CEDA-IADC: Dredging for Sustainable Infrastructure Book Available

The book Dredging for Sustainable Infrastructure gives state-of-the-art guidance on how to design, implement and manage a water infrastructure project with a dredging component.

Presented insights result from a wealth of up-to-date knowledge pooled by a team of scientists and practicing industry experts which was moderated by an Editorial Board comprised of CEDA and IADC representatives.

Containing contributions from leading specialists in the field, the publication will serve as an authoritative guide to delivering dredging projects that enhance the natural and socio-economic systems.

ABOUT THE BOOK

With growing environmental awareness and increasing climate pressures on low-lying deltas, modern-day society puts incredibly strong demands on the sustainability of water infrastructure projects.

Classic approaches towards the design and implementation of such projects no longer suffice in satisfying these demands. Instead, radically different methods are needed which demand multidisciplinary project teams to adopt entirely new ways of thinking, acting and interacting.

Application of these new methods results in innovative water infrastructure solutions that meet the primary functional requirements while at the same time delivering added value for nature and society as an inherent part of project development.

The book Dredging for Sustainable Infrastructure presents state-of-the-art guidance to achieve dredging projects that fulfil their primary functional requirement, while adding value to the (natural and socio-economic) system.

The publication promotes the message that through a thorough understanding of these systems and with proactive engagement of stakeholders throughout a project’s phases, a value added project can be successfully achieved.

During a conference to celebrate its launch, the first copy of Dredging for Sustainable Infrastructure has been conferred by Polite Laboyrie, CEDA President and Chair of the Editorial Board, to Dr Hartwig Kremer, UN Environment, Head of GEMS Water Unit and Climate Technology Centre and Network, CTCN.

Dredging for Sustainable Infrastructure is now available worldwide and is designed to assist project owners, regulators, consultants, designers and contractors.

THE BOOK’S SCOPE

With growing environmental awareness and increasing climate pressures on low-lying deltas, modern-day society puts incredibly strong demands on the sustainability of water infrastructure projects. Classic approaches towards the design and implementation of such projects no longer suffice in satisfying these demands.

Recent approaches look beyond the scope of isolated dredging activities and embrace a wider context, by considering water infrastructure development projects as an opportunity to also add value to the (natural and socio-economic) system in order to achieve more sustainable projects.

In the past 10-15 years, the international dredging community has embraced this kind of thinking and the approach to dredging has been transformed. From mainly dealing with negative impacts, often at the end of the project design and the start of the construction phase, towards a much more proactive approach where water infrastructure projects are being considered as part of the natural and socio-economic system in which they are situated, and stakeholders are being engaged much earlier in the project development process to facilitate the search for opportunities to create added value.

This change in attitude has a huge influence on the initiation, planning and design, execution and maintenance of water infrastructure projects. Comprehensive guidance on how to bring this into practice has to date been lacking. With this book a wide range of professionals have attempted to collect and integrate their experiences and best practices, to deliver this state-of-the-art guidance book on Dredging for Sustainable Infrastructure.

Comprised of nine chapters, the book discusses the topics of integrating dredging into sustainable development, sustainability in project initiation, planning and design, assessment and management of sustainability, equipment and methods, dredged material management, models and tools, and monitoring and data. The publication aims to provide answers to the following questions:

• What is the role of dredging in the global drive for more sustainable development?
• How can we design more sustainable infrastructure that aligns with the natural and socio-economic system?
• How can we assess and stimulate the potential positive effects of infrastructure development and compare these with the potential negative effects?
• What equipment and which sediment management options do we have?
• What tools and information do we have to make choices and control the project?