Contaminated sediments in the Elbe estuary: Ecological and economic problems for the Port of Hamburg
✍ Scribed by Ludwig Tent
- Publisher
- Springer
- Year
- 1987
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 773 KB
- Volume
- 149
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 1573-5141
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
The lower Elbe is polluted by poorly treated domestic sewage and industrial effluent. This has led to a major change on the oxygen content of the water and to the presence of contaminated sediment. The Port of Hamburg is situated in the limnic region of the Elbe estuary in West Germany. The areas for cargo handling and storage, industrial and merchant firms, harbor basins and the river Elbe cover 87 km 2 (12°70 of the Hamburg state territory). In the lower Elbe and in many waterways within the harbor, water depths (about 13 m) are maintained by dredging. The resulting 2.5-million m 3 of dredged material are disposed on land by hydraulic transport. With increasing knowledge about sediment contamination, problems have arisen regarding further disposal. Intensive investigations have been conducted concerning alternative solutions, waste water treatment, safety for groundwater, gasification, metal extraction and possibilities for agricultural use. Techniques have been developed for the controlled disposal of dredged material in hill-shaped deposits.