Great Lakes water quality

Report on Great Lakes Water Quality, Report to the International Joint Commission by the Great Lakes Water Quality Board, Windsor, Ontario, 1987, 236p. 

Konasewich D, Traversy W, Zar H. 1978. Status report on organic and heavy metal contaminants in the Lakes Erie, Michigan, Huron and Superior basins. Great Lakes Water Quality Board. 

Great Lakes Water Quality Board. 1983. An inventory of chemical substances identified in the Great Lakes ecosystem. Vol. 1. Summary Report to the Great Lakes Water Quality Board. Windsor Ontario, Canada 195. 

Great Lakes Water Quality Guidance 40 CFR Parts 9, ... 

IJC. 1989. 1989 Report on Great Lakes water quality. Presented at Hamilton, Ontario, October 1989. Windsor, Ontario International Joint Commission, Great Lakes Water Quality Board. 

The minimum, maximum, mean, and median m-cresol concentrations for 2 unremarked ambient surface water data points are 16.0, 23.0, 19.5, and 16.0 pg/L (STORET 1989). m-Cresol was detected with a frequency of occurrence of 0.9% in surface water (CLPSD 1988). In addition, m-cresol was listed as a contaminant of the St. Joseph River in the Lake Michigan Basin (Great Lakes Water Quality Board 1983). m-Cresol was detected in freshwater samples from Spirit Lake, Washington, on August 7, 1980 at unreported concentrations (McKnight et al. 1982). 

No PBBs were detected in several varieties of fish (carp, white sucker. Northern pike, bullhead, and bass) from the Alma Reservoir, which is upstream from the Michigan Chemical Corporation plant and above a dam that prevents fish from moving upstream (Hesse and Powers 1978). On the other hand, tissue samples from fish collected from the Pine River, 29 miles downstream from the plant, contained up to 1.33 mg PBBs/kg (wet weight in skinless fillets). There was no apparent change in PBB concentrations in fish between 1974 and 1976 (Hesse and Powers 1978). PBBs could be detected in fish from Pine River and other embayments and tributaries of Lake Huron in 1983. PBB concentrations in carp and other sedentary fish from embayments and tributaries of Lake Huron (including Pine River) and Lake Superior were determined (Great Lakes Water Quality Board 1989 Jaffe et al. 1985). PBBs were detected in the concentration range of 15 15,000 g/kg (fat basis) in fish from embayments and tributaries of Lake Huron, but not from Lake Superior. 

Great Lakes Water Quality Board. 1989. Report on the Great Lakes water quality Appendix B-Great Lake surveillance, Vol 1, 2.3-9-2.3-11. 

Zarull MA, Hartig JH, Maynard L (1999) Ecological benefits of contaminated sediment remediation in the Great Lakes basin. Sediment Priority Action Committee, Great Lakes Water Quality Board, International Joint Commission... 

International Joint Commission (1987) Revised Great Lakes water quality agreement of 1978—agreement with annexes and terms of reference, between the United States and Canada signed at Ottawa October 16, 1983 as amended by protocol signed November 18, 1987. International Joint Commission Canada and United States, Windsor... 

The EPA (1994) has reviewed the model and is applying it in its Great Lakes Water Quality Initiative (EPA 1995). The model is available in a self-contained Microsoft Windows-based program which also contains a method for uncertainty analysis by Monte Carlo sim-ulation. This model can be obtained from the Internet web site http / / fas/sfu.ca/rem/era/era.html". 

USEPA, 1994. Great Lakes Water Quality Initiative Technical Support Document. EPA-822-R-94-002. Van der Oost, R., H. Heida, and A. Opperhuizen. 1988. Polychlorinated biphenyl congeners in sediments, plankton, molluscs, crustaceans, and eel in a freshwater lake Implications of using reference chemicals and indicator organisms in bioaccumulation studies. Arch. Environ. Contam. Toxicol. 17 721-729. 

Neither of the nitrophenols was detected in water from Lake Erie and Lake Michigan (Great Lakes Water Quality Board 1983). Based on data from EPA s STORET database since 1980 (to assure better data quality), neither of the nitrophenols was detected in any of the over 800 ambient surface water samples analyzed (Staples et al. 1985). 4-Nitrophenol at a concentration of 0.2 mg/L was detected in the potable water supply of Ames, Iowa. The source of the compound was speculated to be the contamination of well water from the wastes of a coal gas plant after the plant ceased operation around 1930 (EPA 1980). No other detection of either nitrophenol in US. drinking waters was reported. 

The USEPA Great Lakes Water Quality Guidance criteria for PCBs was set at 0.017 ng L 1 in 1995.22 Current data indicate that this criteria is exceeded in all of the lakes, including Lake Superior. The Canadian guideline is 1.0 ng 1 1, and is not exceeded in the open waters of any of the lakes at this time. The strict criteria recently established by the US and the implications for compliance are a topic of current debate. 

US Environmental Protection Agency (1995) Great lakes water quality initiative technical support document for the procedure to determine bioaccumulation factors. Office of Water, EPA-820 - 9-95-005... 

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