Great Lakes Dredging Team Asks for Comments on Regional Beneficial Use Testing Manual

The Great Lakes Dredging Team (GLDT) will release a revised version of the Regional Beneficial Use Testing Manual (Environmental Evaluation and Manage­ment of Dredged Material for Beneficial Use: A Regional Man­ual for the Great Lakes). The technical committee working on the draft manual has made prog­ress in the last few months, revising the document to address comments it received in 2017.

A brief update of these revisions, highlighting two topics for discussion, was provided during the fall webinar. That pre­sentation can be found here.

The manual preparation team is work­ing with the dredging stakeholders to ensure that this beneficial use testing manual becomes a useful tool for the entire Great Lakes dredging and sediment manage­ment community. This testing manual strives to present a standard and agreed upon set of ground rules for evaluating the environmental suitability of dredged material for a vari­ety of beneficial uses. This should make it easier for agencies to work together on beneficial use projects. Once final, the manual would allow project planners to make sound deci­sions and implement beneficial use projects more efficiently and in a manner fully protective of human health and the en­vironment. All GLDT agencies are invited to provide input to make this a truly regional manual.

Comments on the revised draft of the Regional Beneficial Use Testing Manual should be sent by August 30 to Karen G. Keil, Ph.D., Environmental Toxicologist, Environmental Health Section, Buffalo District, Corps of Engineers at karen.g.keil@usace.army.mil.