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Remediation to restoration to revitalization: Tools to support remedy decisions
Citation:
Hoffman, J. Remediation to restoration to revitalization: Tools to support remedy decisions. EPA tools and resources Webinar series, Duluth, MN, November 18, 2018.
Impact/Purpose:
Remediation to Restoration to Revitalization (R2R2R) is a framework for translating ecological consequences from remediation and restoration projects into environmental and socioeconomic benefits such as swimmable water, enhanced recreational amenities, and green development. Office of Research and Development scientists have developed tools to evaluate the effectiveness of remediation and restoration work, and integrated these ideas and approaches into a Health Impact Assessment to demonstrate how the tools can be used to assess the public benefits of remediation and restoration projects, and to support remedy decision-making and public engagement.
Description:
The term “R2R2R” refers to the process of Remediating contaminated sediments and Restoring ecosystems to foster sustainable Revitalization in coastal communities. R2R2R is a framework for translating ecological consequences from remediation and restoration projects into environmental and socioeconomic benefits such as swimmable water, enhanced recreational amenities, and green development. In practice, this means community perceptions and priorities for future use of the restored ecosystem are fundamental to remediation decision-making. A number of tools have been developed or modified to support R2R2R, including Remedy Effectiveness (RE) assessment to determine the ecosystem-wide change in contaminant burden post-remedy, Biota-Sediment Accumulation Factor (BSAF) modeling to support sediment quality goals for ecosystem restoration, and Health Impact Assessment (HIA) to characterize the health outcomes for the community as part of a revitalized neighborhood or waterfront. We will present the background and a demonstrated application for each tool, and discuss how they can operate in concert under the R2R2R framework.