Health risk assessment linked to filling coastal quarries with treated dredged seaport sediments Yves Perrodin a, ⁎, Gilles Donguy a , Evens Emmanuel b , Thierry Winiarski a a Université de Lyon, ENTPE, UMR CNRS 5023, Laboratoire LEHNA, 2 rue Maurice Audin, 69518 Vaulx-en-Velin, France b Laboratoire de Qualité de l'Eau et de l'Environnement, Université Quisqueya, BP 796 Port-au-Prince, Haïti HIGHLIGHTS • The release of polluted dredged seaport sediments into the sea must be avoided. • Their use after treatment for the filling-up of quarries is proposed by managers. • An original health risk assessment methodology was created to validate this option. • It includes the use of a lysimeter and a georadar for the exposure assessment stage. • The example studied concludes to a health risk linked to arsenic in the groundwater. abstract article info Article history: Received 22 December 2013 Received in revised form 6 March 2014 Accepted 22 March 2014 Available online xxxx Editor: Filip M.G. Tack Keywords: Sediments Seaports Pollutants Quarries Toxicity Health risk assessment Dredged seaport sediments raise complex management problems since it is no longer possible to discharge them into the sea. Traditional waste treatments are poorly adapted for these materials in terms of absorbable volumes and cost. In this context, filling quarries with treated sediments appears interesting but its safety regarding human health must be demonstrated. To achieve this, a specific methodology for assessing health risks has been developed and tested on three seaport sediments. This methodology includes the development of a concep- tual model of the global scenario studied and the definition of specific protocols for each of its major steps. The approach proposed includes in particular the use of metrological and experimental tools that are new in this con- text: (i) an experimental lysimeter for characterizing the deposit emissions, and (ii) a geological radar for iden- tifying potential preferential pathways between the sediment deposit and the groundwater. The application of this approach on the three sediments tested for the scenario studied showed the absence of health risk associated with the consumption of groundwater for substances having a “threshold effect” (risk quotient b 1), and an ac- ceptable risk for substances having a “non-threshold effect”, with the notable exception of arsenic (individual risk equal to 3.10 -6 ). © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Seaports are regularly confronted with the need to dredge their sed- iments. In France, seaport dredging generates from 25 to 40 million tons of material annually which has to be managed afterwards. Most of these sediments are uncontaminated and are therefore discharged into the sea as they are. The authorization of these discharges depends on the regulation in force in the country which is concerned. In the case of France, this authorization is given based on 3 principal criteria: the sediment volume, the proximity or not to an oyster farming area, and the concentration level in pollutants (MEEDDAT, 2008; IFREMER, 2001). If the discharge into the sea is not authorized, the contaminated sediments must be treated on land, which poses complex management problems. Indeed, traditional waste treatment methods (landfilling, incineration, physico-chemical centers, etc.) are not suitable, either eco- nomically or in terms of absorbable volumes, for storing this new source of contaminated materials. Based on this observation, the “SEDiGEST” national research project (SEDIGEST, 2011) focused on filling coastal quarries with dredged seaport sediments, an attractive alternative because it also allows solving the nuisance linked to the presence on the coast of a large number of quarries which disfigure the landscape. However, the safety of this solution regarding local ecosystems and human health must be demonstrated. The risk assessment on ecosys- tems has been the subject of a first paper (Perrodin et al., 2012). The present article concerns the development of a health risk assessment methodology, usable when there is a possibility of pollution of the groundwater situated beneath the quarry, if this groundwater is used Science of the Total Environment 485–486 (2014) 387–395 ⁎ Corresponding author at: ENTPE, 2 rue Maurice Audin, 69518 Vaulx-en-Velin, France. Tel.: +33 4 72 04 70 58; fax: +33 4 72 04 77 43. E-mail address: yves.perrodin@entpe.fr (Y. Perrodin). http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2014.03.104 0048-9697/© 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Science of the Total Environment journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/scitotenv