HEAVY METALS ARE NOT A CONCERN IN THE REMEDIATION OF BANK SEDIMENTS FROM THE MAHONING RIVER IN NORTHEAST OHIO, USA

Screening and confirmatory analyses of bank sediments from the Mahoning River in northeast Ohio, indicate that heavy metal concentrations in the bank sediments should not be considered a problem in remediation alternatives. Screening using x-ray fluorescence and energy dispersive spectroscopy (electron beam) were followed-up by analyses using inductively coupled plasma (ICP-AES) of those metals detected by screening. All methods provided corroborative results.

The samples were obtained by augering through uncontaminated sediments to an underlying blue-gray, noxious stratum deposited during industrial waste discharges that took place between 1900 and 1975. The results were compared with previous work on the contaminated channel sediments taken at the same mileposts.

Metal concentrations in the bank stratum were below regulatory limits. These concentrations in the bank sediments were also lower than their channel sediment counterparts. Consequently, remediation alternatives should not require either the removal of bank sediments or the removal of the riparian vegetation growing in these sediments. Also not required is a program of insitu phytoremediation in the banks to remove the metals.