Potier, Beth

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University of New HampshireUniversity of New Hampshire Scholars' RepositoryMedia Relations Administrative Offices6-16-2008UNH Researchers Test Sediment-ScrubbingTechnology In Cocheco RiverBeth PotierUNH Media RelationsFollow this and additional works at: https://scholars.unh.edu/newsThis News Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Administrative Offices at University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository. It hasbeen accepted for inclusion in Media Relations by an authorized administrator of University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository. For moreinformation, please contact nicole.hentz@unh.edu.Recommended CitationPotier, Beth, "UNH Researchers Test Sediment-Scrubbing Technology In Cocheco River" (2008). UNH Today. 472.https://scholars.unh.edu/news/472UNH Researchers Test Sediment-Scrubbing Technology In Cocheco Riverhttp://www.unh.edu/delete/news/cj_nr/2008/june/bp16sediment.cfm.html[9/9/2016 1:04:48 PM] UNH Researchers Test Sediment-Scrubbing TechnologyIn Cocheco RiverMedia Contact:  Beth Potier 603-862-1566UNH Media RelationsJune 16, 2008Reporters and editors: To schedule a site visit to the Cocheco River, contact JeffreyMelton at 603-862-2107 or Jeffrey.melton@unh.edu, or Kevin Gardner at 603-862-4334 or Kevin.gardner@unh.edu.DURHAM, N.H. - In a mud flat at the edge of the Cocheco River, just outside downtown Dover,scientists from the University of New Hampshire's Contaminated Sediments Center are testingan innovative way to treat polluted sediment in coastal waterways.Rather than dredging up the problem, or burying it under several feet of sand, they've createda patch ï¿½ black geotextile mats designed to cap and stabilize pollution in place. Over thenext two years, UNH associate professor Kevin Gardner, research assistant professor JeffreyMelton, and a team of UNH students will monitor these mats to evaluate the effectiveness ofthis new approach."We need to know how these mats behave when they're buried under mud for a few years,compared to how they performed in the lab," says Melton. "What will happen to them in thisintertidal zone with boats, waves, birds, and weather? How will they impact bugs and otheraquatic life in the sediment?"The mats are six feet square and one inch thick. They consist of a mixture of reactivematerials sandwiched between two layers of geotextile fabric, creating a sort of quilt thattraps pollutants but allows water to flow through. The reactive "filling" of this quilt containsthree different substances that bind and stabilize different pollutants. One such substance ï¿½a UNH-patented technology based on a natural form of phosphorus ï¿½ treats toxic heavymetals associated with industrial pollution such as lead, copper, zinc and cadmium."But you don't just find one pollutant at a site," says Melton. "Everything is all mixed up in thesediment." So he and his colleagues added organoclay and activated charcoal ("like in yourBrita filter," he says), which adhere to and treat toxic chemicals such as polychlorinatedbiphenyls (PCBs), polyaromatic hydrocarbons, (PAHs), and petroleum products that routinelyenter waterways through stormwater runoff.The project is funded by the Cooperative Institute for Coastal and Estuarine EnvironmentalTechnology (CICEET), a partnership of UNH and the National Oceanic and AtmosphericAdministration, and NH Sea Grant."Polluted sediment is a nationwide problem," says Richard Langan, CICEET's UNH co-director."We need better tools to identify and treat areas where this pollution has the potential tothreaten human and ecosystem health. Technology demonstrations like these, that takeUNH Researchers Test Sediment-Scrubbing Technology In Cocheco Riverhttp://www.unh.edu/delete/news/cj_nr/2008/june/bp16sediment.cfm.html[9/9/2016 1:04:48 PM]advantage of cutting-edge science, are key to making that happen."The mats present an alternative approach to remediating contaminated sediment; morecommon responses include dredging or capping sediment beneath several feet of sand. Butdredging is expensive, disrupts habitats and poses the problem of how to move - and whereto put - all that toxic sediment. Sand caps have questionable long-term effectiveness and canhinder boat traffic and impact aquatic life. "There's no silver bullet. What we are exploring ispotentially a great tool to add to the tool box," says Melton.Melton admits that even as Americans grow increasingly aware of environmental woes,sediment pollution does not score high on the "green glamour" scale. Yet, he points out,everyone is already feeling its impact through regular advisories that close shellfish beds orwarn of eating fish contaminated by heavy metals and persistent organic pollutants like PCBsor PAHs."You can enjoy a great day of fishing, but if you can't eat the catch, there's a problem," saysMelton. It's estimated that 20 percent of the top six inches of all sediment in U.S. rivers,lakes, streams and estuaries is contaminated. In 2004, the U.S. Environmental ProtectionAgency reported there were 3,221 fish consumption advisories in state waters.Melton and Gardner chose the Cocheco not because its sediment is especially polluted, butrather because its characteristics as a well-used tidal river and its proximity to UNH make itan ideal laboratory. They plan to compare the performance of the mats in the Cocheco tothose they've laid in Cottonwood Bay in Grand Prairie, Texas, adjacent to the Dallas NationalAir Station, in a demonstration funded by the Department of Defense's StrategicEnvironmental Research and Development Program (SERDP).Moving forward, researchers from the Contaminated Sediments Center, part of UNH'sEnvironmental Research Group, plan to test new sampling technologies that measure thescope and potential threat of contamination in sediment. In addition, they're always on thelookout for new test sites.To learn more about UNH's Contaminated Sediments Center, go tohttp://www.unh.edu/erg/ccsr/index.html.-30Photographs available to download:http://www.unh.edu/news/img/cocheco/mat.jpgCaption: A close-up of the inside of the mats, where reactive substances are distributedthrough a lofty fiber, where they trap and treat pollutants in the contaminated sediment.Credit: Lisa Nugent, UNH Photo Serviceshttp://www.unh.edu/news/img/cocheco/gardner_melton.jpgCaption: In June 2008, UNH researchers Kevin Gardner and Jeffrey Melton of theContaminated Sediments Center placed geotextile mats on a mud flat at the edge of the tidalCocheco River in Dover, N.H. The researchers are testing these mats as an innovative way totreat polluted sediment in coastal waterways.Credit: Lisa Nugent, UNH Photo Serviceshttp://www.unh.edu/news/img/cocheco/cocheco.jpgCaption: UNH research assistant professor Jeffrey Melton (l) and associate professor KevinGardner, both of the Contaminated Sediments Center, are testing a new treatment forUNH Researchers Test Sediment-Scrubbing Technology In Cocheco Riverhttp://www.unh.edu/delete/news/cj_nr/2008/june/bp16sediment.cfm.html[9/9/2016 1:04:48 PM]contaminated sediment at the edge of the Cocheco River in Dover, N.H.Credit: Lisa Nugent, UNH Photo Services 

UNH Researchers Test Sediment-Scrubbing Technology In Cocheco River

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UNH Researchers Test Sediment-Scrubbing Technology In Cocheco River

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