Framework for Real-Time Decision-Making: New Bedford Harbor Pilot Dredging Study

摘要

New Bedford Harbor is located along Buzzards Bay between the cities of New Bedford and Fairhaven, Mass. Since the 1940s, electronics and manufacturing companies in the area have discharged effluents containing polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) into the Acushnet River and the harbor. Over the past 15 years, nearly 18,000 acres of PCB- and heavy metals-contaminated sediment have been identified, with PCB concentrations as high as 100,000 parts per million (ppm) in some areas of the upper harbor. In 1982, the site was added to the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) National Priorities List of hazardous waste sites slated for cleanup under the Superfund Act. A feasibility study conducted by EPA in 1984 proposed several alternatives for the remediation of NBH including dredging contaminated sediments out of the harbor. Federal, State, and local officials, as well as the public, expressed concern over dredging. Many believed that sediments resuspended during dredging would cause the release of contaminants that would affect biota inhabiting both the harbor and Buzzards Bay. Others cited potential pollution problems from contaminated water (leachate) leaking from the proposed disposal site. In order to address these concerns, the EPA decided to pre-test dredging and possible disposal options.