AquaBlok® provides a low permeability, thin capping management tool for the containment and treatment of contamination in sediments.

In December of 2005 the U.S. EPA published its "Contaminated Sediment Remediation Guidance for Hazardous Waste Sites." In this document, all three major approaches to management of contaminated sediment (monitored natural recovery, in-situ capping, and dredging) considered the use of capping in combined management strategies. AquaBlok is called out in this document as a cap material that may "enhance the chemical isolation capacity or otherwise decrease the thickness of caps, compared to sand caps". The document goes on to identify a number of reactive/absorptive materials that can provide treatment, in addition to physical isolation, establishing the approach/concept of "Active" capping or In-Situ treatment of sediment below an impermeable barrier/cap. Since this document was published, additional advancements have been made in capping technology, some of which have been demonstrated through the EPA's SITE Program, in addition to activity at the EPA's National Risk Management Research Laboratory (NRML) in Cincinnati, Ohio and other extensive university-based research.

AquaBlok performs each of the primary functions of a sediment cap:

1. Physical isolation of sediment-borne contaminants from receptors
• Including providing "new" benthic habitat
2. Stabilization of contaminated sediments, preventing re-suspension and transport to other sites
3. Chemical isolation and reduction of sediment-borne contaminants and their upwards migration
4. In-Situ Treatment in an "active" cap