Use of Data on Contaminant/Sediment Interactions to Streamline Sediment Assessment and Management

Abstract

Abstract : This report presents successful ways to use biogeochemical characterization data to optimize sediment site assessment and management. Appropriate data will help risk accessors and managers guide, define, negotiate, and comply with current regulatory and U.S. Navy guidance, as well as achieve cost reduction and more effective remedies. In most cases, this report is consistent with the recently published U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Principles for Managing Contaminated Sediment Risks at Hazardous Waste Sites (U.S. EPA, 2002). Sections of this guidance should help manage sediments in line with these principles. As with every issue that is complex in regulatory and technical terms, all steps of the process should be designed and carried out in close collaboration and communication with all parties. This report highlights many successful aspects of contaminated sediment assessment and management. It provides site owners with examples of how to use site- specific data to compare site, background, and regional sediment signatures to address risk, determine responsibility for inputs, rank sites, and prioritize management; to help bridge the gap between remedial investigations and feasibility studies; and to provide site owners with the tools to rapidly determine what sediment management approaches are feasible for contaminated sediments at their sites and to use site data to evaluate, communicate, and negotiate management choices. The approach of this report is to highlight some major uses for data on contaminant/sediment geochemical interactions in the assessment and management of contaminated sediments. It is not an exhaustive review of all potentialities, but it does provide many examples, case studies, and standard operating procedures (SOPs) that should aid Remedial Project Managers (RPMs), risk assessors, and managers in using site data to evaluate, negotiate, and select management strategies.