47 



Dr. Engler. I certainly would like to add to that. As far as our 

 technology, we are equal to what is being done in Japan and 

 Europe and in some cases exceed their technology significantly and 

 they are seeking our advice. But we pay careful attention to their 

 management techniques as they are doing a very good job of bring- 

 ing all sectors in line and on an information basis in selecting the 

 array of alternatives that should be used in managing this highly 

 contaminated materials. 



However, in most of their ports, they dredge quite a bit less than 

 we do. They dredge quite a bit less than we do nationally. 



Mr. Ortiz. I have another question for you. Dr. Engler, the cost 

 of alternative technologies for the remediation of contaminated 

 sediments is an important issue that you discussed in your testimo- 

 ny. What is the most practical and cost-effective method of manag- 

 ing contaminated sediments? And should additional Federal re- 

 sources be spent in this area? 



Dr. Engler. The immediate and most effective approach is isola- 

 tion of the material because we are talking about huge quantities. 

 300,000 cubic yards, say, in the Port Elizabeth project, is equal to 

 100,000 standard dump trucks, just to place things in perspective. 

 It is a huge quantity. We dredge 300 million cubic yards in Federal 

 projects each year so we are talking large amounts. Isolation in 

 confined disposal facilities such as we have constructed in a 

 number of locations around the country— in fact, half of what we 

 dredge today is placed out of the water in either a confined or an 

 unconfined facility depending on the material. The confinement 

 could occur on land, as an island construction, or in water in 

 borrow-pits, or capped. 



The only long-range solution is to better manage point and non- 

 point source discharges especially on-land Super Fund sites. An ex- 

 ample is one dioxin site is being cleaned to a level a thousand 

 times the level acceptable in reviewing aquatic disposal. So the 

 sediment would be cleaned up at that site to a level that will con- 

 tinue to contaminate the nearby water body. So these areas must 

 be cleaned for the long-term. We must continue research in innova- 

 tive remediation and treatment technologies for the hot spots, for 

 the very highly contaminated materials. 



Mr. Ortiz. Thank you. I just have one more question. This is on 

 behalf of Mr. Saxton who happens to be tied up at another meeting 

 and it is for Dr. Grassle. What is the most important thing we need 

 to focus on to develop management alternatives? 



Mr. Grassle. I think that the— and this reflects on the comments 

 that were just made— I think that management of our estuaries 

 and coastal areas need to be considered in terms of the entire 

 system, in terms of all of the sources of contamination. And as I 

 said before, we need an adequate understanding of sediment com- 

 position and sediment transport for the entire system. We need to 

 get accurate topography. We need to know sediment composition 

 and what the sediment movements are. 



As was already said, we need to be concerned about the hot 

 spots. We need to be concerned about the deposition areas. We 

 need to find out where the erosional sites are, and this isn't simply 

 a problem of dredging and dredge material. It is a problem of man- 

 agement of the various sources of pollution that come into the 



