Dealing with contaminated dredged materials with reference to the Oslo Convention 1972 and the new Paris Convention 1992

Protection of the sea has received much political attention—for example, at successive North Sea Conferences environmental ministers have formulated a stringent policy with the aim of reducing pollution in the north-east Atlantic. In the past this area received many substances from many sources, but gradually intergovernmental action since 1972 in the Oslo and Paris Conventions has succeeded in tracing the major sources and understanding the effects of these inputs on the marine environment. After long discussion, many dumpings and discharges have been ended because they were considered harmful to the marine environment. Dredging activities were included in the discussions but they may be regarded as being a special case compared with many other disposals.

In general, clean dredged material for sea disposal offers no problems, although restrictions may be caused by physical impacts, mainly to habitats for living organisms. However, this material also has positive, often even beneficial uses. In contrast, contaminated material disposal is restricted and the internationally accepted rule is that the material should not create hazards to human health, harm living resources and marine life or damage amenities or interfere with other legitimate uses of the sea. There are in principle three options for dealing with polluted sediments: doing nothing, remedial action in situ, removal of the contaminated material; occasionally treatment is a possibility. The distinction has been made between the disposal of industrial waste, sewage sludge or dredged material. Industrial waste disposal is now prohibited; sewage sludge may be dumped until 31 December 1998, although dredged material may still be stored at sea under certain conditions. The Oslo Convention 1972 decided with regard to dredged material: that pollution has to be tackled at the source; dumping at sea is forbidden, although dredged materials may be excluded from this; land disposal prevails, although in several countries there is a growing resistance to disposal on land; there should be a precautionary approach against marine disposal; a stand-still principle should be followed where the quantities disposed in a certain year should not be exceeded nor should the quality of the receiving water be reduced; marine disposal should be phased out and, where appropriate, time-limits set; and the polluter pays.

Dredged material is regarded as polluted and as a consequence may in general not be disposed of at sea when it contains substances listed in the Annexes of the Convention. Exceptions to this are indicated by the terms ‘a trace contaminant’, ‘rapidly rendered harmless’ or ‘significant amounts’. Therefore, to achieve uniformity in the application of the Convention, guidelines have been prepared by a joint London Dumping Convention/Oslo Commission working group of experts on dredged material. Several characteristics must be considered when choosing a site for marine disposal and interests such as beach recreation, sport and commercial fishing, nature, cultural or historical interests, navigation, military interests and cables and pipelines should be taken into account. Also the capacity of the area to assimilate disposed matter per time unit must not be exceeded, especially in low energy areas. It is considered that in discussions of the environmental aspects of dredging it is important that associations such as PIANC argue for safe and economic navigation.