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--- ospar_sampling_guidelines [2025/11/20 13:56] – ↷ Page name changed from ospar_guidelines to ospar_sampling_guidelines nefcadmin
+++ ospar_sampling_guidelines [2026/01/07 21:05] (current) – [Interactive Calculator] nefcadmin
@@ Line 44: / Line 44: @@
 .5 The period between sampling has been agreed as three years, but if the results of the analyses indicate that the material meets national assessment criteria (e.g. below lower action level), sampling in the same area may be reduced to every five years, provided that there are no material changes to the sediment (e.g. dredging) or new sources of contamination likely to lead to deterioration of the quality of the material in the meantime.
-.6 It may be possible, following assessment of the results of an initial full survey, to reduce either the number of sampling stations or the number of determinants and still provide sufficient information for 7 permitting purposes. If a reduced sampling programme does not confirm the earlier analyses, the full survey should be repeated. If the list of determinants is reduced, further analysis of the complete list of determinants is advisable every five years. The second and third sentence of this paragraph needs to be applied consistent with the provisions of the primary list of chemical determinants in Technical Annex I.
+.6 It may be possible, following assessment of the results of an initial full survey, to reduce either the number of sampling stations or the number of determinants and still provide sufficient information for permitting purposes. If a reduced sampling programme does not confirm the earlier analyses, the full survey should be repeated. If the list of determinants is reduced, further analysis of the complete list of determinants is advisable every five years. The second and third sentence of this paragraph needs to be applied consistent with the provisions of the primary list of chemical determinants in Technical Annex I.
 .7 In areas where sediment chemistry has been shown to exceed action levels, i.e. demonstrates high levels of contamination, or where contamination can be expected, then analysis of all the relevant determinants should be frequent and linked to the permit renewal procedure.
@@ Line 56: / Line 56: @@
 ===== Tees 10 Year Maintenance Dredging Renewal Application MLA/2025/00263 =====
-The sediment sampling plan (SAM/2024/00054) was initially produced in fulfilment of the requirement for a final mid-licence sampling scheme for the previous 10 year maintenance dredging licence.  However, the MMO subsequently agreed that the sediment sampling plan (SAM/2024/00054) was sufficient to support the 10-year maintenance dredge disposal licence (L/2025/00366/1) for Tees and Hartlepool.
+The sediment sampling plan ([[this>RiverTees/Planning/MLA_2025_00263/Additional Documents/SAM202400054.pdf|SAM/2024/00054]]) was initially produced in fulfilment of the requirement for a final mid-licence sampling scheme for the previous 10 year maintenance dredging licence.  However, the MMO subsequently agreed that the sediment sampling plan ([[this>RiverTees/Planning/MLA_2025_00263/Additional Documents/SAM202400054.pdf|SAM/2024/00054]]) was sufficient to support the 10-year maintenance dredge disposal licence ([[this>RiverTees/Planning/MLA_2025_00263/Response Documents/Licence Document (Marine).pdf|L/2025/00366/1]]) for Tees and Hartlepool.
 ==== Incorrect Volume Approach Taken in Sampling Plan ====
@@ Line 62: / Line 62: @@
 "1.2 PD Teesport Limited undertakes maintenance dredging of the Tees Estuary and Hartlepool Channel to maintain navigable depths as part of their statutory harbour authority responsibilities. Under marine licence L/2015/00427, this dredged material is disposed of at Tees Bay A (TY160) offshore disposal site. Marine licence L/2015/00427 is valid until 30th December 2025 and permits the annual disposal of 2,438,420 wet tonnes (1,875,700m3) of material from the Tees and 451,280 wet tonnes (347,400m3) from Hartlepool."
-The MMO and Cefas considered that 31 samples were sufficient for the annual disposal of the stated 2,223,100m<sup>3</sup> per year, based on based on the volume table from OSPAR Agreement 2014-06 paragraph 5.3.
+The MMO and Cefas considered that 31 samples were sufficient for the annual disposal of the stated 2,223,100m<sup>3</sup> per year, based on the volume table from OSPAR Agreement 2014-06 paragraph 5.3.
 "1.1 This advice relates to sampling to support mid-licence condition compliance for the disposal of material from the Tees Estuary and Hartlepool Channel. It is understood that this advice will also be used to support the submission of a marine licence application in 2025 to continue disposal activities."
@@ Line 72: / Line 72: @@
 |**Total Licence Volume**|22,231,000|30 + (10 per extra 1M m<sup>3</sup>)   |**220**|31|
-The licence actual almost quotes paragraph 5.3, but it inverts it so that rather than the samples needing to represent the area sampled it is stated they should represent the volume sampled instead and just reflect the area.
+Paragraph 2.2 licence [[this>RiverTees/Planning/MLA_2025_00263/Response Documents/Licence Document (Marine).pdf|L/2025/00366/1]] almost quotes OSPAR Agreement 2014-06 paragraph 5.3, but it inverts it so that rather than the samples needing to represent the area sampled it is stated they should represent the volume sampled instead and just reflect the area.
 "2.2 In accordance with the recommendations of the OSPAR Guidelines for the Management of Dredged Material, samples should be taken to provide a good representation of the volume of material to be dredged. The distribution and depth of sampling should reflect the size and depth of the area to be dredged, the amount to be dredged and the expected variability in the horizontal and vertical distribution of contaminants. The MMO also uses the OSPAR guidelines to inform our advice on sampling requirements for other activities which are likely to lead to the mobilisation of sediments. Based on the information submitted (as described above), the following sampling and analysis is required."
@@ Line 78: / Line 78: @@
 ==== Spatial Representation Required to Comply Correctly with OSPAR Guidelines ====
-There are 2 distinct areas which PD Ports as the statutory harbour authority are responsible for.  The River Tees where the defined area is 1612.66 hectares and the Port of Hartlepool where the defined area is 55.92 hectares, giving a total area for which the maintenance dredging licence applies to of 1668.58 hectares.
+There are 2 distinct areas which PD Ports as the statutory harbour authority are responsible for the River Tees and the Port of Hartlepool.
-Using the area of 16685800m<sup>2</sup> it is possible to use the area table of paragraph 5.3 to determine the number of samples necessary to fulfil the area requirement of the OSPAR Guidelines.
+{{ :251217mla_2015_00088-all10yearsamples.png?400 |All sampling locations during 10 year duration of MLA/2015/00088}}
+=== MLA/2015/00088 ===
+In this marine licence application, the River Tees had a defined area of 1612.66 hectares and the Port of Hartlepool had a defined area of 55.92 hectares, giving a total area for which the maintenance dredging licence applies to of 1668.58 hectares.
+From the [[this>RiverTees/Planning/MLA_2015_00088/Response%20Documents/Marine Coordinates Schedules.pdf|Marine Coordinate Schedules]] ([[this>RiverTees/Planning/MLA_2018_00088/Response%20Documents/MLA_2015_00088.kml|kml]]), which give an area of 16685800m<sup>2</sup> it is possible to use the area table of paragraph 5.3 to determine the number of samples necessary to fulfil the area requirement of the OSPAR Guidelines.
 |**Area m<sup>2</sup>**|**Samples Required**|
@@ Line 87: / Line 94: @@
 |**16685800**|**839**|
-These figures are based on the map supplied by PD Ports to define the area they want to dredge in, which defines the whole river and port areas, as such 839 samples are required to properly characterise the complete area.  However, it could be argued that in reality PD Ports only dredge in the navigation channel, which should have been supplied as part of the licence application.  The navigation channel area was not supplied, but based on charts it is possible to estimate that the navigation channels make up about 20% of the total area.  This would mean the dredged area is only 3337160m<sup>2</sup>.
+These figures are based on the map supplied by PD Ports to define the area they want to dredge in, which defines the whole river and port areas, as such 839 stations would have been required.  In the whole 10 years of the L/2015/00427 less than 150 samples were taken at the locations shown in the figure above.
+{{ :251217mla_2025_00263-applicationsamples.png?400 |31 Samples from MLA/2015/00088 mid-licence sampling accepted as application samples}}
+=== MLA/2025/00263 ===
+In this marine licence application, the River Tees had a defined area of 1162.37 hectares and the Port of Hartlepool had a defined area of 54.77 hectares, giving a total area for which the maintenance dredging licence applies to of 1217.14 hectares.
+From the [[this>RiverTees/Planning/MLA_2025_00263/Response%20Documents/Marine Coordinate Schedules.pdf|Marine Coordinate Schedules]] ([[this>RiverTees/Planning/MLA_2025_00263/Response%20Documents/MLA_2025_00263.kml|kml]]), which give an area of 12171400m<sup>2</sup> it is possible to use the area table of paragraph 5.3 to determine the number of samples necessary to fulfil the area requirement of the OSPAR Guidelines.
 |**Area m<sup>2</sup>**|**Samples Required**|
 |**<100,000**|10|
 |**Subsequent 100,000**|5|
-|**3337160**|**172**|
+|**12171400**|**614**|
+These figures are based on the map supplied by PD Ports to define the area they want to dredge in, which defines the whole river and port areas, as such 614 stations would be required.  Less than 150 samples were taken in during the 10 years of the previous licence L/2015/00427 for the licensed area of 1,669hectares and the last mid-licence samples were consider appropriate to represent the state of the whole 1,217hectares for which a new licence was requested.
+It is obvious that in order for the L/2025/00366 to be in compliance with the OSPAR Convention that considerably more samples need to be obtained to "represent the horizontal and vertical extent of the area" with a subsequent check that "the quantity of material to be dredged" is also properly represented." (OSPAR Agreement 2014-06 paragraph 5.2).
+===== Interactive Calculator =====
+OSPAR 2014-06 paragraph 5.3: "Where projected depth of dredging is significant, samples will be required at depth, usually by vibracore. The volume of the dredge material should be taken into consideration to determine the number of samples, as below."
-The correct area which reflects both the dredging and the movements of sediment within the River Tees and Port of Hartlepool needs to be defined using information supplied by PD Ports in discussion with MMO and Cefas.
+This is well reflected in the number of samples calculated based on these tables, where dredging more than 5m depths shows that the volume table recommends a greater number of samples than the area station numbers.
-However, it is obvious that in order for the L/2025/00366 to be in compliance with the OSPAR Convention that considerably more samples need to be obtained to "represent the horizontal and vertical extent of the area" with a subsequent check that "the quantity of material to be dredged" is also properly represented." (OSPAR Agreement 2014-06 paragraph 5.2).
+{{url>https://northeastfc.uk/Tools/OSPAR-NumberStationSampleCalculator.html 100%,5000}}