The fate of cohesive sediments is an important environmental issue because electrostatic charges on cohesive particle surfaces tend to attract contaminants, organic or inorganic, thereby making such particles contaminant carriers.  Even "clean" cohesive sediments can cause enviromental concerns such as when high suspended sediment concentration blocks sunlight for photosysthesis.  Deposited cohesive sediments form the substrate for benthic organisms and act as a reservoir of contaminants and nutrients.  Thus, cohesive sediments are an important component of nearshore and estuarine ecosystems.

The need to carry out field observations and laboratory studies on cohesive sediment transport is widely recognized, and the results of past studies have provided useful information for carrying out numerical simulations of, for instance, important estuarine phenomena such as the turbidity maxima; e.g., in the Chespeake Bay and its tributaries.  Yet, the considerable complexity of cohesive sediment processes require further effort to fully address the broad range of modeling questions related to particle-bound contaminant transport in the estuarine as well as the open coast environments.

The INTERCOH conference series initiated by Prof. A. J. Mehta is an international platform where scientists and engineers worldwide can meet and exchange experiences to develop a better understanding of the transport of fine-grained sediments.  Typically about one hundred scientists attend the conference and all sessions are plenary, so there is ample opportunity to discuss findings and exchange ideas.