beach nourishment or restoration 

 with particle sizes compatible with 

 the material on the receiving 

 beaches; 



• The material is comparable in 

 texture and composition to the 

 ambient substratum at the disposal 

 site. 



Any applicant who wants to qualify for 

 the above exclusion criteria must 

 present grain size data along with 

 pertinent historical or site-specific 

 information documenting the distance 

 from known sources of pollution. 



Box 1.2: 



"Satisfy Exclusion Criteria?" 



The physical testing required by 

 NED for evaluating dredged material 

 for ocean disposal is limited to grain 

 size, total organic carbon analysis, and 

 water content determination 

 (EPA/NED, 1989). The null hypothesis 

 that would be tested in this particular 

 action box is: 



H : Material at the dredging site has 

 a major modal grain size greater 

 than or equal to fine sand. 



Rejection of the null hypothesis would 

 place you in box 1.3; acceptance of the 

 null hypothesis would lead to box 1.9 

 and allow unconfined open-water 

 disposal. 



Underlying Assumptions : The basic 

 assumption is that sand and larger 

 sized particles are chemically inert, 

 relatively free from contaminants, and 

 pose no environmental impact from a 

 chemical or biological standpoint (the 

 only biological impact would be 



perhaps a change in the type of 

 community that develops on a 

 substratum of a particular grain size). 



Sources of Uncertainty : There is a 

 certain amount of subjective judgment 

 involved in the determination of what 

 is "far removed" from historical 

 sources of pollution (i.e., how far is 

 far?). It appears foolish at this point to 

 state arbitrarily a minimum absolute 

 distance to quantify "far" (i.e., 

 "anything greater than Vz mile"), 

 because distance is not necessarily 

 synonymous with chemical isolation, 

 depending on the transport routes 

 available in a particular area. The 

 determination of what is "far" enough 

 will have to be left to one's best 

 professional judgment; if there is any 

 question, it is best to err on the 

 conservative side and proceed to the 

 next level of testing (Box 1.3). Chances 

 are if an area truly is "far removed" 

 from historical sources of pollution, it 

 will be obvious at a first glance (just as 

 Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart 

 memorably defined pornography by 

 saying, "I can't define it precisely, but I 

 know it when I see it"). 



Box 1.3 "Bulk Chemical Analyses" 



The majority of material dredged in 

 New England does not qualify for the 

 exclusion criteria stated above and the 

 next level of chemical testing is 

 required. The current guidance 

 (EPA/NED, 1989) requires bulk 

 sediment analyses alone for 8 metals 

 (As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Pb, Ni, Hg, Zn), total 

 PCB's, pesticides, and PAH's according 

 to EPA protocols (EPA, 1986). The 

 analytical results are compared with 

 sediment classification guidelines 



An Integrated, Tiered Approach to Monitoring and Management of Dredged Material Disposal Sites 



