CREATING AN ENVIRONMENTAL BENEFIT UNIT TO SUPPORT DREDGING OPERATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES

摘要

This report documents the development of an environmental benefit unit (EBU) model that will allow United States Corps of Engineers (USACE) to compare projects based on a number of value measures which inculcate environmental quality and social well being. Dredging operations for the purpose of navigation is a critical component to every major waterway in the US and provides a basis for local and national economies. There is no doubt that dredging is exceptionally important and provides a number of benefits but at cost. USACE has challenging decisions concerning the most beneficial way to use dredge material. Additionally, there is no pragmatic method or system to provide value to assign use of dredge material. Under the support of the Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) a group of four cadets have developed a multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) model to provide value for beneficial use of dredge material. Using the Systems Decision Process (SDP) as a construct for analyzing and developing the value model, the cadets conducted a thorough problem definition phase to include a literature review, stakeholder analysis, functional requirements analysis and value modeling as well as a functional model to assessing numerical value to beneficial use of dredged material. The model addresses stakeholder values and assigns weights to generate an overall value measure. The model is flexible and provides regional and national level use potential.