Understanding the physical and environmental consequences of dredged material disposal: history in New England and current perspectives

Thirty-five years of research in New England indicates that ocean disposal of dredged material has minimal environmental impacts when carefully managed. This paper summarizes research efforts and resulting conclusions by the US Army Corps of Engineers, New England District, beginning with the Scientific Report Series and continuing with the Disposal Area Monitoring System (DAMOS). Using a tiered approach to monitoring and a wide range of tools, the DAMOS program has monitored short- and long-term physical and biological effects of disposal at designated disposal sites throughout New England waters. The DAMOS program has also helped develop new techniques for safe ocean disposal of contaminated sediments, including capping and confined aquatic disposal (CAD) cells. Monitoring conducted at many sites in New England and around the world has shown that impacts are typically near-field and short-term. Findings such as these need to be disseminated to the general public, whose perception of dredged material disposal is generally negative and is not strongly rooted in current science.