Improving remediation technologies and developing methods for the risk assessment of contaminated sites

Sediment quality becomes especially important during dredging operations in river restoration and canal revitalization projects, when various remediation and disposal options must be considered if the sediments are contaminated. The first step in rehabilitating contaminated sites is environmental risk assessment. Physicochemical characterization and the application of different risk assessment methodologies which utilize the concept of bioavailability, is the most important type of characterization, and together with environmental risk assessment, forms the basis of decisions regarding dredging contaminated sediments. For polluted sediments, the dangers of dissolution and re-suspension of pollutants dictate that treatment types used during sediment dredging, processing and disposal must include the principles of immobilization and the prevention of pollutants spreading into the environment through air, water (both surface and groundwater) or soil. The key objective of this project is to lower the environmental risks caused by contaminated sediments in rivers, through developing and using new and existing chemical and biological methods for risk assessment, and physicochemical characterization of the behaviour and distribution of pollutants in water-sediment systems, to evaluate the impact of contaminated sediments on aquatic ecosystems, and to choose appropriate remediation technologies at sites where negative pollutant influences are found.