1.0 INTRODUCTION 



The managed disposal of dredged material was introduced to the central Long Island 

 Sound region in October 1973 with the development of the New Haven 1974 (NHAV 74) 

 mound in the center of the newly created New Haven Disposal Site. An estimated 

 1,150,000 m 3 of material dredged from the New Haven Harbor was deposited at this site 

 between October 1973 and March 1977. In 1977, the US Army Corps of Engineers, New 

 England Division (NED), instituted the Disposal Area Monitoring System (DAMOS) 

 Program in response to the recognized need for long-term management and monitoring of 

 the New Haven Disposal Site as well as 10 other disposal sites in New England waters 

 (NUSC 1979). Since 1977, advances in dredged material disposal, precision navigation, 

 and environmental monitoring technology have continually improved the tools used in 

 disposal site management. 



In 1979, the configuration of the New Haven Disposal Site was modified, 

 expanding the boundaries of the site and changing its name to Central Long Island Sound 

 Disposal Site (CLIS; SAI 1979). The new disposal site boundaries encompassed a 

 6.86 km 2 (2 nmi 2 ) area located approximately 10.39 km (5.6 nmi) south of South End 

 Point, East Haven, Connecticut (Figure 1-1). Since its expansion in 1979, the disposal site 

 shown in DAMOS reports has been centered at 41°08.950' N, 72°52.850' W. However, 

 after recognizing a slight discrepancy, NED began using the set of center coordinates for 

 CLIS as defined in the Final Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (FPEIS; US 

 Army Corps of Engineers 1982). CLIS is now centered at 41°08.900' N, 72°53.100' W 

 longitude in North American Datum of 1927 (NAD 27), 362 m west-southwest of the 

 historic DAMOS center (Figures 1-1 and 1-2). The reasons for the discrepancy between 

 the historic and FPEIS coordinates are unknown; however, this modification corrects the 

 locational inconsistency. Similar changes are being made for the New London Disposal 

 Site (NLDS) and Cornfield Shoals Disposal Site (CSDS) in the eastern Long Island Sound. 



Historically, CLIS has been one of the most active disposal sites in the New 

 England region. The disposal site has received sediments dredged from New Haven, 

 Bridgeport, Stamford, and Norwalk Harbors, as well as adjacent coastal areas. The 

 abundance of disposal activity within the boundaries of the disposal site allowed NED to 

 develop and refine a variety of dredged material management strategies. During the 

 1978/79 disposal season, subaqueous capping was introduced as a new dredged material 

 management approach with the formation of the Stamford-New Haven mounds (STNH-N 

 and STNH-S; SAIC 1995). 



Capping is a containment method which uses sediments determined to be suitable 

 for unconfined open water disposal, or capping dredged material (CDM), to overlay and 



Monitoring Cruise at the Central Long Island Sound Disposal Site, September 1995 



