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Oil in the Sea III: Inputs, Fates, and Effects (2003)

Chapter: I Estimating Land-based Sources of Oil in the Sea

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Suggested Citation:"I Estimating Land-based Sources of Oil in the Sea." Transportation Research Board and National Research Council. 2003. Oil in the Sea III: Inputs, Fates, and Effects. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10388.
×

I
Estimating Land-based Sources of Oil in the Sea

Because of the scarcity of available data for estimating land-based loads of oil to the sea from individual sources (i.e., municipal wastewaters, nonrefinery industrial discharge, refinery discharges, urban runoff, river discharges, and ocean dumping), loading estimates presented in this analysis were based on loading from all land-based sources per unit of urban land area. These calculations assumed that most of the contributions of petroleum hydrocarbons to the sea from land-based sources were from urban areas. This approach accounted for loading from all of the sources in the United States and Canada, with the exception of Gulf coast loadings from coastal refineries, which was calculated separately. The overall calculations of hydrocarbon loadings from all land-based sources for the United States and Canada were then extrapolated to other regions of the world to form a world estimate.

METHODOLOGY AND SOURCES OF THE DATA

A review of the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency’s STORET data base revealed oil and grease data for only nine major rivers in the United States, and several of these consisted of very few observations. Even fewer rivers (i.e., Brazos, Delaware, and Trinity) had hydrocarbon data. The dominance of oil and grease data measured using either the Soxhlet extraction method (tot-sxlt) or liquid-liquid extraction (freon-gr) methods in the available STORET data led to the use of measured oil and grease concentrations as the basis for estimates presented in this analysis.

Quantified estimates of oil and grease and petroleum hydrocarbon loadings were made for the United States and Canada. These estimates were made using unit loadings per urban land area. The annual loadings were calculated according to the coastal zones defined in this study, and the overall loadings for the United States and Canada were extrapolated to the world.

For the calculations in the United States and Canada, the land-based sources were divided into two categories: inland basins and coastal basins. It was assumed that inland basins discharged into one of the following major river basins that outlet to the sea along the coast of the United States and Canada (coastal basins were assumed to discharge directly to the sea):

  • Alabama-Tombigbee

  • Altamaha

  • Apalachicola

  • Brazos

  • Colorado (Texas)

  • Columbia

  • Copper (Arkansas)

  • Delaware

  • Hudson

  • James

  • Mississippi

  • Neuse

  • Potomac

  • Rio Grande

  • Roanoke

  • Sabine

  • Sacramento

  • St. Lawrence

  • Santee

  • San Joaquin

  • Saskatchewan

  • Savannah

  • Susitna

  • Susquehanna

  • Trinity

  • Yukon

Suggested Citation:"I Estimating Land-based Sources of Oil in the Sea." Transportation Research Board and National Research Council. 2003. Oil in the Sea III: Inputs, Fates, and Effects. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10388.
×
Calculations for the Inland Rivers of the United States and Canada

The following methodology was used to estimate the loading of oil and grease to the sea from inland river basins in the United States and Canada:

  1. The location of the mouth of each river was determined on a map. These locations were then expanded into regions of interest (generally defined by the latitude and longitude of the lowest U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) gauging station and a radius around that point; see Table I-1) for which water quality data were requested from STORET. Searches were made for all surface water quality data collected within these regions.

    Data for the following parameter codes were then requested from STORET if they were included in the data summaries for the regions:

    • Parameter code 00550: oil-grse tot-sxlt (mg L−1)

    • Parameter code 00552: oil-grse tot-hexn (mg L−1)

    • Parameter code 00556: oil-grse freon-gr (mg L−1)

    • Parameter code 00560: oil-grse freon-ir (mg L−1)

    • Parameter code 03582: oil and grease tot wtr (mg L−1)

    • Parameter code 45501: hydrocarbon ir (mg L−1)

  1. Averages of all reported values in STORET for the parameter codes listed were compiled for each river (Table I-2) with the following assumptions (rivers not shown in Table I-2 did not have any usable oil and grease data):

    • Only ‘ambient’ readings in freshwater rivers were included; this means that values reported for industrial or municipal effluents, nonambient conditions, sediment, and/or ocean/estuary locations were not included in the average.

    • Some values were reported to be ‘off-scale low,’ which meant that the actual value was not known, but was known to be less than the value shown. To calculate our averages, we set these values to one-half their reported value.

    • For those rivers with data in the 1990s, average concentrations for that period were calculated.

  1. An average annual load in tonne yr−1 was calculated for those rivers with reported oil and grease data by using the following formula:

TABLE I-1 Regions Searched for Oil and Grease and Hydrocarbon Data from STORET

River

Latitude

Longitude

Radius (mi)

Alabama-Tombigbee

32º00′00″, 30º00′00″

−87º15′00″, −88º15′00″

See notea

Altamaha

32º31′30″

−81º15′45″

50

Apalachicola

See note b

 

 

Brazos

29º34′56″

−95º45′27″

50

Colorado (TX)

28º58′26″

−96º00′44″

30

Columbia

46º10′55″

−123º10′50″

50

Copper (AK)

61º00′00″

−144º45′00″

50

Delaware

39º30′03″

−75º34′07″

30

Hudson

41º43′18″

−73º56′28″

40

James

37º24′00″

−77º18′00″

50

Mississippi

29º16′26″

−89º21′00″

50

Neuse

35º06′33″

−77º01′59″

50

Potomac

38º55′46″

−77º07′02″

75

Rio Grande

25º52′35″

−97º27′15″

30

Roanoke

35º54′54″

−76º43′22″

70

Sabine

30º18′13″

−93º44′37″

50

Sacramento

37º30′00″, 38º30′00″

−121º00′00″, −123º00′00″

See notea

St. Lawrence

45º00′22″

−74º47′43″

50

Santee

33º14′00″

−79º30′00″

40

San Joaquin

37º30′00″, 38º30′00″

−121º00′00″, −123º00′00″

See notea

Saskatchewan

See noteb

 

 

Savannah

32º31′30″

−81º15′45″

50

Susitna

61º35′00″

−150º22′00″

40

Susquehanna

39º42′00″

−76º15′00″

50

Trinity

29º50′10″

−94º44′57″

30

Yukon

62º45′00″

−164º30′00″

30

NOTES: aRectangular polygons formed by the latitudinal and longitudinal coordinates shown were requested for these rivers; bNo data were requested for the Appalachicola and Saskatchewan Rivers.

Suggested Citation:"I Estimating Land-based Sources of Oil in the Sea." Transportation Research Board and National Research Council. 2003. Oil in the Sea III: Inputs, Fates, and Effects. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10388.
×

TABLE I-2 STORET Data Used to Calculate Average Oil and Grease Concentrations in Major Inland Rivers

River

Station name

Parameter code

# of observations

Date(s) of observations

Average concentration (mg L−1)

Columbia

Columbia River at Bradwood, OR

00550

27

4/24/74−10/17/78

1.80

Delaware

Delaware Rvr-2000 yds up buoy R6M-Marcus Hook

00556

107

5/23/88−12/29/98

6.00

Delaware (1990s)

Delaware Rvr-2000 yds up buoy R6M-Marcus Hook

00556

99

1/22/90−12/29/98

5.80

Hudson

Hudson River below Poughkeepsie, NY

00550

2

6/4/70−9/7/71

60.50

James

Buoy 8 (City of Hopewell)

00556

1

7/20/92

19.30

Mississippi

Mississippi River at Venice, LA

00556

229

10/4/73−11/19/96

1.74

Mississippi (1990s)

Mississippi River at Venice, LA

00556

46

1/11/90−11/19/96

0.84

Neuse

Neuse River at 3 locations

00550

7

6/6/73−6/7/73

0.00

Sabine

Sabine River at Ruliff, TX

00556

45

3/27/74−5/9/78

2.50

Sacramento

Sacramento River at Freeport, CA

00550

4

10/25/91−2/2/92

0.83

Susquehanna

Susquehanna R at Rte 40 bridge

00500

2

8/3/78

0.00

Trinity

Trinity River at Liberty, TX

00550

11

5/4/71−8/31/72

8.18

Equation I-1

Li=ciQi,

where Li= average annual load for river i (tonne yr−1),

ci= average oil and grease concentration for river i (mg L−1),

Qi= average annual flow for river i (m3 yr1),

tonne= 106 g.

The average annual flow (per calendar year) was determined from USGS daily flow data available for each of the rivers at the nearest nontidally influenced station to that of the reported oil and grease data (Table I-3). For calculations of loads using average concentrations in the 1990s only, average annual flows for those rivers were calculated using only daily flow data from the 1990s.

  1. Using data obtained from the U.S. Bureau of the Census (1998), unit loads per urban land area were calculated as follows:

    Equation I-2

    where lai= unit load per urban land area for river i (g m−2 yr),

    Aui= 1996 urban land area for river i (m2).

    The 1996 urban land area in each river basin was determined by using Table I-1 in U.S. Bureau of the Census (1998), which contained land area data for metropolitan areas defined as of June 30, 1996. Metropolitan areas in this table were partitioned into the major river basins identified in Table I-1, coastal areas, the Great Lakes, or areas not discharging to the coast of the United States or Canada (e.g., Great Salt Lake basin). Metropolitan areas contributing urban runoff to the Great Lakes or areas not discharging to the coast of the United States or Canada were not included further in the analysis. It was assumed that oil and grease dis

TABLE I-3 USGS Gages Used to Calculate Average Annual Flows for Major Inland Rivers

River

Station name

Period of record used

Average annual flow (m3 yr−1)

Columbia

14246900: Columbia R at Beaver Army Terminal nr Quincy, Ore

1969, 1992-1997

220,892,000,000

Delaware

01463500: Delaware River at Trenton, NJ

1913-1997

10,441,000,000

Delaware (1990s)

01463500: Delaware River at Trenton, NJ

1990-1997

10,712,000,000

Hudson

01358000: Hudson River at Green Island, NY

1947-1996

12,365,000,000

James

02037500: James River near Richmond, VA

1938-1997

6,209,000,000

Mississippi

07289000: Mississippi River at Vicksburg, MS

1932-1997

537,114,500,000

Mississippi (1990s)

07289000: Mississippi River at Vicksburg, MS

1990-1997

625,760,000,000

Neusea

02089500: Neuse River at Kinston, NC

1983-1997

3,524,394,745

Sabine

08030500: Sabine River nr Ruliff, TX

1960-1997

7,043,181,292

Sacramento

11447650: Sacramento River at Freeport, CA

1949-1997

21,000,000,000

Susquehanna

01578310: Susquehanna River at Conowingo, MD

1968-1997

36,779,000,000

Trinityb

08067000: Trinity River at Liberty, TX

1977, 1979-1986

8,944,000,000

NOTES: aadjusted to Station 02091814 using 1997 data; bmissing flows regressed with Station 08066500: Trinity River at Romayor, TX (y = 0.8559x + 4047.8).

Suggested Citation:"I Estimating Land-based Sources of Oil in the Sea." Transportation Research Board and National Research Council. 2003. Oil in the Sea III: Inputs, Fates, and Effects. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10388.
×

charged to the Great Lakes would be biochemically reduced, or would attach to solids and settle out during the extended residence time in the lakes and would therefore not make it to the ocean. Likewise, closed inland basins such as the Great Salt Lake would not discharge to the sea. (Contact NRC staff to obtain information describing how specific metropolitan areas were classified as contributing to major river basins.)

  1. For the majority of the inland river basins, no usable oil and grease data were available in STORET. In addition, the number of observations for the Hudson, James, Neuse, Sacramento, and Susquehanna rivers was very small (2, 1, 7, 4 and 2, respectively). It was therefore decided to use an alternative procedure based on the unit loads of oil and grease per urban land area and per capita calculated from Steps 1-4 to estimate the contributions of oil and grease from these other river basins. The procedure was as follows:

    1. The unit loads of oil and grease per urban land area calculated from Steps 1-4 were used for the other river basins with the following assumptions:

      • The Hudson and James rivers were assumed to have unit loads of oil and grease per urban land area of 12.22 g m−2 yr−1, the values calculated from 99 observations in the 1990s on the Delaware River. The high unit loadings on the Delaware River are likely due to the highly industrialized nature of the waterway, and the Hudson and James rivers are also very industrialized.

      • It was assumed that Alaskan rivers (i.e., Copper, Susitna, and Yukon rivers) did not contribute significant loads of oil and grease to the ocean.

      • All other rivers for which measured data were not adequate or were unavailable were assumed to have unit loads of oil and grease per urban land area of 1.25 g m−2 yr−1. This value was based on the average annual loading for 1990s data from the Mississippi and Delaware rivers together divided by the urban areas in both basins. Rivers for which this value applied included the Alabama-Tombigbee, Altamaha, Apalachicola, Brazos, Colorado (Texas), Columbia, Neuse, Potomac, Rio Grande, Roanoke, Sabine, Sacramento, St. Lawrence, Santee, San Joaquin, Saskatchewan, Savannah, Susquehanna, and Trinity rivers.

    1. Using data obtained from the U.S. Bureau of the Census (1998) and Statistics Canada (2000), the annual loads per unit land area (Lai) were calculated as follows:

      Equation I-3

      where lai was the unit load for river i as described in Step 5.a. The urban land area, Aui, was calculated in the same manner as described in Step 4 for metropolitan areas in the United States. For metropolitan areas in Canada, Aui was calculated using data from Statistics Canada (2000).

Calculations for the Coastal Zones of the United States and Canada

For the United States, metropolitan areas in U.S. Bureau of the Census (1998) were classified as contributing to coastal basins if they fell within one of the 451 coastal counties defined by Culliton et al. (1990). The individual coastal basin metropolitan areas were then aggregated into the appropriate coastal zones in Figure 1-7. The data for 1997 urban land area for metropolitan areas as of June 30, 1996 (U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1998) were then compiled for each coastal zone. Similarly, data from Statistics Canada (2000) for Canadian metropolitan areas along the coast were grouped into the appropriate coastal zones.

The annual load Lai was calculated for urban areas in each coastal zone i in the United States and Canada using Equation I-3. The unit load per urban land area for coastal zone i, lai, was 12.22 g m−2 yr−1 for coastal zone D, and 1.25 g m−2 yr−1 for all other coastal zones. The unit loads were set at higher values for Coastal Zone D because that is the coastal zone to which the Delaware River discharges. (Contact NRC staff to obtain information describing how specific metropolitan areas were classified as contributing to various coastal zones.)

Because almost one-fourth of the crude oil distillation capacity of the United States is located along the Gulf coast (Radler, 1999), the petroleum refining industry discharges a substantial amount of additional oil and grease to coastal waters in that area. To estimate this contribution, data for oil refineries in Louisiana and Texas (from Radler, 1999) were used to estimate the operating capacity of coastal refineries in these states (Table I-4). The petroleum hydrocarbon discharge was determined by multiplying the operating capacity by an assumed rate of hydrocarbon loss that corresponded to effluent guidelines for these discharges (American Petroleum Institute, National Ocean Industries Association, and Offshore Operators Committee, 2001):

Daily maximum:

6.0 lbs per 1000 barrels of crude produced

Monthly average:

3.2 lbs per 1000 barrels of crude produced

Calculations using each of these guidelines were made, and the average of the two calculations was used as a best estimate of the loadings. This discharge was added to the coastal discharge for coastal zone G.

Suggested Citation:"I Estimating Land-based Sources of Oil in the Sea." Transportation Research Board and National Research Council. 2003. Oil in the Sea III: Inputs, Fates, and Effects. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10388.
×

TABLE I-4 Estimated Petroleum Hydrocarbon Discharge to Gulf Coast from Petroleum Refining Industry

State

No. of Operable Refineries on Coasta

Crude Distillation Capacitya (bbl d−1)

Crude Distillation Capacityb (106 tonne yr−1)

Oil and Grease Discharge—Lowc (tonne yr−1)

Oil and Grease Discharge—Highd (tonne yr−1)

Oil and Grease Discharge—Averagee (tonne yr−1)

Texas

14

2,836,100

125466.7

1,503

2,160

2,817

Louisiana

7

948,105

124210.5

502

722

942

TOTAL

21

3,784,205

 

2,005

2,882

3,759

NOTES: aSOURCE: Radler (1999); b106 tonne yr−1 = 19,000 bbl d−1; cassuming 3.2 lbs of oil and grease are produced per 1000 bbl produced; dassuming 6.0 lbs of oil and grease are produced per 1000 bbl produced; eaverage of low and high estimates.

The total oil and grease loading was determined by adding discharges from inland rivers, urban coastal areas, and the petroleum refinery discharges in the Gulf of Mexico to the appropriate coastal zones.

World Estimates of Oil and Grease

The data used for the calculations of oil and grease loading for North America were not available for other regions of the world. Therefore, a method was needed to extrapolate the North American calculations to the rest of the world. It is widely thought that land-based contributions of oil and grease are due primarily to vehicle operation and maintenance (Bomboi and Hernández, 1991; Fam et al., 1987; Hoffman and Quinn, 1987a, 1987b; Latimer et al., 1990; Latimer and Quinn, 1998; Zeng and Vista, 1997). Thus, oil and grease loading estimates for the world were based on the number of motor vehicles in different regions of the world as reported by World Resources Institute (1998). Oil and grease loading per vehicle in North America (the United States and Canada) was estimated by using Equations I-4 and I-5.

Equation I-4

VEHNA=PNAvehNA=304,078,000×0.72

=218.936,160veh

where VEHNA =

number of vehicles in North America,

PNA =

population of North America (World Resources Institute, 1998),

vehNA =

number of vehicles per capita in North America (World Resources Institute,1998).

Equation I-5

where lNAA =

loading per vehicle in North America based on urban area calculations of total annual load,

LNAA =

annual load of land-based contributions of oil and grease in North America based on urban area calculations (from previous calculations; see Table F-9).

The numbers of vehicles in regions of the world were determined by applying Equation I-4 to regional data in World Resources Institute (1998). These numbers of vehicles were then multiplied by the loading per vehicle in North America obtained from Equation I-5 to obtain a world estimate of loading of oil and grease to the sea via land-based contributions. Because data on actual vehicle usage and maintenance in other countries were unavailable, it was assumed that the loadings of oil and grease per vehicle in North America were representative of oil and grease loadings per vehicle in other parts of the world. This assumption was considered reasonable because, while motor vehicles in other countries of the world are not as well maintained as vehicles in North America and therefore would likely contribute more oil and grease per vehicle while running, motor vehicles are less frequently used in other regions of the world.

Calculations for the Coastal Basins of Mexico

Because of a lack of data regarding urban land area for metropolitan areas in Mexico, the following method was used to calculate the land-based contributions of oil and grease to coastal zones H and I:

  1. Oil and grease loading from Mexico was estimated using Equation I-4 with population and per capita motor vehicle data from World Resources Institute (1998), and then multiplying by the estimated loading per vehicle for the United States and Canada. These calculations yielded a total oil and grease loading from Mexico of 165,801 tonne yr−1.

  2. Metropolitan areas in Mexico with populations of more than 100,000 inhabitants as of 1990 (United Nations, 1998) were partitioned into either coastal zone H or I depending on whether urban drainage from those areas drained to the Gulf of Mexico (zone H) or the Pacific Ocean (zone I). Mexico City and urban areas to the north and east drain to the Grand

Suggested Citation:"I Estimating Land-based Sources of Oil in the Sea." Transportation Research Board and National Research Council. 2003. Oil in the Sea III: Inputs, Fates, and Effects. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10388.
×

Drainage Canal, eventually flowing to the Gulf of Mexico (National Research Council, 1995b), and were therefore included in coastal zone H. (Contact NRC staff to obtain a listing of the urban areas and corresponding 1990 populations in each coastal zone.)

  1. The oil and grease loading calculated in Step 1 was allocated to each coastal zone according to the percentage of the Mexican urban population allocated to that coastal zone. Thus, 65 percent of the total oil and grease loading from Mexico was allocated to coastal zone H, and the rest was allocated to coastal zone I.

Estimates of Petroleum Hydrocarbons and Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons

The land-based loading calculations of oil and grease described thus far were based on available data from the STORET database that was measured using either the Soxhlet extraction method or liquid-liquid extraction method. These methods determine groups of substances with similar physical characteristics on the basis of their common solubility in a specified solvent (American Society for Testing and Materials, 1999). Thus, “oil and grease” as measured by these methods includes not only petroleum hydrocarbons but also other substances, such as lipid material (American Society for Testing and Materials, 1999; Hoffman and Quinn, 1987a). An investigation was done of published literature to determine if quantifications have been made of the amount of petroleum hydrocarbons or polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) in oil and grease. The literature search revealed a scattering of studies that were generally focused on oil and grease data or specific hydrocarbons, but seldom on total hydrocarbons in oil and grease (Table I-5).

Eganhouse and Kaplan’s (1982) study of effluents from wastewater treatment plants in southern California remains the principal study that estimated the proportion of total hydrocarbons in oil and grease. The factor of 0.38 that was applied to oil and grease estimates in the previous National Research Council (1985) report to estimate petroleum hydrocarbon contributions from municipal wastewaters was obtained from the Eganhouse and Kaplan (1982) study. However, wastewater effluent in southern California is not representative of the petroleum hydrocarbon fraction in oil and grease in river water because there are many sources of petroleum hydrocarbons and oil and grease besides municipal wastewaters, the composition of petroleum-derived hydrocarbons varies widely from place to place, and there could be other sources of hydrocarbons such as those produced naturally by aquatic organisms that could be included in oil and grease measurements (Laws, 1993).

New studies were not available that compared concentrations of PAH or total hydrocarbons to oil and grease in water, but Michel (2001) provided data of measured total PAH on the lower Mississippi River in December 2000. These measurements were taken as a result of a spill on the river, but the background measurements of total PAH at three river stations varied from 100 to 156 ng L−1, with an average of 128.3 ng L−1. Using the average oil and grease concentration for the Mississippi River of 0.84 mg L−1 from the STORET data (see Table I-2), the estimated percentage of PAH in oil and grease in the Mississippi River would be about 0.015% based on the average total PAH concentration.

PAH typically constitute 0.1-1% of total petroleum hydrocarbons in oil (Wang et al., 1999b). However, since PAH are fairly soluble in water, they likely constitute a larger portion of total petroleum hydrocarbons in oil in water, so the range was expanded to 0.1-10% of total petroleum hydrocarbons, which was verified with comparisons of relative amounts of measured PAH and total hydrocarbons in water in studies in the literature (Table I-6). Thus, estimates of total petroleum hydrocarbons in the Mississippi River based on the December 2000 average PAH data of Michel (2001) would be from 1280 to 128,000 ng L−1. These estimates, when compared to the measured average oil and grease concentrations in the Mississippi River, are 0.15% to 15% of oil and grease, with a best estimate of 1.5%. The best estimate of total hydrocarbon loading from land-based sources was therefore calculated as 1.5% of the best estimate of oil and grease loading.

RESULTS

The average annual loads of oil and grease discharged to the sea were calculated for those rivers with reported oil and grease data in STORET (Table I-7). These total loads were then normalized to unit loads per urban land area. The final estimates of land-based contributions of oil and grease to the sea via all major inland river basins in the United States and Canada were then determined using the 1990s oil and grease data for the Delaware and Mississippi Rivers (Table I-8) with urban land area data from U.S. Bureau of Census (1998) and Statistics Canada (2000). About two-fifths of the estimated loading in North America was determined from actual measured data in STORET, with the remainder determined using the unit load approach.

The estimates of land-based contributions of oil and grease to the sea from both major inland rivers and coastal areas in the United States and Canada were totaled by coastal basin (Table I-9). Table F-9 also shows calculated values for coastal zones in Mexico, but these loads were not included in the totals for North America (i.e., the United States and Canada). The total loading for North America (3.4 million tonne yr−1) was used to obtain a world estimate of land-based oil and grease loading (9.4 million tonne yr−1; Table I-10). The regional distribution of this loading shows that North America and Europe contribute the majority of land-based oil and grease to the sea.

A factor of 0.015 was applied to the total oil and grease loading to estimate the fraction of hydrocarbons in oil and grease. The estimated worldwide loading of hydrocarbons to

Suggested Citation:"I Estimating Land-based Sources of Oil in the Sea." Transportation Research Board and National Research Council. 2003. Oil in the Sea III: Inputs, Fates, and Effects. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10388.
×

TABLE I-5 Summary of Literature Review for Oil and Grease, Hydrocarbon, and Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon (PAH) Data Due to Land-based Discharges

Citation

Description

Abdullah et al. (1994)

Hydrocarbons (in oil equivalents) in ocean in Peninsular Malaysia

Abdullah et al. (1996)

Oil and grease and hydrocarbons (in oil equivalents) in ocean in Peninsular Malaysia

Baker (1983)

Synthesis of world hydrocarbon inputs

Bamford et al. (1999a)

PAH in the Patapsco River, an urbanized subestuary of the Chesapeake Bay

Bidleman et al. (1990)

Hydrocarbons in South Carolina estuaries

Bomboi and Hernández (1991)

PAH and hydrocarbons in urban runoff in Madrid, Spain

Burns and Saliot (1986)

Synthesis of hydrocarbon budget for Mediterranean Sea

Carey et al. (1990)

Hydrocarbons and PAH in the Mackenzie River, Canada

Cole et al. (1984)

PAH in urban runoff

Connell (1982)

Hydrocarbon budget for estuary near New York, NY

Cross et al. (1987)

PAH and hydrocarbons in coastal Los Angeles, CA

Crunkilton and DeVita (1997)

PAH in Lincoln Creek, WI

DeLeon et al. (1986)

PAH and hydrocarbons in the Mississippi River

Eganhouse and Kaplan (1981)

Hydrocarbons in urban runoff in southern California

Eganhouse et al. (1981)

Hydrocarbons in urban runoff in southern California

Fam et al. (1987)

PAH and hydrocarbons in urban runoff from watersheds in San Francisco Bay, CA

Frankel (1995)

Synthesis of world oil and grease in industrial discharges

Freedman (1989)

Synthesis of hydrocarbon inputs to world’s oceans

Fulton et al. (1993)

PAH in South Carolina estuaries

Gleick (1993)

Synthesis of oil and grease in industrial discharges

Gupta et al. (1981)

Oil and grease in highway runoff at several locations in US; FHWA report

Hall and Anderson (1988)

Hydrocarbons in urban runoff in Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada

Hoffman et al. (1983)

Hydrocarbons in urban runoff in Narragansett Bay, RI

Hoffman et al. (1984)

PAH in urban runoff in RI

Hoffman et al. (1985)

PAH and hydrocarbons in highway runoff in RI

Hoffman and Quinn (1987a, 1987b)

Oil and grease, PAH and hydrocarbons in wastewater treatment plant effluent and urban runoff in combined sewer overflows in RI

Horsfall et al. (1994)

Hydrocarbons in New Calabar River, Nigeria

Hunter et al. (1979)

Hydrocarbons in urban runoff for Philadelphia, PA

Ishaq (1992)

Oil and grease in urban runoff in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Ishaq and Alassar (1999)

Oil and grease in urban runoff in Dharan City, Saudi Arabia

Jensen and Jørgensen (1984)

Synthesis of oil and grease and hydrocarbon inputs to the Baltic Sea

Kneip et al. (1982)

Synthesis of oil and grease and hydrocarbons in nonpoint source pollution to New York Bight

Latimer et al. (1990)

PAH and hydrocarbons in urban runoff in Rhode Island

Latimer and Quinn (1998)

Hydrocarbons in dry weather inputs to Narragansett Bay, RI

Laws (1993)

Synthesis of world hydrocarbon inputs

Levins et al. (1979)

Oil and grease in sewage treatment plant effluents at locations in US; EPA report

Lopes and Dionne (1998)

Synthesis of oil and grease, PAH, and hydrocarbons in highway runoff and urban stormwater

MacKenzie and Hunter (1979)

PAH and hydrocarbons in urban runoff for Philadelphia, PA

Makepeace et al. (1995)

Synthesis of oil and grease and hydrocarbons in urban runoff

Mastran et al. (1994)

PAH in Occoquan Reservoir, VA due to boating activity

McCarthy et al. (1997)

PAH in Slave River, Canada

McFall et al. (1985)

PAH in water column of Lake Pontchartrain, LA

Michael (1982)

Synthesis of oil and grease and hydrocarbon inputs to New York Bight

NOAA (1987)

Oil and grease, PAH and hydrocarbon inputs to Narragansett Bay, RI

NRC (1985)

Synthesis of world oil and grease and hydrocarbon inputs to the ocean

Odokuma and Okpokwasili (1997)

Oil and grease in New Calabar River, Nigeria

OTA (1987)

Synthesis of oil and grease contributions to coastal waters in US

Owe et al. (1982)

Hydrocarbons in urban runoff for Syracuse, NY

Perry and McIntyre (1986)

Oil and grease and PAH in highway runoff near London, UK

Perry and McIntyre (1987)

Oil and grease and PAH in highway runoff near London, UK

Petty et al. (1998)

PAH in Missouri River following flood of 1993

Pham and Proulx (1997)

PAH in Montreal wastewater and St. Lawrence River

Pham et al. (1999)

PAH in Montreal wastewater and St. Lawrence River

Rifai et al. (1993)

Oil and grease inputs to Galveston Bay, TX

Roesner (1982)

Synthesis of oil and grease in urban runoff at various locations in US

Rogers (1994)

Synthesis of oil and grease in combined sewer overflows and urban runoff

Schiff and Stevenson (1996)

Oil and grease in urban runoff in San Diego, CA

Suggested Citation:"I Estimating Land-based Sources of Oil in the Sea." Transportation Research Board and National Research Council. 2003. Oil in the Sea III: Inputs, Fates, and Effects. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10388.
×

Citation

Description

Shaheen (1975)

Oil and grease in dust in Washington, DC area; EPA report

Stenstrom et al. (1984)

Oil and grease in urban runoff in Richmond, CA

Stenstrom et al. (1987)

Oil and grease and PAH in urban runoff in the San Francisco Bay Area, CA

Telang et al. (1981)

Hydrocarbons in the Marmot Basin, Alberta, Canada

Tomlinson et al. (1980)

Oil and grease in combined sewer overflows, storm drains in Seattle, WA; EPA rpt

USEPA (1996)

Synthesis of impaired rivers and streams due to oil and grease pollution

USEPA (1998)

Synthesis of impaired estuaries due to oil and grease pollution

USEPA (1999)

Synthesis of oil and grease in industrial discharges in US

Wakeham (1977)

Hydrocarbon budget for Lake Washington, WA

Walker et al. (1999)

PAH in urban runoff to Passaic River, NJ

Whipple and Hunter (1979)

Hydrocarbons in urban runoff to the Delaware estuary

Yamane et al. (1990)

Hydrocarbons and PAH in stormwater runoff in Tama River Basin, Tokyo, Japan

Yunker and MacDonald (1995)

PAH in the Mackenzie River, Canada

Yunker et al. (1991)

PAH in the Mackenzie River, Canada

Zeng and Vista (1997)

PAH near San Diego, CA

NOTES: NOAA = National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; NRC = National Research Council; OTA = Office of Technology Assessment; USEPA = U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

TABLE I-6 Comparisons of PAH and Total Hydrocarbon Concentrations in Water in Literature

Reference

Description

Total PAH or Aromatics (ng L−1)

Total Hydrocarbons (TH) (ng L−1)

Ratio of PAH:TH

Bomboi and Hernández (1991)

Urban runoff in Madrid, Spain

27,800

1,181,800

0.0235

DeLeon et al. (1986)

Mississippi River

79

435

0.1816

Eganhouse and Kaplan (1981)

Los Angeles River storm runoff (est.)

1,600,000

13,100,000

0.1221

Hunter et al. (1979)

Philadelphia urban runoff

1,120,000

3,690,000

0.3035

Maldonado et al. (1999)

Black Sea

0.045−2.219

1.61−100

0.00045−0.0279

TABLE I-7 Calculated Annual and Unit Loads of Oil and Grease for Major Inland Rivers in North America with STORET Data

River

Land Areaa (m2)

Populationb

Average Annual Load (tonne yr−1)

Unit Load per Urban Land Area (g m−2 yr−1)

Columbia

30,466,548,140

1,263,460

397,606

13.05

Delaware

5,082,592,668

967,893

62,646

12.33

Delaware (1990s)

5,082,592,668

967,893

62,130

12.22

Hudson

21,972,423,133

1,432,124

748,083

34.05

James

7,686,825,713

354,043

119,834

15.59

Mississippi

463,617,454,706

40,383,189

934,579

2.02

Mississippi (1990s)

463,617,454,706

40,383,189

525,638

1.13

Neuse

10,472,875,923

1,162,035

0

0

Sabine

6,964,737,028

374,973

17,608

2.53

Sacramento

30,438,835,267

2,152,519

17,430

0.57

Susquehanna

27,400,261,216

2,788,354

0

0

Trinity

23,581,064,748

4,683,013

73,162

3.10

NOTES: aSource: U.S. Bureau of the Census (1998), Table B-1; includes dry land and land temporarily or partially covered by water; bSource: U.S. Bureau of the Census (1998), Table B-1; based on areas defined as of June 30, 1996.

the sea from land-based sources was therefore 141,000 tonne yr−1 (Table I-11).

A factor of 0.00015 was applied to the total oil and grease loading to estimate the fraction of PAH in oil and grease. The estimated worldwide loading of PAH to the sea from land-based sources was therefore 1,400 tonne yr−1 (Table I-11).

Discussion

The method used to estimate land-based oil and grease, hydrocarbon, and PAH contributions to the sea involved a large degree of uncertainty due to a number of factors, including (but not limited to):

Suggested Citation:"I Estimating Land-based Sources of Oil in the Sea." Transportation Research Board and National Research Council. 2003. Oil in the Sea III: Inputs, Fates, and Effects. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10388.
×

TABLE I-8 Final Estimates of Land-based Contributions of Oil and Grease to the Sea via Major Inland River Basins in North America

River

No. of Observations

Avg. Conc. Oil & Grease, Ci (mg L−1)

Average Annual Flow, Qi (m3 yr−1)

Urban Land Area in Watershed, Aui (m2)

Annual Load, Lai (tonne yr−1) Unit Load per

Urban Land Area, Lai (g m−2 yr−1)a

Calculated from STORET data

Delaware (1990s)

99

5.80b

10.7×109

5.1×109

62,130

12.22

Mississippi (1990s)

46

0.84b

625.8×109

463.6×109

525,638

1.13

Subtotal

 

 

 

468.7×109

587,768

 

Calculated using alternative method

Alabama-Tombigbee

 

 

 

19.8×109

24,890

1.25

Altamaha

 

 

 

5.5×109

6,896

1.25

Apalachicola

 

 

 

21.7×109

27,223

1.25

Brazos

 

 

 

14.4×109

18,039

1.25

Colorado (TX)

 

 

 

14.9×109

18,670

1.25

Columbia

 

 

 

30.5×109

38,206

1.25

Copper

 

 

 

0

0

0

Hudson

 

 

 

22.0×109

268,593

12.22

James

 

 

 

7.7×109

93,964

12.22

Neuse

 

 

 

10.5×109

13,133

1.25

Potomac

 

 

 

2.0×109

2,446

1.25

Rio Grande

 

 

 

43.8×109

54,982

1.25

Roanoke

 

 

 

4.8×109

6,057

1.25

Sabine

 

 

 

7.0×109

8,734

1.25

Sacramento

 

 

 

30.4×109

38,171

1.25

St. Lawrence

 

 

 

19.7×109

24,699

1.25

San Joaquin

 

 

 

46.0×109

57,647

1.25

Santee

 

 

 

26.8×109

33,573

1.25

Saskatchewan

 

 

 

34.7×109

43,542

1.25

Savannah

 

 

 

6.3×109

7,954

1.25

Susitna

 

 

 

0

0

0

Susquehanna

 

 

 

27.4×109

34,361

1.25

Trinity

 

 

 

23.6×109

29,572

1.25

Yukon

 

 

 

0

0

0

Subtotal

 

 

 

419.4×109

851,352

 

Average

 

 

 

 

 

2.68

Total

 

 

 

888.1×109

1,439,352

 

NOTES: aUnit loads shown for alternate method rivers are those used to calculate annual load; bfreon-gr method used to measure oil and grease concentrations.

TABLE I-9 Final Estimates of Land-based Contributions of Oil and Grease to the Sea by Coastal Zones in North America and Mexico

Coastal Zone

Description

Urban Population in Watershed, Pi (1997)

Urban Land Area in Watershed, Aui (m2)

Annual Load, Lai (tonne yr−1)

Unit Load per Urban Land Area, Lai (g m−2 yr−1)a

A

No urban areas

0

0

0

0

B

Coastal

0

0

0

0

Saskatchewan

293.1×103

34.7×109

43,542

1.25

Subtotal

293.1×103

34.7×109

43,542

 

C

Coastal

632.3×103

6.8×109

8,529

1.25

St. Lawrence

5,647.8×103

19.7×109

24,699

1.25

Subtotal

6,280.1×103

26.5×109

33,228

 

D

Coastal 44,

843.3×103

121.7×109

1,487,571

12.22

Delaware

967.9×103

5.1×109

62,130

12.22

Hudson

1,432.1×103

22.0×109

268,593

12.22

James

354.0×103

7.7×109

93,964

12.22

Potomac

99.1×103

2.0×109

2,446

1.25

Susquehanna

2,788.4×103

27.4×109

34,361

1.25

Subtotal

50,484.8×103

185.8×109

1,949,065

 

Suggested Citation:"I Estimating Land-based Sources of Oil in the Sea." Transportation Research Board and National Research Council. 2003. Oil in the Sea III: Inputs, Fates, and Effects. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10388.
×

Coastal Zone

Description

Urban Population in Watershed, Pi (1997)

Urban Land Area in Watershed, Aui (m2)

Annual Load, Lai (tonne yr−1)

Unit Load per Urban Land Area, Lai (g m−2 yr−1)a

E

Coastal

11,839.8×103

79.8×109

100,104

1.25

Altamaha

454.6×103

5.5×109

6,896

1.25

Neuse

1,162.0×103

10.5×109

13,133

1.25

Roanoke

337.1×103

4.8×109

6,057

1.25

Santee

3,198.3×103

26.8×109

33,573

1.25

Savannah

457.2×103

6.3×109

7,954

1.25

Subtotal

17,449.2×103

133.7×109

167,717

 

F

Coastal

5,355.1×103

42.3×109

53,108

1.25

Alabama-Tombigbee

1,601.4×103

19.8×109

24,890

1.25

Apalachicola

4,016.9×103

21.7×109

27,223

1.25

Subtotal

10,973.3×103

83.9×109

105,222

 

G

Coastal

10,127.3×103

75.3×109

94,398

1.25

Gulf coast refineriesb

2,882

Brazos

987.8×103

14.4×109

18,039

1.25

Colorado (TX)

1,173.7×103

14.9×109

18,670

1.25

Mississippi

40,383.2×103

463.6×109

525,638

1.13

Rio Grande

1,410.0×103

43.8×109

54,982

1.25

Sabine

375.0×103

7.0×109

8,734

1.25

Trinity

4,683.0×103

23.6×109

29,572

1.25

Subtotal

59,139.9×103

642.6×109

752,913

 

Hc

Coastal and inland rivers

30,159.2×103

 

108,189

 

I

No urban areas

0

0

0

0

Jc

Coastal and inland rivers

16,060.2×103

57,612

 

 

K

Coastal

18,331.5×103

98.9×109

123,976

1.25

L

Coastal

7,686.2×103

43.3×109

54,349

1.25

Sacramento

2,152.5×103

30.4×109

38,171

1.25

San Joaquin

2,382.3×103

46.0×109

57,647

1.25

Subtotal

12,221.1×103

119.7×109

150,168

 

M

Coastal

5,946.3×103

54.0×109

67,725

1.25

Columbia

1,263.5×103

30.5×109

38,206

1.25

Subtotal

7,209.7×103

84.5×109

105,931

 

N

Coastal

2,136.0×103

3.5×109

4,332

1.25

O

Coastal

869.9×103

1.6×109

1,949

1.25

P

Coastal

251.0×103

4.4×109

5,514

1.25

Copper

0

0

0

0

Susitna

0

0

0

0

Subtotal

251.0×103

4.4×109

5,514

 

Q

Coastal

0

0

0

0

Yukon

0

0

0

0

Totalc

188,277.0×103

1,419.7×109

3,443,557

 

NOTES: aUnit loads shown are those used to calculate corresponding annual load; bSee Table I-4 for calculation of refinery loading; cTotal does not include Coastal Zones in Mexico.

TABLE I-10 World Estimates of Land-based Sources of Oil and Grease to the Sea

Region

Population (WRI 1998)

Motor Vehicles Per Capita (WRI 1998)

Number of Vehicles

Loading per Vehicle (tonne veh−1)

Loading (tonne yr−1)

Africa

778,484,000

0.02

15,569,680

0.01573

244,889

Europe

729,406,000

0.27

196,939,620

0.01573

3,097,582

North America

304,078,000

0.72

218,936,160

0.01573

3,443,557

Central America

130,710,000

0.11

14,378,100

0.01573

226,147

South America

331,889,000

0.09

29,870,010

0.01573

469,813

Asia

3,588,877,000

0.03

107,666,310

0.01573

1,693,439

Oceania

29,460,000

0.43

12,667,800

0.01573

199,247

Total

 

 

 

 

9,374,674

Suggested Citation:"I Estimating Land-based Sources of Oil in the Sea." Transportation Research Board and National Research Council. 2003. Oil in the Sea III: Inputs, Fates, and Effects. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10388.
×

TABLE I-11 Final Estimates of Worldwide Land-based Contributions of Hydrocarbons and Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAH) to the Sea

World Region

Coastal Zone

Description

Hydrocarbons (tonne yr−1)

PAH (tonne yr−1)

North Americaa

A

No urban areas

0

0

B

Coastal

0

0

Saskatchewan

653

7

Subtotal

653

7

C

Coastal

128

1

St. Lawrence

370

4

Subtotal

498

5

D

Coastal

22,314

223

Delaware

932

9

Hudson

4,029

40

James

1,409

14

Potomac

37

0

Susquehanna

515

5

Subtotal

29,236

292

E

Coastal

1,502

15

Altamaha

103

1

Neuse

197

2

Roanoke

91

1

Santee

504

5

Savannah

119

1

Subtotal

2,516

25

F

Coastal

797

8

Alabama-Tombigbee

373

4

Apalachicola

408

4

Subtotal

1,578

16

G

Coastal

1,416

14

Gulf coast refineriesb

43

0

Brazos

271

3

Colorado (TX)

280

3

Mississippi

7,885

79

Rio Grande

825

8

Sabine

131

1

Trinity

444

4

Subtotal

11,294

113

Ha

Coastal and inland rivers

1,623

16

Ia

No urban areas

0

0

J

Coastal and inland rivers

864

9

K

Coastal

1,860

19

L

Coastal

815

8

Sacramento

573

6

San Joaquin

865

9

Subtotal

2,253

23

M

Coastal

1,016

10

Columbia

573

6

Subtotal

1,589

16

N

Coastal

65

1

O

Coastal

29

0

P

Coastal

83

1

Copper

0

0

Susitna

0

0

Subtotal

83

1

Q

Coastal

0

0

Yukon

0

0

Subtotala

51,653

517

Africa

 

 

3,673

37

Europe

 

 

46,464

465

Central America

 

 

3,392

34

South America

 

 

7,047

70

Asia

 

 

25,402

254

Oceania

 

 

2,989

30

TOTAL

 

 

140,620

1,406

NOTES: aSubtotal for North America does not include Coastal Zones in Mexico; bSee Table I-4 for calculation of refinery loading.

Suggested Citation:"I Estimating Land-based Sources of Oil in the Sea." Transportation Research Board and National Research Council. 2003. Oil in the Sea III: Inputs, Fates, and Effects. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10388.
×
  • Lack of data; only nine major rivers in the United States had oil and grease data in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s STORET data base, and several of these consisted of very few observations.

  • Differences in measuring and reporting data; most of the available oil and grease data in STORET was gathered using either the Soxhlet extraction method or the liquid-liquid extraction method. The minimum detection limit (denoted off-scale low in the STORET records) and approach for reporting values measured below the detection limit varied with location and time. For example, the minimum detection limit on the Delaware River was 2 mg L−1 for data reported from 1988-1994, and 5 mg L−1 for data reported after 1994. By comparison, the minimum detection limit on the Mississippi River was 1 mg L−1 for the entire period of record (1973-1996).

  • Adjustment of off-scale low measurements; these values were set to half their reported value even though the actual value was unknown.

  • Estimating the proportion of petroleum-related hydrocarbons and PAH in oil and grease measurements

Quantifying the uncertainty in the estimates presented in this analysis was not possible, but a reasonable estimate of the low and high ranges of the calculated oil and grease values was made by assuming that the data available from the 1990s for the Mississippi and Delaware rivers, respectively, represented the low and high bounds of oil and grease unit loading for the rivers for which STORET data were unavailable in the 1990s, and for coastal zones in North America and the world (Table I-12). Based on these assumptions, the range of worldwide loadings of land-based sources of oil and grease to the sea was 4.5 million−33.3 million tonne yr1, with a best estimate of 9.4 million tonne yr−1. The values shown in Table I-12 also reflect low, best, and high estimates of oil and grease loadings from Gulf coast refineries. Calculations of oil and grease discharges using daily maximum guidelines (6.0 lbs per 1000 barrels of crude produced) were used as a high estimate of these loadings, while calculations using the monthly average guidelines (3.2 lbs per 1000 barrels of crude produced) were used as a low estimate. The average of the two calculations was used as a best estimate of the loadings.

Estimates of total petroleum hydrocarbons in the Mississippi River were based on the December 2000 average PAH data of Michel (2001), the assumption that PAH constitute 0.1%−10% of total petroleum hydrocarbons, and the 1990s’ measured average oil and grease concentration of 0.84 mg L−1. Thus, using the lower bound of PAH fraction in total hydrocarbons, a lower bound for estimated hydrocarbons in oil and grease was 0.15%, while an upper bound of hydrocarbons as 15% of oil and grease was determined assuming PAH constitute 10% of total petroleum hydrocarbons. The final range of estimates of total hydrocarbons were therefore made by assuming that the low estimate corresponded with the low percentage of total hydrocarbons (i.e., 0.15%) in the low estimate of oil and grease loading, the best estimate corresponded with 1.5% of total hydrocarbons in the best estimate of oil and grease loading, and the high estimate corresponded with the high percentage of total hydrocarbons (i.e., 15%) in the high estimate of oil and grease loading (Table I-13). Thus, the range of land-based petroleum hydrocarbon loading to the sea was 6,800−5,000,000 tonne yr−1, with a best estimate of 141,000 tonne yr−1.

The application of the PAH data of Michel (2001) on the Mississippi River involved uncertainties regarding the degree to which that data were representative of distributions of PAH in land-based discharges to the sea via rivers and coastal discharges. Part of this uncertainty arises from the lack of consistent PAH measurements in the water column. A review of STORET and the USGS’ National Water Information Service (NWIS) data revealed less than a dozen measurements of PAH above detection limits on rivers in the United States. Furthermore, reported water column PAH concentrations in the literature were not consistent with respect to the constituents reported, did not use the same measurement methods, and/or did not include particulate and dissolved concentrations of PAH. Nonetheless, literature-reported data and data provided by Baker (2001) on the Susquehanna River indicated that the Michel (2001) data were within a reasonable range for river total PAH concentrations. Thus, the range of the background measurements of total PAH on the Mississippi River by Michel (2001) (i.e., 100 to 156 ng L−1, with an average of 128.3 ng L−1) were compared with the average oil and grease concentration for the Mississippi River of 0.84 mg L−1 to determine the estimated range of PAH in oil and grease as 0.012% to 0.019%, with a best estimate of 0.015%. The low estimate of PAH loading to the sea from land-based sources was therefore estimated as 0.012% of the low estimate of oil and grease loading, and the high PAH loading estimate was calculated as 0.019% of the high estimate of oil and grease loading. The best estimate of PAH loading from land-based sources was calculated using 0.015% of the best estimate of oil and grease loading (Table I-13). The range of PAH loading to the sea from land-based sources was 500−6,300 tonne yr−1, with a best estimate of 1,400 tonne yr−1.

Comparison of Estimates of Land-Based Loading with Other Estimates

The average oil and grease loading of 2.68 g m−2 yr1 estimated in this study (see Table I-8) was comparable to oil and grease loadings estimated for urban areas in other studies (Table I-14). The range of estimates presented in the current analysis (1.13−12.22 g m−2 yr−1) encompassed the estimates of the previous studies. Perry and McIntyre’s (1986) estimate was actually an event-based calculation that should be higher than an annual load. In addition, the estimates by

Suggested Citation:"I Estimating Land-based Sources of Oil in the Sea." Transportation Research Board and National Research Council. 2003. Oil in the Sea III: Inputs, Fates, and Effects. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10388.
×

TABLE I-12 Ranges of Worldwide Land-based Contributions of Oil and Grease to the Sea

 

 

 

Unit Load Based on Urban Area (g m−2 yr−1)

Annual Load (tonne yr−1)

World Region

Coastal Zone

Description

Low

Best Est.

High

Low

Best Est.

High

North Americaa

A

No urban areas

0

0

0

0

0

0

B

Coastal

0

0

0

0

0

0

Saskatchewan

1.13

1.25

12.22

39,367

43,542

424,440

Subtotal

 

 

 

39,367

43,542

424,440

C

Coastal

1.13

1.25

12.22

7,711

8,529

82,137

St. Lawrence

1.13

1.25

12.22

22,330

24,699

240,759

Subtotal

 

 

 

30,041

33,228

323,896

D

Coastal

1.13

12.22

12.22

137,971

1,487,571

1,487,571

Delaware

12.22

12.22

12.22

62,130

62,130

62,130

Hudson

1.13

12.22

12.22

24,912

268,593

268,593

James

1.13

12.22

12.22

8,715

93,964

93,964

Potomac

1.13

1.25

12.22

2,211

2,446

23,843

Susquehanna

1.13

1.25

12.22

31,066

34,361

334,943

Subtotal

 

 

 

267,005

1,949,065

2,271,044

E

Coastal

1.13

1.25

12.22

90,504

100,104

975,790

Altamaha

1.13

1.25

12.22

6,234

6,896

67,218

Neuse

1.13

1.25

12.22

11,874

13,133

128,021

Roanoke

1.13

1.25

12.22

5,476

6,057

59,043

Santee

1.13

1.25

12.22

30,353

33,573

327,262

Savannah

1.13

1.25

12.22

7,191

7,954

77,533

Subtotal

 

 

 

151,633

167,717

1,634,867

F

Coastal

1.13

1.25

12.22

48,015

53,108

517,689

Alabama-Tombigbee

1.13

1.25

12.22

22,503

24,890

242,625

Apalachicola

1.13

1.25

12.22

24,613

27,223

265,366

Subtotal

 

 

 

95,131

105,222

1,025,680

G

Coastal

1.13

1.25

12.22

85,345

94,398

920,166

Gulf coast refineries

2,005

2,882

3,759

Brazos

1.13

1.25

12.22

16,309

18,039

175,838

Colorado (TX)

1.13

1.25

12.22

16,879

18,670

181,989

Mississippi

1.13

1.13

1.13

525,638

525,638

525,638

Rio Grande

1.13

1.25

12.22

49,709

54,982

535,947

Sabine

1.13

1.25

12.22

7,896

8,734

85,137

Trinity

1.13

1.25

12.22

26,736

29,572

288,257

Subtotal

 

 

 

730,517

752,913

2,716,731

Ha

Coastal and inland rivers

 

 

 

52,405

108,189

383,817

I

No urban areas

0

0

0

0

0

0

Ja

Coastal and inland rivers

 

 

 

27,906

57,612

204,387

K

Coastal

1.13

1.25

12.22

112,086

123,976

1,208,486

L

Coastal

1.13

1.25

12.22

49,137

54,349

529,786

Sacramento

1.13

1.25

12.22

34,511

38,171

372,087

San Joaquin

1.13

1.25

12.22

52,118

57,647

561,928

Subtotal

 

 

 

135,767

150,168

1,463,800

M

Coastal

1.13

1.25

12.22

61,230

67,725

660,166

Columbia

1.13

1.25

12.22

34,542

38,206

372,425

Subtotal

 

 

 

95,772

105,931

1,032,591

N

Coastal

1.13

1.25

12.22

3,916

4,332

42,223

O

Coastal

1.13

1.25

12.22

1,762

1,949

19,002

P

Coastal

1.13

1.25

12.22

4,985

5,514

53,746

Copper

0

0

0

0

0

0

Susitna

0

0

0

0

0

0

Subtotal

 

 

 

4,985

5,514

53,746

Q

Coastal

0

0

0

0

0

0

Yukon

0

0

0

0

0

0

Subtotala

 

 

 

1,667,983

3,443,557

12,216,509

Africa

 

 

 

 

 

118,619

244,889

868,779

Europe

 

 

 

 

 

1,500,400

3,097,582

10,989,115

Central America

 

 

 

 

 

109,541

226,147

802,290

South America

 

 

 

 

 

227,567

469,813

1,666,729

Asia

 

 

 

 

 

820,264

1,693,439

6,007,717

Oceania

 

 

 

 

 

96,511

199,247

706,856

TOTAL

 

 

 

 

 

4,540,885

9,374,674

33,257,994

NOTES: aSubtotal for North America does not include Coastal Zones in Mexico.

Suggested Citation:"I Estimating Land-based Sources of Oil in the Sea." Transportation Research Board and National Research Council. 2003. Oil in the Sea III: Inputs, Fates, and Effects. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10388.
×

TABLE I-13 Ranges of Worldwide Land-based Contributions of Hydrocarbons and Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAH) to the Sea

 

 

 

Hydrocarbons (tonne yr−1)

PAH (tonne yr−1)

World Region

Coastal Zone

Description

Low

Best Est.

High

Low

Best Est.

High

North Americaa

A

No urban areas

0

0

0

0

0

0

B

Coastal

0

0

0

0

0

0

Saskatchewan

59

653

63,666

5

7

81

Subtotal

59

653

63,666

5

7

81

C

Coastal

12

128

12,471

1

1

16

St. Lawrence

33

370

36,114

3

4

46

Subtotal

45

498

48,584

4

5

62

D

Coastal

207

22,314

223,136

17

223

283

Delaware

93

932

9,320

7

9

12

Hudson

37

4,029

40,289

3

40

51

James

13

1,409

14,095

1

14

18

Potomac

3

37

3,576

0

0

5

Susquehanna

47

515

50,241

4

5

64

Subtotal

401

29,236

340,657

32

292

431

E

Coastal

136

1,502

149,368

11

15

185

Altamaha

9

103

10,083

1

1

13

Neuse

18

197

19,203

1

2

24

Roanoke

8

91

8,856

1

1

11

Santee

46

504

49,089

4

5

62

Savannah

11

119

11,630

1

1

15

Subtotal

227

2,516

245,230

18

25

311

F

Coastal

72

797

77,653

6

8

98

Alabama-Tombigbee

34

373

36,394

3

4

46

Apalachicola

37

408

39,805

3

4

50

Subtotal

143

1,578

153,852

11

16

195

G

Coastal

128

1,416

138,025

10

14

175

Gulf coast refineries

3

43

564

0

0

1

Brazos

24

271

26,376

2

3

33

Colorado (TX)

25

280

27,298

2

3

35

Mississippi

788

7,885

78,846

63

79

100

Rio Grande

75

825

80,392

6

8

102

Sabine

12

131

12,771

1

1

16

Trinity

40

444

43,239

3

4

55

Subtotal

1,096

11,294

407,510

88

113

516

Ha

Coastal and inland rivers

79

1,623

57,573

6

16

73

I

No urban areas

0

0

0

0

0

0

Ja

Coastal and inland rivers

42

864

30,658

3

9

39

K

Coastal

168

1,860

181,273

13

19

230

L

Coastal

74

815

79,468

6

8

101

Sacramento

52

573

55,813

4

6

71

San Joaquin

78

865

84,289

6

9

107

Subtotal

204

2,253

219,570

16

23

278

M

Coastal

92

1,016

99,025

7

10

125

Columbia

52

573

55,864

4

6

71

Subtotal

144

1,589

159,889

11

16

196

N

Coastal

6

65

6,333

0

1

8

O

Coastal

3

29

2,850

0

0

4

P

Coastal

7

83

8,062

1

1

10

Copper

0

0

0

0

0

0

Susitna

0

0

0

0

0

0

Subtotal

7

83

8,062

1

1

10

Q

Coastal

0

0

0

0

0

0

Yukon

0

0

0

0

0

0

Subtotala

2,502

51,653

1,832,476

200

517

2,321

Africa

 

 

178

3,673

130,317

14

37

165

Europe

 

 

2,251

46,464

1,648,387

180

465

2,088

Central America

 

 

164

3,392

120,343

13

34

152

South America

 

 

341

7,047

250,009

27

70

317

Asia

 

 

1,230

25,402

901,158

98

254

1,141

Oceania

 

 

145

2,989

106,028

12

30

134

TOTAL

 

 

6,811

140,620

4,988,699

545

1,406

6,319

NOTES: aSubtotal for North America does not include Coastal Zones in Mexico.

Suggested Citation:"I Estimating Land-based Sources of Oil in the Sea." Transportation Research Board and National Research Council. 2003. Oil in the Sea III: Inputs, Fates, and Effects. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10388.
×

TABLE I-14 Comparison of Estimated Loading of Oil and Grease in Urban Areas

Location

Unit Load per Urban Land Area (g m−2 yr−1)

Reference

Comments

United States and Canada

2.68

This work

 

Los Angeles River, Calif.

1.28

Eganhouse and Kaplan (1981)

Total hydrocarbons

Narragansett Bay, R. I.

2.13

Hoffman et al. (1983)

Petroleum hydrocarbons

United Kingdom (roadway runoff)

11.016

Perry and McIntyre (1986)

Calculated from oil mass loading of 0.17 kg ha−1 mm of runoff−1 and annual average rainfall of 648 mm

Richmond, Calif.

1.25

Stenstrom et al. (1984)

 

Hoffman et al. (1983) and Eganhouse and Kaplan (1981) were actually for hydrocarbons, which constitute part, but not all, of oil and grease. Thus, the lower loadings calculated in those studies agree nicely with the loading estimate from the current study.

The estimate of total oil and grease loading was also compared with estimates of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) inputs to the sea from land-based sources (Table I-15). Since oil and grease constitutes a small part of DOC, the current estimates of oil and grease loading should be considerably lower than estimates of DOC flux. This was confirmed for published estimates of global contributions of DOC from rivers to oceans, although the current estimates of oil and grease loading were higher on the Delaware River than corresponding published estimates of DOC flux by Leenheer (1982).

The current study’s best estimates of oil and grease loadings to coastal zone G were on the order of 800,000 tonne yr1, which was much greater than the 27,000 tonne yr−1 estimated by the Caribbean Environment Programme (1994) for the Gulf coast of the United States. It is likely that the Caribbean Environment Programme (1994) data included neither the Mississippi River, which accounted for over 500,000 tonne yr−1 of the oil and grease loading in the current study, nor the contributions from Gulf coast refineries. Thus, the corresponding current best estimate was about 10 times greater than the Caribbean Environment Programme (1994) estimate of loading of oil and grease to the Gulf coast.

The calculations of oil and grease loadings presented in this analysis were based on unit loadings per urban land area. Comparison calculations were also made based on unit loadings per capita urban population using 1997 urban populations in the United States obtained from U.S. Bureau of the Census (1998) and 1996 urban populations in Canada from Statistics Canada (2000). These calculations resulted in oil and grease loadings of the same magnitude as calculations based on unit loadings per urban land area (Table I-16).

To test the assumption that the measured oil and grease concentrations used for the current analysis were representative of ambient concentrations in North American rivers, average measured oil and grease concentrations for the 1990s STORET data on the Mississippi and Delaware rivers were compared with a database consisting of all of the 1990s oil and grease measurements gathered from STORET (145 data points) and 704 additional data points from USGS sampling stations on rivers in Louisiana in the 1990s (Table I-17 and Figure I-1). For the Mississippi River and Louisiana sampling, the minimum detection limit was 1 mg L−1, while the minimum detection limit on the Delaware River was either 2 mg L−1 or 5 mg L−1. Measurements reported to be less than the minimum detection limit were assumed to be half of their reported value (i.e., if a measurement was reported as <1 mg L−1, 0.5 mg L−1 was entered in the database).

The comparisons shown in Table I-17 and Figure I-1 indicate that the oil and grease concentrations used for the Mississippi River in this analysis corresponded nicely with the separate measurements in Louisiana by the USGS and hence the overall database. This result was not surprising since a large portion of the Louisiana data were also measured on the Mississippi River. The Delaware River concentrations were higher than the other 1990s data collected, but the high industrialization of that river could account for higher oil and grease discharges. Thus, the oil and grease concentrations obtained from the STORET database were reasonable.

As a further test of the reasonableness of the estimates of land-based loadings of oil and grease presented here, these loads were compared to oil consumption. According to a recent BP Amoco report (BP Amoco, 2000), North America consumed 1047.1 million tonnes of oil in 1999. Assuming that all of the 3.4 million tonne yr−1 of oil and grease estimated in this study as returning to the sea from land-based sources were petroleum-derived, then only about 0.3 percent of consumed oil was returned to the sea from land-based sources. Furthermore, BP Amoco (2000) estimated that the North American annual consumption of oil was broken down as follows:

Gasoline

428.8 million tonne yr−1

Middle Distillates

319.6

Fuel Oil

77.3

Other

221.4

Total

1047.1 million tonne yr−1

Again, assuming that (1) all gasoline products were completely consumed by use (although PAH in urban runoff are

Suggested Citation:"I Estimating Land-based Sources of Oil in the Sea." Transportation Research Board and National Research Council. 2003. Oil in the Sea III: Inputs, Fates, and Effects. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10388.
×

TABLE I-15 Comparison of Published Estimates of Dissolved Organic Carbon (DOC) Inputs from Land-based Sources to Oil and Grease Loadings Estimated in this Study

Reference

Description

Estimated DOC Flux (tonne C yr−1)

Estimated Oil and Grease Loading (tonne yr−1)

Percent of DOC Flux

Degens and Ittekkot (1983)

DOC transported by rivers into ocean

285,000,000

9,374,674

3.29

Degens et al. (1991)

DOC flux from Africa

24,700,000

244,889

0.10

Degens et al. (1991)

DOC flux from Asia

94,000,000

1,693,439

1.80

Degens et al. (1991)

DOC flux from North America

33,800,000

3,443,557

10.19

Degens et al. (1991)

DOC flux from South America

44,200,000

469,813

1.06

Kobak (1988)a

Inflow of organic matter with river runoff

210,000,000

9,374,674

4.46

Leenheer (1982)

DOC flux from Alabama-Tombigbee

537,000

24,890

4.64

Leenheer (1982)

DOC flux from Apalachicola

136,000

27,223

20.02

Leenheer (1982)

DOC flux from Columbia

1,346,000

38,206

2.84

Leenheer (1982)

DOC flux from Delaware

50,000

62,130

124.26

Leenheer (1982)

DOC flux from Mississippi

3,477,000

525,638

15.12

Leenheer (1982)

DOC flux from Potomac

1,070,000

2,446

0.23

Leenheer (1982)

DOC flux from Sacramento

77,000

38,171

49.57

Leenheer (1982)

DOC flux from Susitna

231,000

0

0.00

Leenheer (1982)

DOC flux from Susquehanna

225,000

34,361

15.27

Leenheer (1982)

DOC flux from Yukon

2,411,000

0

0.00

Leenheer (1982)b

DOC flux from United States

10,156,000

3,443,557

33.91

Meybeck (1988)c

DOC export as estimated by morphoclimatic zones

234,200,000

9,374,674

4.00

Pocklington and Tan (1983)

DOC flux from St. Lawrence

1,710,000

24,699

1.44

Schlesinger (1997)

Riverine flux of dissolved organic carbon

400,000,000

9,374,674

2.34

Siegenthaler and Sarmiento (1993)d

River inputs

800,000,000

9,374,674

1.17

Spitzy and Ittekkot (1991)

Global riverine DOC flux

218,000,000

9,374,674

4.30

NOTES: aAs cited in Kagan (1995); bLeenheer (1982) calculation is for US only; calculations in this work are for North America; cAs cited in Spitzy and Ittekkot (1991); dAs cited in McCarthy (2000).

FIGURE I-1 Plot of percent exceedence values for 1990s STORET data (Delaware and Mississippi Rivers), 1990s USGS Louisiana data, and all data combined.

Suggested Citation:"I Estimating Land-based Sources of Oil in the Sea." Transportation Research Board and National Research Council. 2003. Oil in the Sea III: Inputs, Fates, and Effects. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10388.
×

TABLE I-16 Comparison of Estimates of Worldwide Land-based Contributions of Oil and Grease to the Sea Based on Unit Loads per Urban Land Area and Unit Loads per Capita Urban Population

World Region

Coastal Zone

Description

Annual Load Based on Pop. (tonne yr−1)

Annual Load Based on Area (tonne yr−1)

North Americaa

A

No urban areas

0

0

B

Coastal

0

0

Saskatchewan

41,655

43,542

Subtotal

41,655

43,542

C

Coastal

8,987

8,529

St. Lawrence

80,278

24,699

Subtotal

89,265

33,228

D

Coastal

2,878,535

1,487,571

Delaware

62,130

62,130

Hudson

91,929

268,593

James

22,726

93,964

Potomac

1,409

2,446

Susquehanna

39,634

34,361

Subtotal

3,096,364

1,949,065

E

Coastal

168,292

100,104

Altamaha

6,462

6,896

Neuse

16,517

13,133

Roanoke

4,792

6,057

Santee

45,462

33,573

Savannah

6,499

7,954

Subtotal

248,024

167,717

F

Coastal

76,118

53,108

Alabama-Tombigbee

22,762

24,890

Apalachicola

57,096

27,223

Subtotal

155,976

105,222

G

Coastal

143,951

94,398

Gulf coast refineriesb

2,882

2,882

razos

14,040

18,039

Colorado (TX)

16,683

18,670

Mississippi

525,638

525,638

Rio Grande

20,042

54,982

Sabine

5,330

8,734

Trinity

66,565

29,572

Subtotal

795,130

752,913

Ha

Coastal and inland rivers

157,387

108,189

I

No urban areas

0

0

Ja

Coastal and inland rivers

83,810

57,612

K

Coastal

260,566

123,976

L

Coastal

109,253

54,349

Sacramento

30,596

38,171

San Joaquin

33,863

57,647

Subtotal

173,711

150,168

M

Coastal

84,521

67,725

Columbia

17,959

38,206

Subtotal

102,480

105,931

N

Coastal

30,361

4,332

O

Coastal

12,364

1,949

P

Coastal

3,568

5,514

Copper

0

0

Susitna

0

0

Subtotal

3,568

5,514

Q

Coastal

0

0

Yukon

0

0

Subtotala

5,009,464

3,443,557

Africa

 

 

356,249

244,889

Europe

 

 

4,506,162

3,097,582

Central America

 

 

328,984

226,147

South America

 

 

683,454

469,813

Asia

 

 

2,463,506

1,693,439

Oceania

 

 

289,851

199,247

TOTAL

 

 

13,637,670

9,374,694

NOTES: aSubtotal for North America does not include Coastal Zones in Mexico; bSee Table F-4 for calculation of refinery loading.

Suggested Citation:"I Estimating Land-based Sources of Oil in the Sea." Transportation Research Board and National Research Council. 2003. Oil in the Sea III: Inputs, Fates, and Effects. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10388.
×

TABLE I-17 Comparison of STORET Oil and Grease Data Used in this Study with 1990s USGS Oil and Grease Data for Louisiana

Description

Delaware River

Mississippi River

USGS Data

All Data

Statistics

Number of observations

99

46

704

849

Minimum concentration (mg L−1)

1.0

0.5

0.5

0.5

Maximum concentration (mg L−1)

122.7

6

81

122.7

Average concentration (mg L−1)

5.80

0.84

1.27

1.77

Standard deviation (mg L−1)

13.21

0.94

4.65

6.35

Percent exceedence

Mississippi 1990s average = 0.84 mg L−1

100 percent

24.6 percent

21.1 percent

30.4 percent

Delaware 1990s average = 5.80 mg L−1

21.2 percent

2.3 percent

2.6 percent

4.7 percent

automobile exhaust based), and (2) fuel oil was completely consumed (i.e., there was no oily waste discharged by users of fuel oil), then the land-based sources would be derived only from the use of middle distillate fractions that end up on the land surface or in municipal and industrial discharges. Expressing the best estimate of the land-based oil that was returned to the sea as a fraction of the total middle distillate consumption gives a ratio of 3.4/320, or 1.1 percent, which is still a very small percentage.

Table I-18 shows comparisons of the computed land-based loads presented in the current study for North America and other locations with the BP Amoco (2000) data. Note the ratio of land-based sources was very consistent for all countries shown.

The best estimate of petroleum hydrocarbon loading from land-based sources was about 8 times smaller than the best estimate from the National Research Council (1985), and was much smaller than other previous world estimates (Table I-19). Although estimates presented here were considerably different than the studies in Table I-19, the calculations used in this analysis were based on more measured data than in these previous studies, including the National Research Council (1985). The approach used in the current study was also consistent with methods for estimating pollutant loads from urban runoff. The upper range of the current estimates agreed fairly well with previous studies, but the 1990s STORET data suggest that the best estimate may be much lower than previous studies indicated.

Literature-reported data and data provided by Baker (2001) on the Susquehanna River confirmed that the Michel (2001) data were within a reasonable range for river total PAH concentrations (Table I-20). In addition, estimation of river PAH concentrations were made using average annual flows calculated from available flow data (Table I-3) with PAH loadings calculated for corresponding rivers in this study (Table I-13). The average of these calculated concentrations ranged from 242 to 2,900 ng L−1, with a best average concentration of 800 ng L−1 (Table I-21). While this concentration was greater than ambient river concentrations reported by other studies, it represents a conservative estimate of PAH concentrations in river water using the best available data. Furthermore, the calculated concentrations of PAH in the Mississippi River corresponded nicely with the range of total PAH measured by Michel (2001).

TABLE I-18 Comparison of Oil Consumption with Estimated Oil and Grease Loading from Land-based Sources to the Sea

Location

1999 Oil Consumptiona (million tonne yr−1)

Oil and Grease Loading to the Sea from Land-based Sourcesb (million tonne yr−1)

Ratio of Oil and Grease Loading to the Sea to Oil Consumption (percent)

North America

1047.1

3.4

0.3

South and Central America

218.8

0.7

0.3

Europe

755.2

3.1

0.4

Africa

115.5

0.2

0.2

NOTES: aSource: BP Amoco (2000); bCalculated in this study.

Suggested Citation:"I Estimating Land-based Sources of Oil in the Sea." Transportation Research Board and National Research Council. 2003. Oil in the Sea III: Inputs, Fates, and Effects. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10388.
×

TABLE I-19 Comparison of Petroleum Hydrocarbon Loading Estimates from Land-based Sources from this Work and Other Studies

 

 

Hydrocarbon Loading (tonne yr−1)

Reference

Comments

Low

Best Estimate

High

World estimates

Baker (1983)

Petroleum hydrocarbons from municipal wastes, industrial waste, and runoff

700,000

1,400,000

2,800,000

National Research Council (1985)

World estimate of land-based sources

600,000

1,200,000

3,100,000

Van Vleet and Quinn (1978)

Petroleum hydrocarbons from municipal wastes only based on Rhode Island treatment plants

200,000

This work

World estimate of land-based sources

6,800

141,000

5,000,000

Ratio (this work: National Research Council [1985]

 

0.01

0.12

1.61

North American estimates

Eganhouse and Kaplan (1982)

US input of petroleum hydrocarbons based on mass emission rate for wastewater effluent in southern California

120,600

This work

North American estimate of land-based sources

2,500

52,000

1,800,000

TABLE I-20 Comparisons of Total PAH Concentrations in Literature, Baker (2001), and Michel (2001)

Reference

Description

Range or Average Measured Total PAH Concentrations (ng L−1)

Baker (2001)

Susquehanna River, Pennsylvania

17.01−150.81

Bidleman et al. (1990)

Sampit River, South Carolina

6.8

Gustafson and Dickhut (1997a)

Elizabeth River, Virginia

91.4

Gustafson and Dickhut (1997b)

York River, Virginia

29.15

Michel (2001)a

Mississippi River, Louisiana

100−156

Ollivon et al. (1999)

Seine River, France

94.44

Ollivon et al. (1999)

Marne River, France

148.35

aData used in the current study.

TABLE I-21 Estimated Concentrations of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon Concentrations Based on Calculated Loadings

 

 

Estimated Concentration (ng L−1)

River

Annual Flow (106 m3 yr−1)

Low

Best

High

Columbia

220,892

19

26

320

Delaware

10,712

696

870

1,102

Hudson

12,365

242

3,258

4,127

James

6,209

168

2,270

2,875

Mississippia

625,760

101

126

160

Neuse

3,524

404

559

6,902

Sabine

7,043

135

186

2,297

Sacramento

21,000

197

273

3,366

Susquehanna

36,779

101

140

1,730

Trinity

8,944

359

496

6,124

Average

95,323

242

820

2,900

aEstimated oil and grease loading for Mississippi River was the same for low, best and high estimates of PAH loading (see Tables I-12 and I-13).

Suggested Citation:"I Estimating Land-based Sources of Oil in the Sea." Transportation Research Board and National Research Council. 2003. Oil in the Sea III: Inputs, Fates, and Effects. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10388.
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Suggested Citation:"I Estimating Land-based Sources of Oil in the Sea." Transportation Research Board and National Research Council. 2003. Oil in the Sea III: Inputs, Fates, and Effects. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10388.
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Suggested Citation:"I Estimating Land-based Sources of Oil in the Sea." Transportation Research Board and National Research Council. 2003. Oil in the Sea III: Inputs, Fates, and Effects. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10388.
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Suggested Citation:"I Estimating Land-based Sources of Oil in the Sea." Transportation Research Board and National Research Council. 2003. Oil in the Sea III: Inputs, Fates, and Effects. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10388.
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Suggested Citation:"I Estimating Land-based Sources of Oil in the Sea." Transportation Research Board and National Research Council. 2003. Oil in the Sea III: Inputs, Fates, and Effects. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10388.
×
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Suggested Citation:"I Estimating Land-based Sources of Oil in the Sea." Transportation Research Board and National Research Council. 2003. Oil in the Sea III: Inputs, Fates, and Effects. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10388.
×
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Suggested Citation:"I Estimating Land-based Sources of Oil in the Sea." Transportation Research Board and National Research Council. 2003. Oil in the Sea III: Inputs, Fates, and Effects. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10388.
×
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Suggested Citation:"I Estimating Land-based Sources of Oil in the Sea." Transportation Research Board and National Research Council. 2003. Oil in the Sea III: Inputs, Fates, and Effects. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10388.
×
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Suggested Citation:"I Estimating Land-based Sources of Oil in the Sea." Transportation Research Board and National Research Council. 2003. Oil in the Sea III: Inputs, Fates, and Effects. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10388.
×
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Suggested Citation:"I Estimating Land-based Sources of Oil in the Sea." Transportation Research Board and National Research Council. 2003. Oil in the Sea III: Inputs, Fates, and Effects. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10388.
×
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Suggested Citation:"I Estimating Land-based Sources of Oil in the Sea." Transportation Research Board and National Research Council. 2003. Oil in the Sea III: Inputs, Fates, and Effects. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10388.
×
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Suggested Citation:"I Estimating Land-based Sources of Oil in the Sea." Transportation Research Board and National Research Council. 2003. Oil in the Sea III: Inputs, Fates, and Effects. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10388.
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Suggested Citation:"I Estimating Land-based Sources of Oil in the Sea." Transportation Research Board and National Research Council. 2003. Oil in the Sea III: Inputs, Fates, and Effects. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10388.
×
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Suggested Citation:"I Estimating Land-based Sources of Oil in the Sea." Transportation Research Board and National Research Council. 2003. Oil in the Sea III: Inputs, Fates, and Effects. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10388.
×
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Suggested Citation:"I Estimating Land-based Sources of Oil in the Sea." Transportation Research Board and National Research Council. 2003. Oil in the Sea III: Inputs, Fates, and Effects. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10388.
×
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Suggested Citation:"I Estimating Land-based Sources of Oil in the Sea." Transportation Research Board and National Research Council. 2003. Oil in the Sea III: Inputs, Fates, and Effects. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10388.
×
Page 247
Suggested Citation:"I Estimating Land-based Sources of Oil in the Sea." Transportation Research Board and National Research Council. 2003. Oil in the Sea III: Inputs, Fates, and Effects. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10388.
×
Page 248
Suggested Citation:"I Estimating Land-based Sources of Oil in the Sea." Transportation Research Board and National Research Council. 2003. Oil in the Sea III: Inputs, Fates, and Effects. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10388.
×
Page 249
Suggested Citation:"I Estimating Land-based Sources of Oil in the Sea." Transportation Research Board and National Research Council. 2003. Oil in the Sea III: Inputs, Fates, and Effects. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10388.
×
Page 250
Suggested Citation:"I Estimating Land-based Sources of Oil in the Sea." Transportation Research Board and National Research Council. 2003. Oil in the Sea III: Inputs, Fates, and Effects. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10388.
×
Page 251
Suggested Citation:"I Estimating Land-based Sources of Oil in the Sea." Transportation Research Board and National Research Council. 2003. Oil in the Sea III: Inputs, Fates, and Effects. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10388.
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Since the early 1970s, experts have recognized that petroleum pollutants were being discharged in marine waters worldwide, from oil spills, vessel operations, and land-based sources. Public attention to oil spills has forced improvements. Still, a considerable amount of oil is discharged yearly into sensitive coastal environments.

Oil in the Sea provides the best available estimate of oil pollutant discharge into marine waters, including an evaluation of the methods for assessing petroleum load and a discussion about the concerns these loads represent. Featuring close-up looks at the Exxon Valdez spill and other notable events, the book identifies important research questions and makes recommendations for better analysis of—and more effective measures against—pollutant discharge.

The book discusses:

  • Input—where the discharges come from, including the role of two-stroke engines used on recreational craft.
  • Behavior or fate—how oil is affected by processes such as evaporation as it moves through the marine environment.
  • Effects—what we know about the effects of petroleum hydrocarbons on marine organisms and ecosystems.

Providing a needed update on a problem of international importance, this book will be of interest to energy policy makers, industry officials and managers, engineers and researchers, and advocates for the marine environment.

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