15. Contaminated Sediment Research and Development Needs

The complexity of contaminated sediment sites and the potentially enormous costs if remedies are not implemented effectively and efficiently drives a need for continued research and continuous improvement of technologies and practices for design, implementation and monitoring. The costs at contaminated sediment sites are largely driven by their size (both in terms of area of potentially impacted sediments and the volume of soil and water diluents) and the difficulties of working in the water environment. Research into methods to optimize removal technologies can provide incremental benefits by reducing the volume of the contaminated sediments that must be treated or disposed of. Research that can minimize the managed volume by accurate assessment of areas likely to exhibit significant risk can be extremely effective at containing costs. In addition, any methods that can lead to management of sediments in situ without the costs and complexity of removal and the incumbent onshore processing of sediments also provide effective cost containment. Finally, technologies that can aid assessment of the risks posed by contaminated sediments and aid prioritization of areas by risk can help contain costs at sediment sites. Moreover, these assessment technologies can also help assess the performance of remedies, demonstrating the successful achievement of remedial objectives and allowing closure of the remedial efforts.