Contaminated Marine Sediments: Project Tasks
Task 1: Characterising the issue and delivering a national database of UK CMS
Contractor ABPMer
This task will prepare a national database of contaminated marine sediments in UK waters. Data will be collected from a wide range of organisations and collated using standard data management techniques and prepared in such a manner as to be included in systems already available such as the MAGIC website. The information held within the database will be used to investigate potential risks of moving contaminated marine sediments, e.g. on adjacent nationally/internationally designated sites. The deliverables will include the database and a guidance document which will describe the ways to maintain the database for future use. The work will link with Tasks 2, 3 and 6.
Task 2: Exploring liability and polluter pays issues
Contractor ABPMer
This task will look at the issue of who pays for dealing with historic pollution. The work will involve consultation with the Environment Agency, Scottish Environment Protection Agency and the Crown Estate to prepare case studies of similar and regularly occurring issues. The study will look to provide guidelines for resolving issues of responsibility and payment, and will assess the findings in the light of the current Environmental Liability Directive. The output of this task will be a report detailing the results of the three work stages.
Task 3: Identifying existing relevant legislative and regulatory barriers with respect to CMS
Contractor ABPMer
This task will identify the existing relevant legislation both nationally and internationally that govern the movement of contaminated marine sediment. This will include barriers raised by the current regulations, guidelines and protocols. The team will prepare a report which will include a comprehensive review of the current situation and will identify and interpret the findings and will highlight the ways forward and prepare guidelines for future management. The team will carry out consultation with ports, marinas and representatives of the dredging industry to identify case studies where such barriers have made disposal of such contaminated material difficult or impossible. Flow charts will be used to describe the processes, both current and proposed.
Task 4: Establishing Best Practise for the prevention of pollution arising from CMS
Contractor ABPMer
This task will look at the methods currently being used to prevent sediment becoming contaminated in the first place. The study will look at the known pollution pathways and associated existing guidelines and legislation for their control and will provide examples of both good and bad practice. Using this information, a number of recommendations for measures of further controls or of new mechanisms to prevent sediment pollution. The results of this task will include a toolbox to assist in managing the problem and will be disseminated through interactive guidance documents. This task will coordinate with tasks 3 and 5.
Task 5: Establishing Best Practise for current disposal and treatment options for CMS
Contractor ENTEC
This task will establish best practice for the current and future disposal and treatment options for contaminated marine sediment both in the UK and internationally. The team will work closely with industry to identify good and bad examples of the way disposal is currently managed and will be presented as ‘fact sheets’. The current methods of treating contaminated marine sediment in both a UK and international context will be reviewed together with a review of new technologies, their practicality and cost. The socio-economic aspects of various treatment options will also be considered. A list of key priorities will be drawn up and guidelines for best practice taking account of known and emerging methods will be established through the use of a workshop to ensure all aspects of their implications are covered. Following the workshop, a document (Best Practise guidelines for the Treatment and Disposal of CMS) will be produced and opportunities will be assessed to publish the information more widely.
Task 6: Identifying future R&D related to CMS
Contractor National Oceanography Centre (Southampton)
Thistask will look at the research and development currently being carried out into the management of contaminated marine sediments and will establish a database of known work which will feed back into the database created in Task 1. A stakeholder meeting will be held to determine the knowledge and scientific gaps and establish what needs to be done to address these in order for Defra to meet its management requirements of the strategy. A draft report of the findings will be discussed at the meeting; the final document will make recommendations for future R&D or monitoring studies.
Page last modified: 3 August 2007