7,8-substituted congeners that could be products of dechlorination. A new data set will be constructed containing concentrations of all of the tetra through octa chlorinated PCDD/F congeners. This will then be analyzed to discern further evidence that PCDD/Fs are dechlorinated in sewers.