is the itc incident affecting galveston bay texas a&m scientists analyze initial samplesduring regularly-scheduled sampling march 23 at several sites in galveston bay texas a&m oceanography researchers observed abnormal water conditions; toxicity data from water samples will be available after april 8mar 28 2019(left) the researchers sampling stations (yellow) relative to the itc facility in deer park and texas a&m galveston (magenta) (right) this map shows how water flows down buffalo bayou past itc through the houston shipping channel and out to galveston bay and the gulf of mexico station 20 was the scientists closest possible water sampling location to itc given the us coast guard closure of the houston shipping channel at that time (yellow dotted line) stations 20-22 h1 and 13 showed qualitative evidence of influence from runoff likely from itc including slippery or soapy water texture by touch a shiny surface sheen and/or the presence of foam in surface waters (map courtesy of dr jessica fitzsimmons)texas a&m university department of oceanography researchers observed abnormal water quality conditions in multiple locations in the houston ship channel and northern galveston bay during a regularly-scheduled research cruise march 23 however they will not know whether toxic compounds were in the water until sample analyses are completed in about two weeks this research team has been collecting water and air quality samples quarterly in galveston bay since june 2017 the pre-scheduled march 23 2019 sampling cruise happened to occur after an incident on march 17 at the intercontinental terminals company (itc) deer park facility in which a storage tank caught fire resulting in a large smoke plume the situation developed into further fires with organic compounds breaching containment barriers and flowing as runoff into waters near itc that flow into the houston shipping channel at our station 13 [just south of atkinson island in galveston bay] when our sampling crew retrieved water samples the water left a waxy residue on their hands which indicates the presence of some kind of organic compounds in the water likely derived from the itc runoff said department of oceanography assistant professor dr jessica fitzsimmons who led the cruise as chief scientist since this is our eighth time sampling here in two years we know that the water in galveston bay doesnt usually leave a waxy residue organic compounds are chemicals containing carbon; some organics are toxic while many like soap are non-toxic soap gasoline and petrochemical products are examples of organic compounds the itc storage facility houses organic compounds in large storage tanks particularly petrochemical products she said we dont know exactly what compounds were in the water but we know from the waters texture that organics were present and from their location that these organics had traveled down the houston shipping channel likely from itc all the way to galveston bay beyond the area closed by the us coast guard fitzsimmons said we did not observe any water colored black from oil but we did observe clear compounds appearing as shiny slicks on the surface waters of the bay those are the organic compounds according to an itc press release since march 19 more than 1 100 federal state and local first responders agencies and environmental cleanup contractors have been on the scene and actively assessing booming and continuing to remove product from affected areas initial media reports focused on the air quality concerns from the itc fires but when we saw video of the itc runoff into buffalo bayou while preparing for this sampling trip we knew that water quality concerns needed to be considered as well fitzsimmons saidthe faculty staff and students from texas a&m who attended the march 23 2019 cruise to galveston bay to sample the water sediment and air quality (photo courtesy of jake cox)bucket sampling of foam and a (shiny) surface slick of water in the houston shipping channel near alexander island (photo courtesy of dr jessica fitzsimmons)the texas a&m researchers led by fitzsimmons and including oceanography department head dr shari yvon-lewis and professor dr gerardo gold bouchot collected air and water quality samples aboard the r/v trident a texas a&m galveston-owned ship this ongoing research project is funded by a t3-triad grant from texas a&m as well as a grant from the texas a&m university system chancellors research initiative which funded the ship time thirteen graduate students and seven undergraduate students were on board collecting samples some of whom were at sea for the first time this is invaluable research experience for these students and everyone did an incredible job on saturday constantly staying aware of our surroundings following safety protocols on the frontlines of potential environmental hazards and keeping a watchful eye out for anything unusual in the bay fitzsimmons said the research team processing the air and water quality includes students and staff from the laboratories of drs fitzsimmons yvon-lewis gold-bouchot kathryn shamberger daniel thornton yina liu and terry wade from texas a&m oceanography; dr kung-hui (bella) chu from the zachry department of civil engineering; and drs antonietta quigg jamie steichen and david hala from texas a&m galveston marine biology the research team intends to measure in the coming weeks: n-alkanes pahs pcbs pfas methane ethane halogenated carbon compounds heavy metals including lead isotopes antibiotic resistant genes cytotoxicity phytoplankton response dissolved organic matter ph and carbonate saturation; and a suite of water quality parameters including nutrients oxygen salinity temperature and water clarity by leslie lee '09