Maintenance dredging alternatives for estuarine harbors

Worldwide maintenance dredging is a growing concern because of increasing dredging costs and strict environmental constraints, with spoils disposal areas diminishing. The Center for Coastal Studies at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, under past sponsorship of the Naval Facilities Engineering Command and current sponsorship of the Office of Naval Research, has been developing sedimentation control systems as an alternative to maintenance dredging. The key to designing and developing these systems is to understand the physical processes that lead to sedimentation. This paper examines some of these processes responsible for sedimentation in estuarine waterways and briefly discusses the development, use and performance of innovative sediment control systems.