United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
Office of Water
Mail Code 4305
EPA-823-F-94-003
July 1994
FACT SHEET
EPA's Proposed Contaminated Sediment
Management Strategy
The contamination of sediments in waterbodies of the United States has emerged in recent years
as an ecological and human health issue of national proportions. Contaminated sediments are defined as
soils sand organic matter, or minerals that wash from land and accumulate on the bottom of a waterbody
and 'which' contain chemical substances at concentrations that pose a known or suspected threat to
aquatic life wildlife, or human health. Contaminated sediments can have an unfavorable impact on aquatic
life by killing benthic organisms, and causing fin rot, cancers, and reproductive toxicity in fish. Food chain
contamination can also pose a threat to wildlife and human consumers when pollutants in sediments
bioaccumulate in fish and shellfish.
human health risks are consistently assessed; 2)
to prevent further contamination of sediments
that may cause unacceptable ecological or human
health risks; 3) when practical, to clean up
existing sediment contamination that adversely
affects the Nation's waterbodies or their uses, or
that causes other significant effects on human
health or the environment; and 4) to ensure that
sediment dredging and the disposal of dredged
material continue to be managed in an
environmentally sound manner.
EPA Sediment Steering Committee
In 1989, the Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) formed an Agency-wide Sediment
Steering Committee to address the problem of
contaminated sediments on a national scale. The
committee, chaired by the Assistant
Administrator of EPA's Office of Water, is
composed of senior managers from all EPA
program offices with the authority to address
contaminated sediments, and a representative
from each of EPA's 10 Regional offices.
Contaminated Sediment Management
Strategy
In January 1990, the Sediment Steering
Committee decided to prepare an Agency-wide
Contaminated Sediment Management Strategy
to focus the Agency's resources on
contaminated sediment problems. In 1993, the
Steering Committee approved this Strategy. The
purpose of this Strategy is to:
t Describe EPA's understanding of the extent
and severity of sediment contamination;
t Present the cross-program policy framework
in which EPA intends to promote consideration
and reduction of ecological and human health
risks posed by sediment contamination; and
t Describe specific actions EPA believes are
needed to bring about consideration and
reduction of risks posed by contaminated
sediments.
The goals of this Strategy are: 1) to
develop methodologies for analyzing
contaminated sediments so that sediment
contamination and associated ecological and
Assessment
There are three primary activities that
EPA will undertake to improve assessment of
contaminated sediments. First, to promote
consistency in assessment, EPA will develop and
use standard biological test methods to
determine whether sediments are contaminated.
These methods will be placed in a tiered testing
framework that identifies the set of tests that
will provide an assessment of ecological and
human health risks posed by sediments. Second,
EPA will establish sediment chemical criteria to
protect benthic organisms. These criteria will be
used to help identify chemical-specific sediment
contamination problems. Third, EPA will develop
two inventories: a Site Inventory, containing
data on sediment quality throughout the United
States, and a Source Inventory, containing data
on potential sources of sediment contamination.
Pollution Prevention
Prevention of sediment contamination is
the most environmentally protective and, in most
cases, cost-effective way to address the
problem. EPA has statutory and regulatory
authority to prevent many contaminants from
being released to sediments. EPA's Office of
Water, Office of Pesticide Programs, Office of
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Pollution Prevention and Toxic Substances,
Office of Enforcement, and Office of Air will use
their authorities under the Clean Water Act
(CWA), the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and
Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), the Toxic Substances
Control Act (TSCA), and the Clean Air Act to
address prevention of contaminated sediments.
Examples of actions that these program
offices can take include: 1) incorporating
sediment quality criteria in the form of effluent
limits into National Pollutant Discharge
Elimination System permits; 2) proposing
revisions to regulations and guidance that would
require pesticides and chemicals manufacturers to
perform sediment toxicity tests when seeking
registration and reregistration of certain
pesticides under FIFRA and certain chemicals
under TSCA; 3) banning or otherwise regulating
the production of new chemicals to reduce
bioavailability and partitioning of toxic chemicals
to sediments; 4) implementing pollution
prevention initiatives within various compliance
programs; and 5) eliminating or reducing air
emissions of contaminants that subsequently are
deposited in surface waters, either directly
through atmospheric deposition or indirectly
through stormwater runoff.
Remediation and Enforcement
Where sediments are contaminated to
levels that cause ecological harm or pose a risk to
human health, EPA will strive to implement a
remediation strategy that will most effectively
reduce the risk. Remedial options range from
active remediation of sediments to natural
recovery, which consists of implementing
pollution prevention measures and point and
nonpoint source controls and allowing
biodegradation, chemical degradation, and the
deposition of clean sediments to restore
contaminated sites. EPA may take remedial and
enforcement actions under several statutes,
including TSCA, CWA, the Comprehensive
Emergency Response, Compensation, and
Liability Act, the Rivers and Harbors Act, and the
Oil Pollution Act .
Dredged Material Management
The presence of contaminated sediments
can introduce significant ecological and human
health considerations into the decision of
whether and how to dredge and dispose of
sediments to maintain navigational channels.
Where contaminated sediments exist, dredging
can result in resuspension of contaminated
material which may then become more available
to aquatic organisms. Disposal of contaminated
dredged material requires locating a site, either in
open water or on land, where large amounts of
contaminated material can be safely contained.
The Army Corps of Engineers, in cooperation
with EPA, is currently developing an Inland
Testing Manual to provide consistent national
guidance on testing dredged material for
discharge to waters of the United States. A
similar Ocean Testing Manual is already available.
The two agencies are also working on a
comprehensive ocean disposal site designation,
management, and monitoring guidance
document.
Research and Outreach
To implement this Strategy effectively,
EPA has developed a research plan covering
development and validation of sediment quality
criteria, as well as assessment and remediation
methods for contaminated sediments. EPA has
also developed an outreach program to increase
public understanding of the ecological and human
health risks associated with sediment
contamination and of potential solutions to the
problem. This outreach program includes the
preparation of guidance documents, reports,
public outreach publications, and multimedia
materials, as well as the establishment of
advisory groups, databases, and clearinghouses.
Reduction of human health risks
associated with contaminated sediments will also
serve to promote environmental equity since
subsistence fishers, often racial and ethnic
minorities, are disproportionately affected by
consumption of fish that have taken up
contaminants from the sediments.
Water Resources Development Ad
The most recent legislation addressing
contaminated sediments is the Water Resources
Development Act of 1992 (WRDA). WRDA calls
for the establishment of a National
Contaminated Sediment Task Force, to be co-
chaired by the EPA Administrator and the
Secretary of the Army, and to include
representatives from the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration, U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service, U.S. Geological Survey, U.S.
Department of Agriculture, States, ports,
agriculture and manufacturing interests, and
public interest organizations. This Contaminated
Sediment Management Strategy addresses many
of the tasks for which EPA is responsible as a
member of the National Contaminated Sediment
Task Force.
Bequests lor EPA's Contaminated
Sediment Management Strategy (EPA*$23-R-
94-001) should be sent to U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency, NCEPI, 11029 Konwood
Road, Building 5; Cincinnati, OH 45242;
Telephone 513-891-6561. FAX 513-831-6685*
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