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 Sediment Decontamination Technologies and Disposal Alternatives 



Although a sound regulatory and scientific regime to control ocean disposal as 

 well as an understanding of the scope and severity of sediment contamination are 

 important to protecting our coastal waters, it also is vital that we continue to develop 

 methods to decontaminate sediments and find alternative disposal methods. 



EPA's research on sediment decontamination is highly complex and new 

 technologies are still evolving. The Agency's Assessment and Remediation of 

 Contaminated Sediments (ARCS) Program is our principal effort to develop and pilot 

 decontamination methodologies both at bench scale (laboratory) and pilot scale (field) 

 for eventual use on a large scale. ARCS has focussed primarily on decontamination 

 of Great Lakes sediments. 



ARCS, which is administered by the Great Lakes National Program Office, was 

 initiated in response to the 1 987 amendments to the Water Quality Act, and examined 

 several sediment decontamination technologies. The five study sites that were given 

 priority in the authorizing legislation for the ARCS program were primarily 

 contaminated with PCBs, PAHs, and heavy metals. 



Tests have been conducted both in the laboratory and in the field examining the 

 most promising decontamination technologies, although application of these 

 technologies to sediments contaminated with much lower levels of contaminants such 

 as dioxin has yet to be conducted on a meaningful scale. In a broad sense, however, 

 the technologies tested under ARCS that deal with organic contaminants may be 



