survey Results

LYME REGIS DREDGING OPERATIONS: SEDIMENT ANALYSIS RESULTS - Dorset Council undertakes dredging and beach management activities annually. It is prompted by our statutory responsibilities towards maintaining a navigable channel to the harbour; as well as managing Sandy Beach in accordance with a beach management plan. The activities include discharging dredged sediment from the harbour channel, onto Sandy Beach. After which the beach is levelled by way of earth moving machinery. During the process a large volume of dredged material flows over the beach back into the ocean, where it settles in the shallows. There have been concerns about dredged sediment posing a pollution risk and having adverse effects on the marine environment, as well as posing a public health risk. The Coastal Risk team, who is responsible for the execution of the dredging operations, designed a monitoring regime to determine the sediment quality and possible risks, if any. The monitoring consisted of taking five sediment samples, spread evenly over the area so that it is accurately representative of the whole dredging footprint. The samples were then laboratory analysed for selected substances. The substances that were selected are those that can reasonably be associated as a risk factor, with dredging operations of this kind. They are categorised as follows: • Metals • Organotins • Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) • Pesticides As a stakeholder and interested party we wish to inform you of the results of the sediment analysis; and we are pleased to report that there is no indication of environmental and public health risks.