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the apex (Section 5.6). In contrast, municipal wastewater discharges and 

 urban runoff were identified as being responsible for nearly 100 percent 

 of the total and fecal coliform load to the area (Section 6.6). 



Since sewage sludge dumping contributes an insignificant fraction of the 

 total and fecal coliform loading to the area currently closed to shell- 

 fishing and since dumping at the adjacent dredged material dumpsite would 

 continue to contribute coliforms, the 1978 FEIS conclusion is correct 

 that ..."nor would areas closed to shell fishing be reopened in the near 

 future" (EPA 1978, p. 204) if sludge dumping were halted. Furthermore, 

 the closed area represents only a very small portion of the region's 

 available shellfish habitat. 



2.8 BENTHIC IMPACTS 



Press reports during the mid-1970's of a sludge "blanket" at the 12-Mile 

 Site which had migrated to within one-half mile of Long Island bathing 

 beaches have been proven incorrect and technically unsubstantiated 

 (Section 9.8). The New York Bight apex has received large quantities of 

 anthropogenic materials since the beginning of the century, yet, except 

 for the immediate area of the dredge spoil dumpsite, no sediment build-up 

 has been reported for the 37-year period between comprehensive bathy- 

 metric surveys. The 12-Mile Site has, in fact, undergone net erosion 

 as evidenced by surveys conducted since 18^5 (Sections 9.8 and 9.9). 

 Furthermore, it has been shown that sewage sludge is rapidly diluted in 

 the water column and any solids that reach the floor of the Bight become 

 widely dispersed by natural scouring, erosion, and reworking of the shelf 

 floor (Section 9. 5) . 



As a result of the numerous contaminant sources, the New York Bight apex 

 does not contain pristine benthic corrmunities (Section 14,1). Although 

 studies conducted in the topographic lows near the sewage sludge dump- 

 site have generally shown altered benthic meiofaunal and macrofaunal 

 populations, the press reports of a "dead sea" are unquestionably wrong. 

 Research has demonstrated that stable (though, in some areas, modified) 

 benthic communities are established in and around the sewage sludge 

 dumpsite, which is floored by relatively clean sands (Section 14.2). 

 As reported in the 1978 FEIS, the adverse biological effects of dredged 

 material dumping are thought to be far more severe than any caused by 

 dumping of sewage sludge. Furthermore, the 1978 FEIS predicts that, even 

 if the existing 12-Mile Site were abandoned, the benthic community would 

 not revert to a community characteristic of a pristine area in the near 

 future, since numerous larger contaminant inputs would continue. 



Concentrations of metals and contaminant organics in bottom sediments are 

 not uni formally distributed throughout the Mew York Bight, but vary 

 according to bathymetry, sediment grain size, quantity of organic matter 

 present, and proximity to the metropolitan area (Sections 8.2 and 8.5). 

 Within the New York Bight apex, elevated concentrations of both metals 

 and organic materials are generally found in topographic lows (e.g., the 

 Christiaensen Basin and Hudson Shelf Valley), which are near the dredge 

 spoil and sewage sludge dumpsites and which are also within the mixing 

 zone of estuarine inputs where river borne particulates may be deposited 

 (Section 3.5) . 



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