A PRELIMINARY EVALUATION OF CONTAMINANT RELEASE AT THE POINT OF DREDGING

PURPOSE: The purpose of this technical note 1s to present a preliminary evaluation of the standard elutriate test as a predictor of contaminant release (dissolved form) to the water column at the point of dredging. This note 1s meant to extend previous notes (Hayes 1987, Havls 1987) which dealt with resuspenslon of sediments due to dredging and the release of adsorbed chemicals which could enter the water phase at the point of dredging. BACKGROUND; Data collected under the Dredged Material Research Program (DMRP) showed that the standard elutriate test (Keeley and Eng!er 1974, US Environ-mental Protection Agency and US Army Corps of Engineers 1977, Environmental Effects Laboratory 1976) predicted, within an order of magnitude, dissolved chemical concentrations 1n water at dredged material disposal sites (Jones and Lee 1978). The potential for contaminant release also exists, however, at the point of dredging. This source of contaminant release during dredging was Investigated by McLellan et al. (1n preparation) under the Improvement of Operations and Maintenance Techniques (IOMT) program. Because of the success of the standard elutriate test for simulating dissolved contaminant release at the disposal site it was investigated as a tool for predicting contaminant release at the point of dredging. ACKNOWLEDGMENT; This technical note was prepared by Dr. Robert N. Havls and 1s a summary of a study conducted by Mr. Roger A. Amende, Virginia Polytechni