Erica Janocha, a biologist with U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Savannah District, has a critical role in protecting Georgia's waterways by ensuring water quality in the Savannah River's dredged material containment areas (DMCAs).

While the harbor is being dredged (either for the Savannah Harbor Expansion Project or routine maintenance dredging), the material is placed in DMCAs on the South Carolina side of the Savannah River.

Biologists like Janocha test the water in those DMCAs weekly for pH, dissolved oxygen and turbidity before it is released back into the waterway.

As the dredges began to remove material from areas of the channel that contain naturally occurring cadmium, Savannah District also incorporated cadmium testing in its water quality assessment to ensure it remains in compliance with its Environmental Protection Agency water quality certificate.

The Savannah District will continue to test for cadmium for a period of one year after that material has been capped in the DMCA with non-cadmium containing dredge material, and will continue to test the other parameters (pH, dissolved oxygen and turbidity) weekly.

Water quality testing in the DMCAs is just one aspect of Savannah District's commitment to limiting the impacts of dredging on the environment.

Video produced by Jeremy S. Buddemeier, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Savannah District.

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