The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency developed the elutritate test for the purpose of predicting the release of chemical contaminants from dredged sediments upon open-water disposal. This study was conducted to evaluate the factors influencing the results of the elutriate test and the reliability of this test in predicting the release of contaminants during actual open-water dredged material disposal operations. Sediment samples were taken from waterways located at or near Duwamish River-Elliott Bay-Puget Sound, Washington; San Francisco Bay, Mare Island, Rodeo Flats, Oakland Harbor, and Los Angeles Harbor, California; Calveston Bay Entrance Channel, Galveston Channel, Texas City Channel, Houston Ship Channel, and Port Lavaca, Texas; Mobile Bay, Alabama; Apalachicola Bay, Florida; Wilmington, North Carolina; James River, Virginia; Perth Amboy, New Jersey; Bay Ridge and Foundry Cove, New York; Newport; Rhode Island; Norwalk and Stamford Harbors, Connecticut; Menominee River, Michigan; Upper Mississippi River near St. Paul, Minnesota, and the U.S. Army Engineer Waterways Experiment Station Lake, Vicksburg, Mississippi. These samples were subjected to the standard and modified elutriate tests in order to examine the influence of various operating conditions on the results of the test. In addition, field studies were conducted at Elliott Bay-Puget Sound, Washington; Galveston Bay Entrance Channel Disposal Area, Texas; Mobile Bay, Alabama; Apalachicola Bay, Florida; James River, Virginia.