Ilektra Drygiannaki, Ph.D., (Illinois) and Giovanna Pagnozzi, Ph.D., (Washington) coauthored “Environmental Impacts of Hurricane Harvey on the Neches-Brakes Bayou River System in Beaumont, Texas” in the November 2022 edition of Environmental Management.

Ilektra and Giovanna’s coauthors were Balaji Rao, Danny Reible, Dimitrios Athanasiou, Helen H. Lou, Renzun Zhao, Jian Fang, Kayleigh Millerick, and Nahirobe Barragan.

Ilektra is a Senior Staff Professional in Geosyntec’s Chicago office. She assesses sediment recontamination due to stormwater and bioaccumulation of contaminated sediments; she also conducts passive sampling and sediment remediation. Ilektra offers experience in remedial investigation, feasibility studies, and remedial design at a variety of sites, including contaminated sediment sites, Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) sites, and former manufactured-gas-plant sites. Additionally, she supports litigation regarding sediment and contaminant fate and transport at CERCLA and other major sediment sites.

Giovanna is a Senior Staff Engineer in Geosyntec’s Seattle office who focuses on remedial investigation as well as on remedial design, sediment amendment, bioremediation, and microbial ecology. She writes work plans, sampling analysis plans, and quality assurance project plans and coordinates and performs field work to assess nature and the extent of contamination in sediment, soil, and groundwater at sediment sites. In addition, she helps assess the chemical stability of contaminants in subsurface sediment, estimate contaminant loads to river sediment from upland sources, and evaluate potential contaminant sources in sediment.

Environmental Management explores the use and conservation of natural resources and the protection of habitats and control of hazards; the journal spans the field of environmental management without regard to traditional disciplinary boundaries. Contributions are drawn from biology, botany, chemistry, climatology, ecology, ecological economics, environmental engineering, fisheries, environmental law, forest sciences, geosciences, information science, public affairs, public health, toxicology, zoology, and more.

Abstract

Hurricane Harvey caused unprecedented floods across large regions of Southeast Texas resulting in several infrastructural issues. One of the notable failures was of a drinking-water-source pump in Beaumont, Texas, that necessitated the emergency use of a temporary pump intake station in the Neches River system. This study examines the environmental consequences of Harvey-induced flooding in the Neches River system by focusing on sensitive locations, including a Superfund site (International Creosoting) adjacent to the temporary pump intake. Post-Harvey water samples showed a greater-than-two-orders-of-magnitude increase in polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) about 3 weeks after Harvey adjacent to Superfund site and the temporary water pump intake, which by that time was no longer in use. The organic-carbon-normalized PAH measurements in the heavily contaminated water samples from both locations agreed well with surficial soil and sediment samples collected at the east bank adjacent to the site. Furthermore, molecular diagnostic ratios of select PAHs supported the contribution of PAHs from the site into the surface waters. PAH measurements were consistent with sediment resuspension by floodwaters that were initially diluted by large flows but became more significant as the flood subsided. Overall, data showed that flooding could cause high levels of contamination weeks after the initial flooding event, with the potential for cascading risks through the mobilization of pollutants from source areas and impacts to critical water infrastructure systems.

More Information

Learn more about the article: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00267-022-01743-3
Learn more about the journal: https://www.springer.com/journal/267
For consultation regarding bioremediation, contact Ilektra at IDrygiannaki@Geosyntec.com.
Learn more about Ilektra: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ilektra-drygiannaki-phd-9a79a575/
Learn more about Giovanna: https://www.linkedin.com/in/giovanna-pagnozzi-81294561/