Environmental Effects of Dredging: Sediment Resuspension by Selected Dredges.

The size and concentration of sediment plumes measured in field studies of selected dredging equipment are described. This information is useful when sediment resuspension must be minimized because of adverse environmental impacts which may include the release of sediment-associated chemical contaminants. The information presented here is intended to supplement and update information given in a previous technical note on the same topic Hayes 1986a. Dredging operations may be required to comply with in-stream State water quality standards based on maximum allowable concentrations of inorganic and organic compounds. Although the majority of materials requiring maintenance dredging In the United States Is uncontaminated, the removal of contaminated sediments estimated to be less than 10 percent of maintenance materials poses a serious problem. Hence, a project to study the potential for contaminant release during dredging has been initiated through a field studies program. The field studies described herein were conducted by the Waterways Experiment Station under the Improvement of Operations and Maintenance Techniques IOMT research program and in cooperation with other US Army Engineer Districts to evaluate the sediment resuspension characteristics of selected dredges McLellan et al., in preparation.