Evaluation of Contaminant Resuspension Potential during Cap Placement at Two Dissimilar Sites
Publication: Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 132, Issue 4
Abstract
Capping is a common remediation technology for the containment/stabilization of contaminated sediments. During capping activities, clean material is commonly released from a barge at the water surface and falls through the water column to the sediment surface, providing an uncontaminated surface sediment layer. Little information exists on the potential release of in situ contaminated sediments during and after capping operations. This paper focuses on the measured release of contaminants during capping events at Boston Harbor, Mass. (confined aquatic disposal cells for contaminated sediment) and Eagle Harbor, Wash. (creosote-contaminated sediment from a wood treating facility). The water column was sampled during capping events to evaluate whether cap placement resulted in the release of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH)- or polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB)-contaminated sediments at Boston Harbor, or PAH-contaminated sediments at Eagle Harbor. Though results at both sites indicated some contaminant resuspension during capping operations, in general contaminant resuspension was relatively low for all capping events. PCB and PAH concentrations for most samples were in the low range. The most significant releases occurred when previously uncapped sediments were initially capped, and the magnitude of contaminant resuspension decreased with successive capping layers. These results may have important implications regarding sediment cap installation techniques and their potential impacts on water quality. Resuspension during capping may be minimized by placing cap material in lifts, where the first lift provides a uniform layer of clean material using techniques that minimize sediment disturbance and subsequent lifts are placed more aggressively once contaminated sediment is covered.
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Acknowledgments
Special thanks are extended to the Battelle Ocean Sciences Laboratory (Duxbury, Mass.) staff (especially Robert Lizotte and Carole Peven McCarthy) for their contribution to the PAH and PCB analyses and exceptional attention to QA/QC. Thanks also to Dr. Steve Naber (Battelle) for conducting the statistical analyses and to Ms. Deborah Oestreicher for editorial assistance. Funding for this study was provided by the USEPA National Risk Management Research Laboratory (Cincinnati), under Contract No. 68-C7-0008, Work Assignment 4-30.
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Received: Sep 28, 2004
Accepted: Jun 2, 2005
Published online: Apr 1, 2006
Published in print: Apr 2006
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