Housatonic River

Bedard DL, H van Dort, KA Deweerd (1998) Brominated biphenyls prime extensive microbial reductive deha-logenation of Arochlor 1260 in Housatonic River sediment. Appl Environ Microbiol 64 1786-1795. 

DeWeerd and Bedard [253] investigated novel approaches for enhancing microbial PCB dechlorination in aquatic sediments of the Housatonic River. They reported that PCB dechlorinating microorganisms were activated (i.e., primed) to dechlorinate the PCBs that have persisted for years in these sediments. Several PCB congeners, especially 2,3,4,5,6-pentachlorobiphenyl (23456-CB), 2,3,4,6-tetrachlorobiphenyl (2346-CB), and 2,3,6-trichloro-biphenyl (236-CB), were shown to prime and sustain mefa-dechlorination of Aroclor 1260 in the river sediment, whereas the PCB congener 245-CB primed para-dechlorination of PCBs in the same sediments. 

Eitzer BD. 1993. Comparison of point and nonpoint sources of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and polychlorinated dibenzofurans to sediments of the Housatonic River. Environ Sci Technol 27(8) 1632-1637. 

Custer, Christine M Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center Bioaccumulation and effects of PCBs on tree swallows nesting along the Housatonic River, Massachusetts U.S. EPA, Boston, Massachusetts and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service... 

The tide advances up the Connecticut and the Housatonic Rivers as a progressive wave (Le Lacheur and Sammons, 1932). Tides and circulation in the Thames River are described by Tolderlund (1975). The East River is a tidal straight with most of its tidal prism derived from New York Harbor (Bowman, 1976a). 

A study of Connecticut streams (Turekian, 1971) indicated that the trace metals, cobalt and silver, are maintained at low concentrations in solution as the result of the scavenging action of suspended particles. Even where acid industrial wastes are dumped into the stream, as in the Naugatuck River, which joins the Housatonic River, suspended particles act to lower the dissolved concentrations. We infer from studies involving the behavior of Pb in the Susquehanna River and of Co and Ag in the major Connecticut rivers that the dissolved trace-metal concentration is maintained at low levels in stream water and thus the primary mode of transportation to the estuarine zone is via particles. 

About 15 km to the west of New Haven Harbor the Housatonic River with its heavily polluted tributary, the Naugatuck River, empties into the Sound. (The confluence occurs below the last dam on the Housatonic.) This river supplies a significant amount of trace metals to the adjacent part of Long Island Sound, mainly in particulate form (Turekian, 1971). This contrasts sharply with the Quinniapiac River and demonstrates that the construction of dams is certainly one important factor in inhibiting transfer of metal-polluted sediments to the estuarine zone. 

Fig. 16. Copper concentrations of soft tissues of mussels at sites designated in Fig. 15. The bar labeled LI represents the range of values from the Long Island north shore sites OB, EN, and PJ. The locations designated WB, H, NH, and C are the Whitestone Bridge, Housatonic River, New Haven Harbor, and Connecticut River as shown in Fig. 15. (Data from sources described in text.)...

Imprinted on this feature is the increase in concentration of these trace metals near metal-polluting sources such as the Housatonic River and the East River (in New York). Thus, although the association of trace metals with the fine-grained fraction is established, the complete homogenization of this fraction does not proceed fast enough to obliterate intensive local sources of metals. 

Wong et al. [67] measured the enantiomeric ratios for eight polychlorinated biphenyl enantiomers in aquatic sediments from selected sites throughout the United States. Nonracemic enantiomeric ratios (ERs) for PCBs 91, 95, 132, 136, 149, 174 and 176 have been found in sediment cores from Lake Hartwell. Nonracemic ERs for many of the enantiomers have also been found in riverbed sediment samples from the Hudson and Housatonic Rivers. Patterns in enantiomeric ratios among congeners were consistent with known reductive dechlorination patterns in both river sediment basins. The enantioselectivity of PCB 91 was found to be reversed between the Hudson and Housatonic River sites. Moisey et al. [24] determined the concentrations of a-, and y-hexachlorocyclohexane isomers... 

Sawhney, B.L., C.R. Frink, and W. Glowa. 1981. PCBs in the Housatonic River determination and distribution. Journal of Environmental Quality 10 444-448. 

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