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Dredged Material Testing In The James River Contact: Robert Pruhs Technical Support Section Operations Branch

Why Test Dredged Material?. Section 401 CWA, Water Quality Certification (WQC)WQC required for the discharge of dredged material into waters of the U.S.Discharge must be certified as complying with applicable State Water Quality Standards (WQS). Why Test Dredged Material? (Cont'd). Currently, Cor

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Dredged Material Testing In The James River Contact: Robert Pruhs Technical Support Section Operations Branch

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    1. Dredged Material Testing In The James River Contact: Robert Pruhs Technical Support Section Operations Branch

    2. Why Test Dredged Material? Section 401 CWA, Water Quality Certification (WQC) WQC required for the discharge of dredged material into waters of the U.S. Discharge must be certified as complying with applicable State Water Quality Standards (WQS)

    3. Why Test Dredged Material? (Cont’d) Currently, Corps is renewing the Upper James River Virginia Water Protection Permit (WQC) through DEQ for maintenance dredging activities (mile marker 90 to mile marker 70) DEQ has raised concerns that dredged material may contain contaminants Specifically TBT, PCB, PAH, and Metals

    4. Where Will Dredged Material Testing Occur? Currently, Corps is testing shoals at Richmond Deepwater Terminal and Turkey Island Cut-Off

    5. Where Will Dredged Material Testing Occur? In the future, DEQ has requested that all shoals within the James River navigation channel be tested as dredging becomes necessary

    6. How is Dredged Material Evaluation to be Performed? Goal Utilize the tiered approach and perform only the amount of testing necessary to make factual determinations Implement the “Reason to Believe” principle for future sampling/testing events to ensure good stewardship of taxpayers dollars

    7. How is Dredged Material Testing to be Performed? Corps has conducted a Tier I evaluation Determined that additional information was needed Tier II & III: The Corps has developed a Sampling & Analysis Plan (SAP) utilizing the tiered approach developed under the framework established by the EPA & USACE manual “Evaluation of Dredged Material For Discharge in Waters of the U.S. – Testing Manual”

    8. How is Dredged Material Testing to be Performed? Tier II: Involve determination of sediment and water chemistry Tier III: Effluent elutriate test will predict if effluent water from the respective upland placement sites act as a pathway for the migration of contaminants

    9. How is Dredged Material Testing to be Performed? Tier III: Effluent elutriate test mimics the dredged material placement process in upland placement sites and predicts the release of contaminants (if present) as a result of placement operations Effluent elutriate test is a conservative evaluation of impacts to the water column

    10. What are the Benefits of Dredged Material Testing? Tier III evaluation for the current testing event at Richmond Deepwater Terminal and Turkey Island Cut-Off can be used to predict performance of potential contaminants in similar upland placement sites along the James River Conducting dredged material testing in accordance with the EPA and USACE guidance will validate dredged material testing protocols

    11. What are the Costs of Dredged Material Testing? Cost of dredged material testing at Richmond Deepwater Terminal and Turkey Island Cut-Off $65,000 for sample collection and analysis What are the costs for testing dredged material at every shoal along the entire navigable James River?

    12. What are the Potential Impacts to Navigation? Withholding of Water Quality Certification Result: No dredging, restricted navigation Increased testing costs to meet environmental regulatory requirements Result: Limited annual funding for James River Navigation Project may impact ability to maintain navigation

    13. What are the Potential Impacts to Navigation? Potential permit condition to test dredged material prior to each dredging event will add significant costs and delays to maintaining navigation

    14. Questions?

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