Contaminated Sediment Management

Litigation Support

The American Bar Association describes contaminated sediment sites as “a lightning rod for lengthy investigation

Challenges with Litigation Support

The American Bar Association describes contaminated sediment sites as “a lightning rod for lengthy investigation and expensive remediation. Based on the size and scope of these sites, they are ripe for litigation with multiparty involvement.” They go on to describe litigation related to the Lower Duwamish (WA), Portland Harbor (OR), Lower Passaic (NJ), New Town Creek (NY). Numerical modeling is a key component of supporting such forensic studies and EFDC is being used in all these cases.

Bathymetry and model grid for the Little Lake Butte de Morts model. Bathymetry and model grid for the Little Lake Butte de Morts model.
Bathymetry and grid for Little Lake Butte de Mort model
EEMS Capabilities

EEMS is a robust tool that provides powerful sediment resuspension and transport capabilities, coupled with several toxics sub-models. The extensive bug fixes and fast run time available in EFDC+ make it the first choice for EFDC models. Both of the EFDC+ sediment models are fully coupled to the toxics sub-models. The conventional EFDC sub-model developed at Virginia Institute of Marine Science accurately simulates cohesive and non-cohesive transport and has been used with toxics for many years. Alternatively, the user may now select to use the start-of-the-art SEDZLJ sub-model developed by Sandia National Labs. This is an increasingly favored approach and an improvement on previous models because it directly incorporates site-specific data (flume studies), while maintaining a physically consistent, unified treatment of bedload and suspended load. In EFDC+, important bug-fixes are available, including maintaining mass balance, and linkage to the toxics sub-model making it the go-to model for future studies.

Related Research

Newtown Creek Hydrodynamic and Sediment Transport Studies

“Newtown Creek was designated a Superfund National Priority Site in 2010/2011 under the guidance of the USEPA. A complete condition survey, last performed in 1991, was performed in April 2009 by the USACE New York District. Sampling and testing for possible future upland placement will be coordinated with the NYSDEC, NYCDEP and other stakeholders. The entire channel was last dredged in 1951 with the removal of 80,000 cys of material. In the 1950s and 1960s, portions of Dutch Kills and English Kills were dredged. The channel has been subject to various industrial contaminant inputs along the river over the past several decades. As a result, the material to be removed may be too contaminated to dredge and place in approved upland sites. New York City Department of Environmental Protection is the local sponsor. Economic re-development of the area is planned. Coordination with the NYCDEP is maintained.” Source

EFDC+ is being used extensively in hydrodynamic and sediment transport models that will be applied to Newtown Creek, New York. It is selected due to being open source and being linked to a sediment transport model that has the capability to utilize erosion rate data obtained from Sedflume testing (i.e., SEDZLJ capabilities). Section 4, Modeling Memo 1

Dam with mountains
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