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The report definitively concluded that dredged material "is not confined to 

 the limits of the designated boundaries.'' It recommended shifting the disposal 

 buoy to prevent individual mounds from extending too far up the water column 

 and that a focused, tiered monitoring program be developed to test whether or not 

 dredged material stays within the Mud Dump Site boundaries, whether transport is 

 occurring and whether or not excessive bioaccumulation of contaminants is 

 occurring. 



d. Recent surveys confirm that storms can move material and that 

 substantial amounts of dredged material are not accumulating at the designated 

 disposal site. 



The December Northeaster has proven to be a remarkable test for providing 

 proof that the concerns and warnings expressed by researchers responsible for past 

 field studies were valid. As pan of a "monitoring and management plan" 

 designed by the ACOE and EPA for purposes of studying the disposal and 

 capping of dioxin contaminated sediments, surveys were conducted in early 

 November 1992 of the lower third of the Mud Dump Site. Upon the December 

 storm, surveys were conducted in January and February to determine to what 

 extent any conditions had changed 25 . 



The results, although not surprising given past findings and warnings, were 

 disturbing. The first major finding was that in the area of two mounds created 

 by dredged materials from the Kill Van Kull (KVK) deepening project, 227,000 

 cubic yards were "lost" due to erosion and transport. More than 1.5 feet of 

 material were lost from broad areas where the depths ranged from 58-75 feet. 

 Over 4 feet was also calculated to have been lost along the northern boundary of 

 the survey area. Considering this finding, it is likely that the two subsequent 

 storms, albeit less powerful than the December Northeaster, may have had an 

 additional effect. 



The second major finding is that of the 329.100 cubic yards dumped in the 

 eastern side of the survey area (near the EMD), only 25,300 (8%) could be 

 determined to have accumulated. The researchers concluded that poor disposal 

 operations are the cause of such a loss, although it is not conclusive that high 

 energy currents did not play some role in transporting dredged materials off-site. 



~SAIC. 1993. Comparison of Baseline Bathvmetric Surveys: New York 

 Mud Dump Site Dioxin Capping Monitoring Project. Data Report #4 submitted to 

 ; U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New York District. 



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