5 Oct 2023

Beneficial Use of Dredged Material: A Workshop to Explore Engineered Drainage Soils for Stormwater Management

PURPOSE: Beneficial use of dredged material in engineered soils is an alternative to achieve environmental and economic sustainability for waterway operations. Engineered soils can combine navigation and environmental dredging with municipal and commercial waste streams to create a valuable commercial soil product while reducing public operating costs, creating economic opportunity, and creating better soil products for lower cost. The need, opportunities, and challenges to establishing an Illinois Waterway-based commercial soil industry were explored by river, highway, stormwater, environmental resource managers, and industry experts in a workshop in Peoria, IL, on 4–5 September 2019.

15 Feb 2022

Detection Limits of Trinitrotoluene and Ammonium Nitrate in Soil by Raman Spectroscopy

Abstract: The detection limit of 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT) and ammonium nitrate (AN) in mixtures of Ottawa sand (OS) was studied using a Raman microscope applying conventional calibration curves, Pearson correlation coefficients, and two-sample t-tests. By constructing calibration curves, the conventionally defined detection limits were estimated to be 1.9 ± 0.4% by mass in OS and 1.9 ± 0.3% by mass in OS for TNT and AN. Both TNT and AN were detectable in concentrations as low as 1% by mass when Pearson correlation coefficients were used to compare averaged spectra to a library containing spectra from a range of soil types. AN was detectable in concentrations as low as 1% by mass when a test sample of spectra was compared to the same library using two-sample t-tests. TNT was not detectable at a concentration of 1% by mass when using two-sample t-tests.

24 Sep 2021

Phytomanagement of Soil and Groundwater at the Niagara Falls Storage Site (NFSS) Using Hybridized Trees

Abstract: The Manhattan Engineer District previously used the 191-acre Niagara Falls Storage Site (NFSS) in Niagara County, New York, to store radioactive residues and wastes from uranium (U) ore processing. At present, management practices will determine whether enhanced evapotranspiration rates produced by hybridized shrub willow cuttings planted in 2016 will affect groundwater hydrology. Two shrub willow varieties were planted in an approximately one-half acre area to examine growth performance along a U impacted sanitary sewer line. Additionally, control plots will compare the effectiveness of shrub willows to unplanted areas. Observations of the planted area after 18 months showed success of shrub willow growth with increasing biomass. Chemical analysis from tree tissue samples of the field study showed no significant uptake of U or thorium (Th) to date. A greenhouse study conducted in parallel to the field study tested the willows under controlled greenhouse conditions and evaluated their ability to grow and accumulate contaminants under controlled conditions. Results from the greenhouse study demonstrated that U accumulation was minimal. Thus, this study demonstrates that the shrub willows are not accumulators of U or Th, an advantageous characteristic that implies stabilized contaminants in the soil and no translocation of U into the aboveground biomass.