Sustainable sediment management in coastal infrastructures through an innovative technology: the MARINAPLAN PLUS LIFE project

The water field around ports is an area where intense currents and sediment transport rates are usually present and can be affected by low water velocities that take place close to the entrance and inside the port basin. Consequently, sediment can be entrained and accumulated in such areas, creating problems to navigation. The result is that harbour basins and approaches are frequently silted and require ordinary maintenance dredging. The dredging process involves the removal of sediment in its natural deposited condition by using either mechanical or hydraulic equipment. Dredging is a consolidated and proven technology, but involves considerable drawbacks, like notable environmental impact on marine flora and fauna, the increasing of mobility and diffusion of contaminants and pollutants already present on the seabed, the obstruction of navigation and the relatively high and low predictable costs. Moving towards a sustainable sediment management in harbor areas requires the adoption of innovative technologies able to reduce the environmental impacts and to minimize and standardize costs. The paper shows the preliminary results of the MARINAPLAN PLUS LIFE project, which aims to develop and test an innovative sediment by-passing plant alternative to dredging.