SITE MANAGEMENT CHALLENGES

Technical Note DOER-N2

April 1998

SITE MANAGEMENT CHALLENGES

Federal regulations require that dredging and dredged material placement be done at minimum cost

while being consistent with sound engineering principles and proper concern for the environment.

Over the past two and a half decades, knowledge of the environmental impacts associated with

dredging and dredged material disposal has increased. The emphasis has shifted from one that was

most concerned with low cost to a much more balanced view with environmental concerns playing

an increasingly larger role in dredging project management. Also, the awareness that dredged

material should be considered a resource that can be used beneficially in an increasing number of

ways has greatly influenced dredging project management.

For the reasons mentioned above, managing dredging projects is now much more complicated than

in the past. In addition to the ever-increasing number of regulations and statutes that govern dredging

and dredged material placement, many State resource agencies and environmental groups now

subject dredging projects to greater scrutiny. Just doing a good job is no longer sufficient. To

improve or maintain its credibility, the Corps must be able to conclusively demonstrate that dredging

projects are being effectively managed.

Management of dredging and dredged material placement, referred to hereafter as dredging project

management, has a number of facets. Dredging project management provides answers to the

following questions:

What is being dredged?

How much is being dredged?

When will dredging take place?

Where did dredged material come from?

Where will dredged material be placed?

How will material be dredged and placed?

What will happen to the environment at the dredging site? At the placement site?

Was material dredged correctly? Placed correctly?

Could dredged material be used more beneficially?

Could project have been completed at a lower cost?

In more general terms, dredging project management is controlling the dredging project to meet

regulatory guidelines of low cost, sound engineering, and environmental stewardship. A more

detailed discussion of managing open-water dredged material placement can be found in Walls

et al. (1994). An important facet of dredging project management is long-term planning, developing

placement options that have sufficient site capacity for the next 20 to 50 years.

The increase in regulations, number of contaminants tested for, and projects for which tests are

conducted has vastly increased the amount of data collected during execution of the dredging

project. This has resulted in greater numbers of bioassay and bioaccumulation tests. At the