T1 PM Contaminant Cycling Assessment and Prevention in the NY/NJ Harbor (Part 2)
Tuesday, 15 November 2005: 1:50 PM - 5:30 PM in Ballroom 1

(LOD-1117-832327) Contamination Assessment and Reduction Project (CARP): A system-wide evaluation and estuarine model for the NY/NJ Harbor Estuary.

Lodge, J, Suszkowski, D, Douglas, S,

ABSTRACT- Abstract The New York/New Jersey Harbor estuary is the hydrologic terminus of a 35,000 km2 watershed containing the most densely populated metropolitan region in the United States. The estuary also encompasses the largest commercial port on the eastern seaboard of the Americas and the third largest port in the western hemisphere. Over the centuries, considerable amounts of industrial waste has been discharged into the waters of the estuary, resulting in significant degradation of water and sediment quality and leaving most of sediments in the Harbor unsuitable for ocean disposal and the fish unfit for consumption . CARP has successfully brought the region together in a determined effort to reduce the contamination that is causing dredged material management problems and ecosystem use impairments. The goals of CARP are to determine the causes of, and potential remedies for, the contamination of harbor sediments, to monitor the success of these remedies if implemented. To meet these goals CARP has developed a estuary wide mathematical model consisting of hydrodynamic, sediment transport, organic carbon production, chemical fate and transport, and bioaccumulation sub models. The model is being used to evaluate and prioritize management scenarios that will begin to restore the estuary to its full economic and environmental potential.

Key words: New York/New Jersey Harbor, dredged material management, chemical fate and transport