Environmental Management of Dredging Activities: Monitoring System and an Empirical Approach to Estimating Values of Background and Limit Turbidity

The land use, climate change, hydrology, geology and topography determine sediment supply and transport in water resources. However, due to human-made activities, the presence of contaminants, such as heavy metals, nutrients, pesticides and other organic micro-pollutants, threatens the good ecological status of marine systems. In areas with a long record of sedimentation, sediment cores reflect the history of the pollution in each basin. Dredging activities ensure the navigability of harbors and the removal of contaminated sediments. However, an environmental strategy is necessary to achieve the best environmental management practice during a dredging activity. In particular, monitoring the turbidity data produced from the excavation, transport, and placement of dredged sediment is one of the most important management practices to avoid unacceptable ecological impacts. This study presents the environmental management of the dredging activities in the harbor of Bari (Southern Italy, Adriatic Sea), showing the monitoring system and an empirical approach to estimating the values of background and limit turbidity.