REPORT DOCUMENTATION PAGE

Form Approved

REPORT DOCUMENTATION PAGE

OMB No. 0704-0188

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for reducing this burden, to Washington Headquarters Services, Directorate for Information Operations and Reports, 1215 Jefferson Davis Highway, Suite 1204, Arlington, VA 22202-4302, and to the

Office of Management and Budget, Paperwork Reduction Project (0704-0188), Washington, DC 20503.

1. AGENCY USE ONLY (Leave blank)

2. REPORT DATE

3. REPORT TYPE AND DATES COVERED

December 1998

Final report

4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE

5. FUNDING NUMBERS

Environmental Risk Assessment and Dredged Material Management: Issues

and Application

6. AUTHOR(S)

David W. Moore, Todd S. Bridges, Carlos Ruiz, Jerome Cura,

Susan Kane Driscoll, Donna Vorhees, Dick Peddicord

7. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES)

8. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION

REPORT NUMBER

U.S. Army Engineer Waterways Experiment Station, 3909 Halls Ferry Road,

Technical Report DOER-2

Vicksburg, MS 39180-6199; Menzie-Cura and Associates, Inc., 1 Courthouse

Lane, Chelmsford, MA 01824; Dick Peddicord & Co., Inc., 1762 Parsonage Road,

Parkton, MD 21120-9689

9. SPONSORING/MONITORING AGENCY NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES)

10. SPONSORING/MONITORING

AGENCY REPORT NUMBER

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

Washington, DC 20314-1000

11. SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES

Available from National Technical Information Service, 5285 Port Royal Road, Springfield, VA 22161.

12a. DISTRIBUTION/AVAILABILITY STATEMENT

12b. DISTRIBUTION CODE

Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited.

13. ABSTRACT (Maximum 200 words)

Evaluating the potential environmental consequences associated with dredging and dredged material disposal is a difficult

task. Scientific advancements have made possible the collection of large amounts of complex technical information. The

dredged material manager must often rely on "best professional judgement" to weigh and balance among multiple and

sometimes conflicting lines of evidence to reach a decision, and each decision involves a finite level of uncertainty. How best

to utilize this complex technical information and what tools are available for developing risk-based estimates and evaluating

uncertainty for the dredging program were the focus of the workshop discussions reported herein.

The workshop was attended by 78 invitees representing Corps field elements, other Federal agencies, industry, and

academia. Participants represented a broad range of stakeholders and included permit applicants, dredged material managers,

and risk assessors.

It was the general consensus of workshop participants that risk assessment should should be used to augment and improve

the dredged material management decision-making process. The importance of using risk-based approaches early on in the

current tiered assessment scheme was emphasized. However, it was also noted that the current dredged material evaluation

scheme as outlined in the Ocean and Inland Testing Manuals was adequate for the vast majority of dredged material

management decisions (estimated by some participants to be 95 percent). Participants suggested that the greatest benefit of

risk-based decision-making would be found by applying risk assessment in the smaller percentage of projects where there is

(continued)

14. SUBJECT TERMS

15. NUMBER OF PAGES

Contaminants

Risk assessment

Dredged material

Sediment management

16. PRICE CODE

17. SECURITY CLASSIFICATION

18. SECURITY CLASSIFICATION

19. SECURITY CLASSIFICATION

20. LIMITATION OF ABSTRACT

OF REPORT

OF THIS PAGE

OF ABSTRACT

UNCLASSIFIED

Standard Form 298 (Rev. 2-89)

NSN 7540-01-280-5500

Prescribed by ANSI Std. Z39-18

298-102