Strategies for management of contaminated sediments within the Meuse river-system

Abstract

The sediments in the Meuse valley are contaminated on a large scale by diffuse sources. The project 'Maaswerken' aims at the enlargement of the discharge capacity of the river Meuse. In the realization of the project, a full-scale clean-up operation would not be realistic and not effective because of recontamination and the enormous scale and costs involved. The concept of dynamic soil management offers a solution to this problem. This approach to remediation implies putting back contaminated sediments of indigenous quality within the river system. Preconditions are determined by risk assessment and local conditions. The first aim is improvement of the environmental quality of the river system. Other objectives such as the development of natural areas, the mitigation of geohydrological effects and the exploitation of sand and gravel can be realized by several forms of beneficial use of contaminated sediments. Dynamic soil management is expected to be a pragmatic and cost-effective solution for the problem of contaminated sediments.