Environental Restoration at the Grand Calumet East Branch

8/9/2019 Environental Restoration at the Grand Calumet East Branch

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Welcome

Environmental

Restoration

at

the

Grand Calumet

River’s

East

Branch

Eric

J

Hritsuk,

PENatural Resource Technology, Inc.

Clean Rivers, Clean Lake Conference

Milwaukee, Wisconsin

April

30,

2015


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Great

Lakes

Legacy

Act

(GLLA)

of

2002

• Accelerate the pace of sediment remediation

at Areas

of

Concern

(AOCs)

• 2008 Reauthorization includes habitat restoration

• Use partnerships as an innovative approach

to conducting

sediment

remediation

• Delist AOCs by removing beneficial use impairment (BUI)

•

At

least

35%

of

project

costs

from

non‐

federal sponsor

• USEPA provides up to 65%


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Approaches for Generating Non‐

Federal Cost

Share

• Linking waterfront land revitalization and

sediment

cleanup

efforts• Combining brownfield revitalization and

contaminated sediment remediation

• Establishing public‐private partnerships

• Establishing a non

‐federal

coalition

• State bond programs

• In‐kind services

• Settlement agreements

• Clean Water state revolving funds


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GLLA

Goals

Remediation Restoration Revitalization


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Environmental Benefits

of GLLA

•

Higher

quality

habitat

for

fish

and

wildlife

• Better water quality

• Improved fishery

• Improved benthic habitat

• Reduce contaminant levels to biota


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Economic Benefits

of

GLLA

• Cleaner and deeper urban waterway

•

Restoration and

remediation

• Increases property values

• Increases recreation

•

Increases tourism

• Increases fishing

• Increases shipping

• Projected

$50

billion

in

restored

benefits

to

the Great Lakes region (Brookings Institute, 2007)

6


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Completed or ongoing

projects

Great Lakes Legacy Act Projects


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GLLA To

Date

• 21 Clean‐Ups Complete or Agreements Signed

• ~3,000,000 cubic

yards

(CY)

• Total cost: $565 Million

• Leveraged $227

Million

non

‐federal match

• 10 years of successful implementation under GLLA


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Project Background

• 90% of flow originates as municipal and industrial effluent, cooling and process water, and storm water

overflows

• Legacy pollutants in sediments and surface water

• All 14 BUIs included in 1991 remedial action plan

• $2.1 million settlement with Hammond Sanitary

District in

1999

• $56 million settlement with 9 responsible parties in 2001

• US Steel completed dredging of 800,000 cy in upper 5‐mile

portion

of

East

Branch

in

2007

and

performed

additional in‐stream restoration in 2010


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Project Map

– Reaches

4A/4B


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Partners and

Stakeholders

• USEPA Great Lakes National Project Office

• Indiana Department of Environmental Management

• Indiana Department of Natural Resources

• U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

• U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

• Shirley Heinze Land Trust

•

The Nature

Conservancy

• Save the Dunes Conservation Fund

• E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company

• Resco Products Company

• SulTRAC (Engineer

of

Record)

• Great Lakes Sediment Remediation• JFBrennan, Environmental Restoration, NRT


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Project Goals

and

Objectives

• Remove contaminant mass in sediment

•

Reduce

risks

to

aquatic

life

and

human

health

• Reduce contaminant transport to Indiana Harbor and Lake Michigan

• Improve water quality in East Branch Grand Calumet River and Grand Calumet River AOC

• Advance the AOC toward delisting thru removal

of

beneficial

use

impairments

• Improve biota, fish, and wildlife habitat


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Major Project

Components

1. Remove abandoned railroad bridge

2. Construct temporary upland support areas

3. Excavate sedimentation basin to protect remedy from upstream contaminants

4. Partially dredge contaminated river sediments

5. Excavate adjacent wetlands to remove phragmites and place

sand

backfill

with

ponds

6. Dewater sediments and treat water

7. Offsite transportation and disposal of dredged materials

8. Place

amended

cap

over

remaining

sediments9. Restoration including planting native species


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Railroad Bridge

Removal

• Testing and removal of abandoned gas pipeline

• Removal

of

ties

and

walkways

• Tested for lead based paints

• Disassembly of girder sections

• Removal of timber piling

• Debris removal

and

load

out


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Upland Support

Area


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Installation of

Sediment

Basin

Created to provide sediment trap for upstream contaminated sediments

• Dredged 28,000 cy

4,400 ft2 sheet pile wall driven across downstream end

• Raises water elevation 1 foot above normal

• Functions as

a weir,

trapping

sediment

behind

it


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Hydraulic Dredging

• 40,000 CY river; 82,000 CY

wetland

• Two 8” dredges with pipeline

and booster pumps

• Cutter shears for phragmites


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Hydraulic Dredging(continued)


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Water Quality Monitoring During

Dredging• Real time turbidity monitoring

• Measure and control downstream transport of contaminated

sediment


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Geotextile Tubes

and

Water

Treatment

• 60 tubes stacked in

three layers

• Sized to treat up to 5

million gallons per day


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Load Out

Operations

• Dredged sediment and used geotextile tubes

•

Approximately 127,000

tons

• Each truck bed was lined

• Truck scale and tire wash

•

All

sediment

was

trucked

to

the

Newton County Landfill, Indiana


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Marsh Excavation

• 203,000 CY of material excavated

mechanically• Amphibious equipment

• Split into east and west marsh


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Marsh Excavation


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Sand Backfill

• Broadcast Capping System

(BCS)™

• Evenly and gently

distributes sand while

minimizing intermixing

with underlying

sediments

• Wetlands A – F, sediment

basin

• 100,000 ton

• Seidner Marsh

• 199,000 tons


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Reactive Cap Design

AquaGate™ (adsorptive)Treatment

Layer

Water Column

Residual Contamination

Armoring Layer


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Sediment Capping• River segments

• 16,000 cy of absorptive cap

• 40,000 ton

of

armored

cap


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Ecological Significance

• Numerous environmental

stakeholders

• Globally rare dune and swale

complex

• Rare Species

• Wild Lupine

• Harebell

• Fringed Gentian

• White Indigo

• Blazing Star


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Invasive Species

Control

• Eradication of invasive vegetation

(phragmites, cattails)

• Herbicide application

• Prescribed burning (planned)


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Revegetation• Genotype Restrictions (Northwest Morianal

Division of Indiana)

• Native Seed: 73.90 acres (1,200 lbs.)

• Native Plugs: 121,245


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Maintenance and

Monitoring

• Performance Standards• Coverage (Native and Invasive)

• Representation

• Survival

•

12 months

from

EPA

preliminary acceptance (2016)


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Metrics• Project length: 1.8 miles

• River depth• Pre‐dredge ~0‐10’

• Post‐dredge > 6’

• River sediment and wetland dredging volume: ~140,000 cy

• Marsh excavation volume: ~203,000 cy

• Sediment cap profile: 9” armor over 6” isolation with AquaGate+ORGANOCLAY™

• Water treatment:

3,500

GPM

during

hydraulic

dredging

• Dewatering: ~60 geotextiles tubes stacked 3‐high

• Wetlands and marsh invasive species control (47 acres) and restoration (74 acres)

•

Project

duration:

~3

years

plus

12

months

revegetation

maintenance

• Project budget: ~$80 million


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Environental Restoration at the Grand Calumet East Branch

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