The Action Team has developed subgroups to focus on the following three areas of interest:

• Assessment—This area includes the evaluation of hazard, stress, and exposure resulting from sediment-associated contaminants. Information required for the human and ecological risk assessment paradigms includes (but is not limited to) toxicity, transport, and the ability of the sediment (biotic and abiotic) to naturally attenuate the contaminants.

• In Situ Containment/Capping—In situ capping as a remediation alternative involves placement of a covering or cap of clean isolating material (e.g., sediment, sand, gravel, geotextiles, etc.) over a deposit of contaminated sediment to isolate it physically and chemically from the aquatic environment.

• In Situ Treatment—A number of in situ remediation technologies are under consideration by the subgroup, including natural attenuation, phytoremediation, introduction of chemical additives to enhance the natural processes, and electrokinetics. The subgroup is most interested in passive technologies that will remediate the contaminants without significantly increasing the stress on the ecology.

The efforts of the three subgroups will be coordinated to create a cohesive research team.

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