Environmental dredging – the complete picture

After two years of dedicated work by industry experts from IADC and CEDA, the two organisations have published a completely revised version of Environmental Aspects of Dredging. This new and updated edition integrates the IADC-CEDA series of seven stand-alone guides which have become classic reference works on the subject of dredging and the environment. This new single volume version (384 pages, illustrated) was published by Taylor & Francis Publishers in January 2008. Edited by Nick Bray, it has been thoroughly rewritten and restructured, with contributions from many experts, researchers and professionals including the IADC/CEDA Editorial Advisory Board, the CEDA Environment Commission and the EuDA Environmental Committee and numerous IADC, CEDA, EADA and WEDA members. The book treats all environmental aspects of dredging including the assessment of design effects, process effects, sampling and testing, dredged material management, international and regional legislation and case studies, and reflects recent industry advances. The book is of particular interest to engineers, government agencies and port authorities, as well as civil engineering consultants and contractors involved in planning and designing dredging, maritime infrastructure and fluvial projects.

A necessary activity

Fundamental to the philosophy behind this new edition is the principle that dredging is a necessary activity in civilisation’s development, but that sustainability is paramount. The authors acknowledge that dredging techniques and activities in and of themselves will always make some change in the environment and that, although dredging always seeks to improve a given situation, awareness of the repercussions of change is essential. This book is invaluable in assessing whether any planned dredging will have a positive or negative impact on our environment, how we can plan and monitor projects and, when possible, reuse dredged material. The book commences with a look at the many people or “players” who become involved in the development of a dredging project and it considers their various perspectives. Chapter 2 promotes a systematic approach to this process, and in so doing attempts to shed more light on the roles of various interested parties. Those involved in the contractual, planning and legal aspects of starting up dredging programmes may find it particularly useful.

Characterising the environmental attributes

Chapter 3 is the operational control centre of the entire book. It is intended to give the reader a “blow by blow” account of how to go about characterising the environmental attributes of a site, defining the project to be executed, and discovering and ranking the potential benefits and shortcomings of any proposed construction works. This chapter also points the reader to specific locations in the book where more detailed information is available. Chapter 4 offers an in-depth description of how a project may influence a particular environmental regime. This is essentially how the finished works will affect the environment over the short and long term. Here, as in other parts of the book, environment means the whole spectrum of natural and human regimes and activities. Chapters 5, 6 and 7 are support chapters. They cover matters that may be running in parallel within the overall environmental and project development processes. Chapter 5 presents matters relating to the collection of data and its interpretation. Chapter 6 describes the main dredger types and explores their environmental effects, mitigating measures that may be taken to make them less intrusive, and specialised machines that have been devised to work in sensitive areas. Chapter 7 describes the various uses for dredged material as well as the processes for determining the optimum methods for managing dredged material. Chapter 8 explains monitoring methods and processes. These may be either to establish baseline conditions on a site or to monitor the impacts of projects or dredging activities on the local environment and apply controls as appropriate. Finally, Chapter 9 looks to the future and discusses some of the more philosophical aspects of environmental assessment and evaluation. In the Annexes information will be found about typical legislative conditions and controls imposed by international conventions and regional and national agencies around the world for the placement of dredged material, both in the sea and on land. Further additional Annexes cover case histories, general descriptions of environmental regimes and describe dredged material properties in detail.

Environmental Aspects of Dredging can be pre-ordered through the website of Taylor & Francis Publishers: www.taylorandfrancis.co.uk.

CEDA/EADA/WEDA and IADC members receive a 25% discount on the list price of GBP 79 (US$ 149.95).

Further information from CEDA (ceda@dredging.org) or IADC (info@iadc-dredging.com).