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Research Programs
Contaminated Sediments
Contaminated Sediments
EPA's Goal for
"Safe Land"
"Preserve and restore the land by reducing and controlling risks posed by releases of harmful substances; promoting waste diversion, recycling, and innovative waste management practices; and cleaning up contaminated properties to levels appropriate for their beneficial reuse."
Chemicals released to surface waters from industrial and municipal discharges, atmospheric deposition, and polluted runoff from urban and agricultural areas can accumulate in sediment to environmentally harmful levels. Humans, aquatic organisms, and wildlife are at risk from contaminated sediments through direct exposure to pollutants or through consumption of contaminated fish and wildlife. Exposure to these contaminants is linked to cancer, birth defects, neurological defects, immune dysfunction, and liver and kidney ailments. Contaminated sediments may also cause economic impacts to corporations and taxpayers, at both the local and regional level. There are still significant uncertainties surrounding the questions of both the effects of contaminated sediment and the effectiveness of our current options for remediation (i.e., dredging, capping, monitored natural recovery).
For a Superfund site with contaminated sediments, EPA is faced with the difficult decision of whether to leave the site alone or to implement a remedial strategy. These decisions are often contentious as EPA must weigh relative risks to the environment and health posed by each alternative; and, once implemented, costly remedial options can take years to produce demonstrable results. Whatever decision is made for a site, EPA must have an understanding of the potential risks to the ecosystem posed by the remedial action itself. EPA needs cost-effective, rapid methods to assess and/or predict spatial and temporal effects after remedial actions. EPA scientists also need methods to document the short-term effects of various remedial options. Through its research, EPA is working to broaden its range of remedial options, to enhance its scientific understanding of different remedial options, and to improve its site characterization and risk assessment abilities.
