Dredging: Difference between revisions

'''Dredging''' is the [[Digging|excavation]] of material from a water environment. Possible reasons for dredging include improving existing [[Water feature|water features]]; reshaping land and water features to alter [[drainage]], [[navigability]], and commercial use; constructing [[dam]]s, [[Levee|dike]]s, and other controls for streams and shorelines; and recovering valuable mineral deposits or marine life having commercial value. In all but a few situations the excavation is undertaken by a specialist floating [[heavy machinery|plant]], known as a dredger.

 

 

Dredging has significant environmental impacts: it can disturb [[Marine sediment|marine sediments]], leading to both short- and long-term [[water pollution]], destroy important [[Marine ecosystem|seabed ecosystems]], and can release [[Legacy pollution|legacy human-sourced toxins]] captured in the sediment. These environmental impacts can significantly hurt marine wildlife populations, contaminate sources of drinking water and interrupt economic activities such as fishing.