Oil in the Sea III: Inputs, Fates, and Effects

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

L_i=c_iQ_i,

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

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

Q_i= average annual flow for river i (m³ yr⁻¹),

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.

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
Neuse^a	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
Trinity^b	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).

Table of Contents

Front Matter R1-R12

1 Introduction 7-18

2 Understanding The Risk 19-64

3 Input of Oil to the Sea 65-88

4 Behavior and Fate of Oil 89-118

5 Biological Effects of Oil Releases 119-184

A Committee and Staff Biographies 185-188

B Definitions and Conversions 189-190

C Natural Seepage of Crude Oil into the Marine Environment 191-192

D Oil and Gas Extraction 193-202

E Inputs of Petroleum Hydrocarbons into the Oceans Due to Transportation Activities 203-218

F Inputs into the Sea from Recreational Marine Vessels 219-220

G Spills from Coastal Facilities 221-222

H Atmospheric Deposition and Air-Sea Exchange of Petroleum Hydrocarbons to the Ocean 223-232

I Estimating Land-based Sources of Oil in the Sea 233-252

J Methods Used To Estimate PAH Loadings to the Marine Environment 253-254

K Regulatory Framework 255-258

Index 259-265