The effective management of contaminated sediments demands careful attention to complex regulatory issues, sensitivity to high-profile community concerns, and an eye on costs. ARCADIS recognizes these challenges by designing and negotiating management strategies that reflect the technical, scientific, ecological, public relations, and economic considerations of every remediation project we undertake.
Effectiveness and cost-effectiveness are the key components of ARCADIS' sediment management strategies, because finding the right technical approach is also the best way to control costs. ARCADIS staffers know this, and we strive to design and implement full-scale remedial programs built on the approaches that will work best, and most cost-effectively, at your site. We employ an array of conventional and novel sediment remediation approaches (including natural recovery and enhanced natural recovery), sediment capping, dredging, nearshore confinement, confined aquatic disposal and available treatment technologies to effectively meet our client's needs.
Sediment Treatment. ARCADIS has evaluated many forms of sediment treatment technology at the feasibility, bench-scale, pilot-scale, and in some cases field-scale levels of application. In addition, we have extensive experience conducting vendor interviews and independently analyzing treatment costs, from power consumption and permitting to transportation risks and health and safety.
Dredging Design. Unlike navigational dredging, environmental dredging is conducted to achieve contaminant concentration goals (not target depths) and can involve extensive environmental controls to reduce contaminant releases. ARCADIS regularly completes top quality engineering design and construction documents and offers hands-on experience with remedial dredging and project management.
Sediment Capping. ARCADIS offers unparalleled experience in the design and construction of sediment caps in major rivers, harbors, and waterways—our work on an armored sediment cap has become the model for subsequent USEPA guidance on sediment cap design. We maintain an extensive database on natural resource quality associated with various potential cap components and are working actively on the development, application and evaluation of ecologically sound capping concepts.
Confined Disposal Facilities. Our team includes some of the nation's top practitioners in the technical specialties relevant to the design, construction, and operation of confined disposal facilities. Understanding how environmental and engineering considerations can dramatically impact feasibility, cost, permitting, and effectiveness requires experience gained by examining such issues in a variety of settings. A well-planned and well-executed approach to the technical and regulatory issues, as well as to community concerns, can result in fewer short-term and long-term impacts and a more cost-effective and secure confined disposal facility.
Operations, Maintenance, and Monitoring (OMM). Effective management of OMM drives down costs and provides a "single line of sight" for owners and responsible parties. Our approach includes complete compliance with regulatory requirements; strategic thinking to lower costs, create new revenue opportunities, and reduce liability; and reinforcement of institutional memory to establish a consistent management methodology.
