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place pollutants; and 90 percent contain some level of sediment 

 contamination above naturally occurring background. Approximately 50 

 percent of the sites evaluated in the EPA Region V (Great Lakes Region) 

 inventory of contaminated sediment sites have some degree of sediment 

 contamination. EPA has begun work to compile a national inventory of 

 contaminated sediment sites. The inventory will further document those 

 sites where sediment is contaminated at levels posing ecological or human 

 health risks. A direct relationship between these data and dredged material 

 projects is difficult to make. Areas where dredging is conducted routinely 

 may not be as contaminated as near-by areas which received contamination 

 before current pollution control measures were implemented. Also, a large 

 amount of dredging is done in areas far removed from sources of 

 contamination. 



Several problems can be associated with the disposal of contaminated 

 sediment. Dredging contaminated sediment can result in resuspension of 

 contaminated material, which may then become more available to aquatic 

 organisms. Disposal of the contaminated dredged material requires locating 

 a secure site, either on or off shore, where large amounts of aqueous 

 material can be safely transported and contained. Specialized dredging 

 techniques and disposal sites are sometimes required to handle the 

 contaminated sediment. Confined disposal facilities are expensive to 

 construct and are often not a feasible alternative. In addition, the 

 contaminated material must often be dewatered or otherwise treated before 

 disposal can occur. Sediment decontamination technologies have been 

 demonstrated on a pilot scale, but are costly for use on a large scale. 

 Capping contaminated dredged material with clean sediment in the aquatic 

 environment is not effective at all depths and in all environments. 



EPA continues to work closely with the Army Corps of Engineers to make 

 the permitting process for dredged material disposal predictable and more 

 efficient. The most notable effort was completion of the Ocean Dumping 

 Testing manual. Since the national manual was completed in April 1991, 

 EPA and Corps of Engineers' field offices have developed regional 

 implementation manuals to clarify the process and refine the testing 

 procedures for local conditions (e.g., appropriate bioassay organism for 

 particular region). The development of regional implementation manuals has 

 facilitated increased coordination between the EPA and Corps of Engineers 

 field offices which will lead to more efficient dredged material evaluation and 

 project review. 



In regard to the management of dredged material containing dioxin, the EPA 

 and Corps of Engineers have established a task group to develop policy and 



