Water legislation assessment concerning dredging in harbours and harbour access areas

At regular intervals, the federal state of Schleswig-Holstein carries out maintenance dredging to ensure safe access to ports and harbours of the North and Baltic Seas and to keep the designated depth.

The sediment removed from harbours and access routes is placed or dumped at three officially designated placement sites in the Baltic Sea and three regularly used dumping sites in the North Sea. (Placement site: the material stays in place due to weak currents. Dumping site: the material is dispersed due to currents.)

Aim of the expert report is to assess these sites within the framework of the Water Framework Directive (WFD), the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) as well as national provisions by taking account of current legal cases.

The report provides an application scheme of five successive steps for a simplified assessment process of future disposal of dredged material.