Dredging & Sustainability

12 February 2021 Mark Lee

 Definition

What is sustainability?
Sustainability means meeting our own Society
needs without compromising the ability
of future generations to meet their own
needs.

To achieve sustainability we need to Sustainable

consider not only natural resources but
also economic resources and society Environment Economy

12 February 2021 © HR Wallingford 2021

 UN’s Goals

Coastal
protection
and flood risk
management

Navigation
infrastructure

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 Sustainability & Dredging
◼ Can be introduced at all stages
◼ The greatest opportunity are during early project development

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 Sustainability & Dredging
◼ Sustainability can be increased by
 increasing the value of the project via the “services” it provides
 decreasing the project “costs” (environmental impacts and other non-
monetary costs).
◼ Ecosystem Services are of importance to achieving more sustainable
projects.

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 Ecosystem Services

Ecosystem Services are benefits people obtain from

ecosystems
◼ Supporting Services – e.g. soil formation and primary production
◼ Provisioning Services – e.g. food production, raw materials such as
lumber
◼ Regulating Services – e.g. flood protection and carbon sequestration
◼ Cultural Services – e.g. recreation and education
Ecosystem Services allows us to quantify in monetary terms the
benefits to society which projects can bring.

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 Ecosystem Services Based Project Design
MAP

Prins Hendrik Zanddijk – Texel NL

Terra & Aqua 157 – winter 2019

12 February 2021 © HR Wallingford 2021

 Ecosystem Services Based Project Design
ASSESSMENT
Potential effects of 3 scenarios on the yearly provisioning of ecosystem services
Ecosystem Service Indicator Unit Dike Tender design Final design
restoration
Provisioning
Agricultural production Expected agricultural production polders k€/y 0 26.8 26.8
Fish production Fish production supported by nursery function k€/y 0.6 4.5 4.9
Drinking water - - 0 0 0
production
Regulating
Climate regulation C sequestration/burial rate k€/y 6–7 21.1–53 19.9–.52.2
Water quality regulation N removal/retention/burial rate k€/y 190.1–225.5 659.9–1255.8 743.2–1348.2
P retention/burial rate k€/y 0.3–5.9 7.5–154.8 9.2–167.2
Salinisation prevention - - 0 0 0
Air quality regulation - - 0 0 0
Flood protection Avoided damage costs mio € 60 60 60
Avoided casualties # people 0–5 0–5 0–5
Erosion prevention Reduced dike maintenance costs by wave attenuation k€/y 0 37.6 37.6

Sedimentation - - 0 0 0
regulation
Cultural
Recreation Landscape quality, infrastructure score + ++ +++
Heritage Heritage values score + - -
Cognitive development Expertise, know-how score 0 + +

Sum Additional Monetary Benefits (excluding flood protection) mio €/y 0.2–0.23 0.75–1.53 0.84–1.67

12 February 2021 © HR Wallingford 2021

 Ecosystem Services Based Project Design
BUSINNESS CASE
Evaluation of the cost efficiency of the sand dike

Dike restoration Tender design Final design

Construction cost 18.80 mio € 23.90 mio € 23.90 mio €
Management and 18.80 mio € x 0.2% / 20000 m3/y x 6 20000 m3/y x 6
maintenance costs per y €/m3 €/m3
year = 0.04 mio €/y = 0.12 mio €/y = 0.12 mio €/y

Ecosystems services 0.2–0.23 mio €/y 0.75–1.53 mio €/y 0.84–1.67 mio €/y
benefits per year (min-
max estimate)

Total benefits vs cost 0.16–0.19 mio €/y 0.63–1.41 mio €/y 0.72–1.55 mio €/y
per year (min-max
estimate)

12 February 2021 © HR Wallingford 2021

 Sustainability & Dredging

The Prins Hendrik Zanddijk is an example of a “nature-based

solution” it is a soft defence or soft engineering
Nature-based solutions involve working with nature to address societal
challenges.
◼ EcoShape
◼ Working with Nature
◼ Engineering with Nature

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 Nature-based Solution vs Hard Engineering

12 February 2021 © HR Wallingford 2021

 Sustainability & Dredging

PIANC: The Working with Nature (WwN) philosophy

means doing things in a different order. Instead of
developing a design and then assessing its
environmental impacts – an approach which
inevitably revolves around damage limitation – WwN
advocates the following steps:

◼ Establish project need and objectives

◼ Understand the environment
◼ Make meaningful use of stakeholder engagement: identify win win options,
think positively, impacts can be positive not just negative
◼ Prepare project proposals / design to meet functional objectives and
benefit nature

12 February 2021 © HR Wallingford 2021

 Other Ways To Increase Sustainability

◼ Involve stakeholders in project planning and designs from the outset

◼ Increasing the value of the “services” a project provides?
 Add value to projects through multi-disciplinary collaboration e.g. include
ecologists in project designs as well as engineers;
 Re-use of dredged materials which may otherwise be disposed
◼ By decreasing the “costs” of a project, including project impacts
 Adaptive Management is important in controlling impacts

12 February 2021 © HR Wallingford 2021

 Stakeholder Engagement

◼ Any party with an interest or concern in a project is a stakeholder

◼ Don’t overlook any stakeholders e.g. be inclusive of:
 Owners of near-by infrastructure which may be affected by the project
 Regulators
◼ Different stakeholders will have different perspectives and different
knowledge bases. This diversity is important

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 Stakeholder Engagement

◼ Stakeholders can be classified based on a range of different criteria

◼ During projects stakeholders can change their positions!

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 Stakeholder Engagement

◼ Funding bodies such as the

International Finance
Corporation (part of the World
Bank) take Stakeholder
Engagement seriously

12 February 2021 © HR Wallingford 2021

 Other Ways To Increase Sustainability

◼ Increasing the value of the “services” a project provides?

 Add value to projects through multi-disciplinary collaboration e.g. include

ecologists in project designs as well as engineers;

12 February 2021 © HR Wallingford 2021

 Other Ways To Increase Sustainability

◼ Increasing the value of the “services” a project provides?

 Re-use of dredged materials which may otherwise be disposed

Basic principle: think of dredged sediment as a resource,

not as a waste, unless or until it is proved otherwise

12 February 2021 © HR Wallingford 2021

 Other Ways To Increase Sustainability

◼ Increasing the value of the “services” a project provides?

 Re-use of dredged materials which may otherwise be disposed

12 February 2021 © HR Wallingford 2021

 Other Ways To Increase Sustainability

◼ Increasing the value of the “services” a project provides?

 Re-use of dredged materials which may otherwise be disposed

12 February 2021 © HR Wallingford 2021

 Other Ways To Increase Sustainability

◼ Increasing the value of the “services” a project provides?

 Re-use of dredged materials which may otherwise be disposed
• Re-location of sediment within the sediment system
• Strategic sediment placement
• Erosion control / habitat creation by saltmarsh and
foreshore replenishment
• Erosion control by Beach Nourishment
• Use material in earthworks
• Use material on agricultural land
• Use as construction aggregate
• Use for making products such as bricks
• Use in creating recreational areas
• Re-habilitation of borrow pits

12 February 2021 © HR Wallingford 2021

 Other Ways To Increase Sustainability

◼ By decreasing the “costs” of a project, including project impacts

 Potential negative project impacts

– Removal of habitat
– Turbidity
– Smothering
– Noise
– Emissions
– Light pollution
– Reduction in marine access for commerce or recreation
– Contaminant release
– Changes in sediment transport patterns / sediment budget
– Changes in wave energy and current speeds leading to erosion
– Change the relief / texture of the bed of the water body

12 February 2021 © HR Wallingford 2021

 Other Ways To Increase Sustainability

◼ By decreasing the “costs” of a project, including project impacts

 Potential mechanisms for achieving reduction
in turbidity / sediment release
– Dredge less
– Choice of dredging plant
– Alter the way the dredging plant is
operated
– Limit dredging to quiescent periods and
cleanup spill
– Silt curtains (can only use them in certain
low energy conditions)
– Bubble curtains

 Understand sensitive receptors if possible – magnitude and duration

12 February 2021 © HR Wallingford 2021
 Other Ways To Increase Sustainability

◼ By decreasing the “costs” of a project, including project impacts

 Adaptive Management is important in controlling impacts

Adaptive Management involves having a plan to

monitor the project to assess whether changes and
impacts are in line with expectations and if not then
alter aspects of the project implementation in pre-
agreed ways.

Manage the project in an adaptive way based on

data

It is a way of managing risk and uncertainty

12 February 2021 © HR Wallingford 2021

 Other Ways To Increase Sustainability

◼ By decreasing the “costs” of a project, including project impacts

 Adaptive Management is important in controlling impacts

12 February 2021 © HR Wallingford 2021

 Monitoring For Adaptive Management

12 February 2021 © HR Wallingford 2021

Questions?
m.lee@hrwallingford.com

12 February 2021 Mark Lee