Chemicals of emerging and legacy concern in tissues of white sturgeon (Acipenser transmontanus) in the Columbia River near Hanford, WA (2009)

This dataset contains concentrations of 28 organochlorine pesticides, 6 polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE) flame retardant congeners, 3 dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) compounds, and 15 polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) congeners in brain, muscle, gonad, and liver tissues of white sturgeon (Acipenser transmontanus). All concentrations are reported on a wet-weight basis. Fish samples were collected from the Columbia River directly adjacent to and immediately downstream from the Hanford Site in Washington state. The site was used as a weapons-grade plutonium plant from 1944 to 1987, at which time liquid effluents were discharged directly into the Columbia River and the soil column. Past and present waste leaks from the Hanford Site as well as contaminants from upriver sources (mining, smelting, pulp and paper production, agricultural runoff, atmospheric deposition, and permitted municipal and urban discharges) can accumulate in fish residing in the Columbia River. The sampled sturgeon individuals were used to assess the nature and extent of chemical contamination in the Columbia River at the Hanford Site. Tissues from 16 individual fish were composited into 5 samples to meet the mass requirements for the chemical analyses.