Evaluation and environmental remediation of a contaminated aquatic site: Torre Quetta case study

Contamination of coastal areas due to industrial activities represents an ongoing threat for the environment. As a possible solution, the in situ capping of dangerous materials at the coastline is a safe, environmentally friendly, and viable technology for remediating contaminated coastal areas. The present work is aimed to describe the main aspects concerning the design and verification of a contaminated sediment capping in shallow water and to evaluate various constraints related to the natural environment. The intervention has been considered in order to allow the reuse, for recreational activities, of 2.4 km long coastline of the urbanized area of Bari, in the south of Italy. Although contaminated sediment capping interventions have shown their effectiveness in several smaller scale projects in different countries, an intervention of this size and with the purpose of obtaining a recreational area where there was a danger for human health can be considered unique.