The work presented herein describes our recent effort in investigating the potential release of PAHs from sediments collected from Houston-Galveston area..... To date no such information is available on the behavior of PAHs in aforementioned water systems. This work was initiated in order to gain a better understanding of the mass transfer of PAHs at the sediment-water interface. In particular, the emphases of this work are to: (1) develop a thermodynamic equilibrium model that describes the extent of PAH exchange between sediment and the overlying water, (2) quantify the kinetic rate of PAH sorption at the water-sediment interfaces and estimate the aqueous flux rate of PAH, (3) elucidate the key factors in contributing elevated PAH concentrations in the aqueous phase.