Development of Procedures for Selecting and Designing Reusable Dredged Material Disposal Sites: final report
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Abstract
Environmental and economic concerns are providing impetus for an evolution in confined disposal site design and management. Some Districts are already experiencing economic pressures on their dredging programs. These pressures are generated by environmental factors - primarily changes in disposal procedures made necessary by legislation protecting surface and groundwater quality, wetlands, shorelines, etc. - and by inefficient conventional disposal practices which have used up most of the prime disposal sites. The reusable disposal site - boasting a long life and producing useful by-products - is the ultimate successor of the conventional site - too frequently short-lived, poorly engineered and operated, and failure-prone. Although this report promotes reusable disposal sites, nonreusable sites of a nonconventional nature are also discussed in detail for those situations where reusable sites are inappropriate or economically unsound. This report presents a logical, step-by-step methodology for site selection and design. The methodology is capable of handling anything from a single disposal site serving a single dredging location to an entire dredging program involving several dredging locations and disposal sites. The methodology identifies pertinent factors - legal, environmental, and technological - which influence selection of candidate disposal sites and determine their suitability as reusable and nonreusable sites. The methodology presents site design and operating recommendations and a preliminary costing procedure to enable the District to evaluate alternative disposal options for each site and to cost modifications of the District's entire dredging program. Numerous numerical examples are provided to assist the reader in applying the procedures to his particular case.