Port Chester (FP No. 1) was one of seven waterways that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers-New York District (USACE-NYD) requested the Battelle Marine Sciences Laboratory (MSL) to sample and evaluate for dredging and disposal in March 1994. Sediment samples were collected from Port Chester, as well as from the Hudson River, Gravesend Bay Anchorage, South Brother Island, Buttermilk, Eastchester, and Brown's Creek, during a survey conducted from March 7 through 14, 1994. Combining sample collection and concurrent evaluation of multiple dredged material projects was more cost-effective for the USACE-NYD, because the expense of reference site testing and quality control analyses could be shared among project budgets.Tests and analyses were conducted on Port Chester sediment core samples according to the manual developed by the USACE and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Evaluation of Dredged Material Proposed for Ocean Disposal (Testing Manual), commonly referred to as the "Green Book," and the regional manual developed by the USACE-NYD and EPA Region II, Guidance for Performing Tests on Dredged Material to be Disposed of in Ocean Waters. Because the Port Chester area is located on the border between New York and southeast Connecticut, its dredged material may also be considered for disposal at the Central Long Island Sound Disposal Site (CLIS). Therefore, Port Chester sediment was also tested for possible disposal at the CLIS according to the USACE-New England Division (NED) guidelines,
Guidance for Performing Tests on Dredged Material to be Disposed of in Open Watem (Draft).The evaluation of proposed dredged material from Port Chester consisted of bulk sediment chemical analyses, chemical analyses of site water and dredged material elutriate preparations, water-column and benthic acute toxicity tests, and bioaccumulation studies. Individual sediment core samples collected from Port Chester were analyzed for grain size, moisture content, and total organic carbon (TOC). Additionally, a composite sediment sample, representing the entire area proposed for dredging, was analyzed for bulk density, specific gravity, metals, chlorinated pesticides, polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) congeners, polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), and 1 ,4-dichlorobenzene. Additional testing requirements specified by the USACE-NED consisted of an extended list of sediment chemical parameters of additional metals, chlorinated pesticides, and PAHs. Site water and elutriate water, prepared from the suspended-particulate phase (SPP) of Port Chester sediment, were analyzed for metals, pesticides, and PCBs. Watercolumn or SPP toxicity tests were performed with three species, the mysid Mysidopsis bahia, the juvenile silverside Menidia beryl/ina, and larvae of the mussel Mytilus galloprovincialis. Benthic acute toxicity tests were performed with two amphipods, Ampelisca abdita and Rhepoxynius abronius, as well as with the mysid M. bahia. The amphipod benthic toxicity test procedures followed EPA guidance for reduction of total ammonia ...