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May 1981 "Special Care Measures for Safe Disposal of Polluted 
Dredged Materials in the Marine Enyironment submitted 
by the International Association of Ports and Harbors 
for consideration by the Ad Hoc Scientific Group, 
(Halifax, Canada, May 1981) 
Summary: 
- * The ocean has a tremendous capacity for assimilating 
sediments without measurable ill effects. The amount of 
sediment that man will ever dispose in the ocean in one 
year is a small fraction of what has been received an- 
nually via rivers. 
*x Field studies indicate that there is little evidence 
that dredged material has caused substantial biological 
damage in the ocean. 
* Special care measures address the methods of disposing 
of dredged materials, the procedures followed in the dredging .- 
and transportation of sediments and the selection of a 
site for disposal. 
* Special care disposal measures include, but are not 
limited to: 1) clean material capping; 2) borrow pit 
disposal; 3) split-site disposal. Available evidence 
indicates that these methods are environmentally sound 
disposal options for polluted dredged material. 
* Special care site selection outlines the potential 
use of hypersaline basins, submarine canyons, offshore 
islands and disposal below the zone of maximum plankton 
productivity. 
* There are many environmental problems associated 
with confining dredged material on land. Among these 
are the deterioration of dike integrity, long duration 
of fluidity of the dredged material unless additional 
expenditures of time and money are made, loss of 
sediment from the containment area into the waterway, 
possible contamination of ground waters. The heightened 
competition for space has curtailed if not eliminated 
the use of upland areas for disposal of dredged material. 
