29 Oct 2025

Beneficial Use of Contaminated Sediments: A Review of Technical, Policy, and Regulatory Needs

Abstract: This special report summarizes key results from the March 2024 Sediment Management Working Group (SMWG) Contaminated Sediment Beneficial Use Workshop sponsored by US Army Engineer Research and Development Center’s (ERDC’s) Advanced Materials and Substances of Emerging Environmental Concern (AMSEEC) center, a multilaboratory research collaborative reviewing solutions to environmental challenges, and the Dredging Operations Environmental Research (DOER) Program, the navigational dredging research arm of ERDC. The workshop focused on potential avenues for treatment and management of contaminated sediments to support expanded beneficial use (BU) opportunities. AMSEEC, with support from DOER, sponsored four pilot studies to advance the technical aspects of the workshop program and partnered with the SMWG, an industry consortium, to organize the workshop in Washington, DC. The workshop was attended by more than 75 practitioners and relevant stakeholders to review these pilot studies and the challenges of advancing treatment and management of contaminated sediment to support BU. This special report summarizes and prioritizes technical, regulatory, and policy needs to enable expanded BU opportunities for contaminated sediments.

17 Oct 2025

Northeast Florida Regional Sediment Management: A Guide to Using Dredged Material for Estuarine Restoration

Abstract: Regional sediment management is a systems approach using best management practices for more efficient and effective use of sediments in coastal, estuarine, and inland environments. The primary RSM objective for this Northeast Florida study is to determine what opportunities exist to beneficially use dredged material for ecosystem restoration and habitat enhancement. A secondary objective is to ensure more efficient use of federal funds by coordinating dredging schedules for navigation projects with federal, state, and local authorities. This study met these objectives through collaboration with stakeholders on the technical, social, and cultural components required to combine resources to meet common goals. The Federal Standard for navigation projects in Northeast Florida is either upland disposal or disposal at the Jacksonville Ocean Dredged Material Disposal Site. This document describes five beneficial uses of dredged material: (1) thin-layer placement, (2) island creation and restoration, (3) dredged hole filling, (4) shoreline stabilization, and (5) upland beneficial use. Dredged material from navigation projects throughout Northeast Florida was considered, including Fernandina Harbor, Kings Bay Naval Submarine Base, Jacksonville Harbor, St. Augustine Inlet, Ponce De Leon Inlet, and the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway. For each placement strategy, the document outlines the required sediments, volumes, construction methodologies, and estimated costs.

29 Sep 2025

Understanding Hurdles to Expanded Beneficial Use of Dredged Sediment: Stakeholder Perspectives

Purpose: This technical note (TN) is the second in a series of investigative reports seeking pathways and opportunities to expand beneficial use (BU) of dredged material (DM). This TN summarizes the results of stakeholder outreach and feedback on perceptions about potential BU barriers to be overcome. The purpose of the study was to aid the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) dredging and DM management practices, specifically BU of DM (hereinafter BUDM), that USACE manages from various navigation channels and ports around the nation. Per the 28 January 2023 Chief of Engineers’ Command Philosophy Notice, USACE is aiming to achieve a goal of 70% BU by the year 2030 (HQUSACE 2023), hereinafter the Chief’s 70/30 goal.

29 Sep 2025

River Training Structure Design Study for Stabilization at Bonanza Bar

Abstract: The Huntington District (LRH) has repeatedly dredged within the navigation channel at Ohio River Mile (RM) 353, adjacent to a location known as Bonanza Bar. An in-channel bar has developed from the placement of the dredged material along the left-descending bank where a bar was historically present. Recently, the frequency of dredging in this area has decreased, suggesting that the presence of the bar is providing some degree of channel constriction. LRH approached the US Army Engineer Research and Development Center to model possible river training structures to provide channel constriction and stabilize the placement of dredged material at Bonanza Bar. A two-dimensional hydraulic numerical model was developed to test structural alternatives by estimating the impacts on the velocities within the main channel, along the length of the bar, and along the mussel habitat within the side channel. Various rock dikes with bank protection were modeled and general design guidance and modeling results are presented. Modeling results indicate increases in main channel velocities and decreases in flow behind the structure for all modeled alternatives. Rootless dikes and bullnose chevrons provide adequate space and flow for side channel presence as opposed to the continuous and notched dikes.

27 Aug 2025

Evaluating Transport of Stockpiled Mississippi River System Sand for Beach Nourishment and Other Uses

The US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), Rock Island and St. Paul Districts, maintain 876 miles of shallow-draft navigation channels, dredging approximately 2 million cubic yards of clean, fine- to medium-grained sands from these waterways annually. Due to system constraints and certain state regulatory policies, most of this dredged material (DM) is placed in upland and island facilities. As these dredge placement areas fill with sediment, the districts need to remove sediment to create additional storage or seek new land acquisition. While a significant amount of this DM is being locally used beneficially, the current uses are opportunity driven and dictated by proximity. As such, the districts continue to seek alternative beneficial use practices. One major limiting factor to increased beneficial use is the cost of material transport. Per the Federal Standard, USACE will use the least costly DM placement alternatives that are consistent with sound engineering practices and meet federal environmental requirements. Transport beyond traditional placement sites typically costs much more. The analysis described in this report reviews nontraditional transportation modes and routes to match distant needs with river sediment.

26 Aug 2025

Evaluating Beneficial Use in the 1998–2021 Sediment Placement Data with Updated Placement Categories

Purpose: The objective of this study was to provide a comparable Beneficial Use (BU) to Disposal ratio for the data within the “historic” 1998–2021 Sediment Placement Data Viewer to the data within the 2022–Present Sediment Placement Data Viewer. In conjunction with this primary objective, a secondary target was to quantify a historic average volume of sediment placed by US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) annually on a national scale.

19 Aug 2025

Numerical Modeling of Coastal Processes with Beneficial Use of Dredged Sediment in the Nearshore at Jekyll Island, Georgia

Abstract: This report provides numerical model results to assist the US Army Corps of Engineers–Savannah District (SAS). These results evaluate beneficial use alternatives for the sediment from an advance maintenance widener of the Brunswick Harbor Entrance Channel between stations −14+000 and −28+000. This study applied a coastal wave, hydrodynamic and sediment transport model (Coastal Modeling System), and a shoreline change model (GenCade), focusing on developing and simulating placement alternatives. Subaerial placement model results indicate better shore and beach preservation than at the nearshore nourishment. Placing sediment closer to the “transition zone” between the revetment and natural beach will increase the volume of sand that remains in that area. Some sediment is predicted to return to the channel, but these volumes are small fractions of the placed material. GenCade results indicate that the transition zone rock debris decreases shoreline erosion. Removing it has less impact on that area than any of the subaerial nourishments, but this prediction does not include profile equilibration that may occur after the first 4 months. Overall, model results indicate that subaerial placement will have strong positive response at the eroding beach, and related increases to channel infilling rates are relatively small.

6 Mar 2025

Norfolk Harbor Navigation Improvements Project: Modeling of Dredged Material Placement Schemes and Long-Term Sediment Transport at the Dam Neck Ocean Disposal Site

Abstract: US Army Corps of Engineers–Norfolk District requested assistance with the development and evaluation of dredged-material-placement schemes that evenly distribute placed material and avoid or minimize unacceptable mounding in accordance with the site management and monitoring plan. A multiple placement fate and transport modeling study was conducted to determine the optimal placement plan for dredged material from Thimble Shoals Channel and Atlantic Ocean Channel at the Dam Neck Ocean Disposal Site (DNODS). Provided the large volume of dredged material to be placed at DNODS over a short duration during the construction period, a modeling study was performed using the Geophysical Scale Multi-Block (GSMB) modeling system to determine the transport and fate of placed dredged material at the DNODS that is resuspended by currents and waves over a 2-year period. Six scenarios were undertaken to determine the best path forward. Scenarios 1 and 4 were excluded due to high exceedance of the depth threshold. Scenarios 2, 3, 5, and 6 yielded an approximate 1%–2% dispersal of placed materials from the DNODS during ambient environmental conditions; Scenario 6 yielded the least. Most dispersion occurred during two simulated hurricanes. The model findings generally support the DNODS Environmental Impact Statement and site-designation documents.

20 Dec 2024

Upper Mississippi River Main Channel Sediment Placement: Purpose, Practice, Effects, and Recommendations

Abstract: Dredged-sediment management in the Upper Mississippi River and Illinois Waterway is constrained by environmental factors and regulations that limit where sediment can be placed. Regulations regarding in-water sediment placement are not consistent among states. In-water placement should be promoted because it keeps sediment in the system and reduces costs for managing sediment dredged from the river. Studies investigating the environmental effects of in-water placement generally conclude that sand-on-sand placement has minimal effect on aquatic resources in the dynamic riverine environment. This report discusses in-water sediment management techniques, including flow- and sediment-regulating structures (i.e., dikes and wing dams) and a bed-load sediment collector by-pass system.

5 Nov 2024

Improving Aquatic Placement Practices for Beneficial Use of Dredged Material in the Great Lakes

Abstract: The Great Lakes Navigation System is an economically critical waterway. To maintain safe and navigable waterways, approximately 3–5 million yd3 (2.3–3.8 million m3) of sediments are dredged annually. The US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) and others now recognize that beneficial use of these sediments can achieve positive economic, environmental, and social outcomes. However, historically less than 25% of dredged sediments have been beneficially used in the nearshore environment. Improvements are needed in dredged material management practices in the Great Lakes to achieve the goal of using 70% of dredged sediments beneficially by 2030. Therefore, to overcome these challenges this report reviews beneficial use of dredged material projects with the goal of improving and in-creasing beneficial-use-placement practices in the Great Lakes. Identified needs to advance beneficial-use placement in the Great Lakes include the following: (1) improved modeling of sediment-placement methods; (2) better documentation regarding the cost, benefits, and drawbacks of various placement methods; (3) demonstration of some sediment-placement techniques used successfully in other coastal environments; and (4) monitoring before and after conditions, particularly for sediments that contain greater than 10% fines. Several demonstration projects should be implemented to obtain information addressing the data gaps.