Use of Sediment Transport Model to Support Remediation in River Oil Spills

To develop an effective remediation and containment strategy for river oil spills, it is important to understand the fate and transport of the oil-contaminated sediment in the river. This paper presents an application of hydrodynamic and sediment transport model as an aid in planning, design, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of future management method in case of an oil spill. The hydrodynamic and sediment transport characteristics of a 40-mile reach of the Kalamazoo River affected by the July 2010 oil spill were modeled using the numerical modeling program Environmental Fluid Dynamic Code (EFDC). The simulations provided a basis for evaluating the potential for sediment and associated submerged oil transport and subsequent deposition with flow events. The sediment transport model was used to assess the efficiency of the sediment trap structures under varied flow conditions and to select their best location and configuration.