Abstract

  The removal activities of marine sediments represent a very frequent event and they are a requirement to allow much of the anthrophic activities. This is especially important in a country with a large coastal extension like Italy: the harbour maintenance, the increased maritime traffics, the protection of coastal areas against erosion and the promotion of seaside tourism.
Considering the general trend of reduction of dumping activities to protect the marine environment of the Mediterranean Sea and the recent foundation of the biggest marine protected area (90,000 km2) "International Cetacean Sanctuary", beneficial use of sediment is the new tendency promoting alternative options as beach nourishment, realization of confined areas (i.e. CDF) and treatment processes. Italian legislation see the sea dumping of dredged material as the last management solution and the sediment quality assessment for each specific management option is carried out case by case. Moreover, a monitoring phase must be carried out both before and after the dumping activities, depending on the quality and on the amount of discharged materials.
  With the aim to develop a specific technical framework in agreement with the recent international guidelines, a basic document to modify and integrate the existing Italian legislation has been published by ICRAM. In the volume the following topics were improved:
identification and location of harbour contaminant sources;

• technical procedures about sampling design and characterisation of dredging sediment (list of chemical parameters to be analysed and the standard analytical methods);
• chemical and ecotoxicological criteria to assess the sediment quality;
• definition of specific sediment quality classes (A, B, C) and their management options;
• management and monitoring of dredging operations, dumping sites, beach nourishment activities, Confined Disposal Facilities (CDF) and treatments of contaminated sediment, ensuring the environmental safeguard