ABSTRACT
The U. S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has authority, under a variety of statutes, to manage contaminated sediments. In 1985 and 1987, EPA's Office of Water conducted inventories of contaminated sediment sites. This chapter describes how current EPA programs handle the assessment, prevention, remediation, and dredged material management of contaminated sediment. It summarizes EPA's authorities and programs for general assessments of sediment quality and generally applicable assessment procedures that may be used in a variety of programs. The Clean Water Act (CWA) is the single most important law dealing with the environmental quality of all U. S. surface waters, both marine and fresh. In a recent review of the state of knowledge regarding the extent and severity of sediment contamination, the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) Committee on Contaminated Marine Sediments concluded that assessments based on available data provide only a partial picture of the total problem.
