1.0 INTRODUCTION 



Western Long Island Sound can be defined as the estuarine waters that extend from 

 Middle Ground Rocks, westward to the mouth of the East River (Figure 1-1). The 

 urbanized coastlines of Connecticut and New York converge to form a basin approximately 

 1008 km^ in area, influenced by tidal flow from the East River as well as the Atlantic 

 Ocean. Numerous tributaries discharge freshwater runoff from the watershed areas along 

 the north shore of Long Island, New York, and the south shore of Connecticut, mixing 

 with the influx of seawater. 



The many ports that line the Long Island Sound coast have supported commerce, 

 transportation, and military activity in the Northeast since colonial times. In order to 

 ensure the navigational and operational depths necessary to facilitate private, commercial, 

 and military vessels, sediments washed into harbors by rivers and tides must be 

 mechanically removed from ship channels, anchorage areas, and docking facilities. As a 

 result, a long history of maintenance dredging within the harbors, rivers, and creeks of 

 New York and Connecticut has developed. 



For many years these excess sediments have been transported to open water and 

 deposited at a variety of dredged material disposal sites in western Long Island Sound 

 (Figure 1-1). In 1977, the New England Division of the US Army Corps of Engineers 

 (NED) developed the Disposal Area Monitoring System (DAMOS) Program in response to 

 the recognized need for the management of the volumes of sediments dredged from the 

 ports and harbors of western Long Island Sound, as well as the remainder of the 

 northeastern United States. 



In 1978, disposal at the historic Batons Neck Disposal Site (a.k.a. Cable and 

 Anchor Reef Disposal Site) was discontinued in order to reduce the impact on a thriving 

 American lobster fishery (NUSC 1979). The DAMOS Program initiated a series of 

 investigations in an attempt to find an alternative dredged material disposal site in the 

 region. Intensive survey operations were conducted over two proposed disposal sites, 

 WLIS I and WLIS II (Figure 1-1). However, conflicts with an equally successful lobster 

 fishery and submarine cable routing, respectively, caused these sites to be removed from 

 consideration (SAI 1982). From 1978 through 1981, all sediments dredged from the 

 western Long Island Sound region were transported and disposed at the Central Long 

 Island Sound Disposal Site (CLIS), approximately 48 km east-northeast of Cable and 

 Anchor Reef. By transporting the excavated sediments over such a long distance, the cost 

 of dredged material disposal was doubled. 



Driven by a great demand for economically efficient harbor maintenance in the 

 region, a new dredged material disposal site was established in the western Long Island 



Monitoring Cruise at the Western Long Island Sound Disposal Site, July 1996 



