Reach D, Pollution Report 7

Tittabawassee River Dioxin-Reach D
Midland, MI - EPA Region V
POLREP #7 - 8/30/2007
On-Scene Coordinators - James Augustyn and Brian Schlieger

Site Description

On July 9, 2007, Dow's contractor began positioning equipment on a work barge to begin the preparation of driving temporary sheet piling in the river to delineate the area of highest dioxin contamination. Dow's contractor has completed construction on the HDPE sediment transport pipeline and has conducted hydrostatic testing of the line. The sediment transport line is approximately 9,000 feet long and will transport sediment slurry from the dredge area in the river to the Geo-Tube dewatering cell.

On-Scene Coordinators (OSC) Jim Augustyn and Brian Schlieger are providing oversight with assistance from U.S. EPA's START Contractor, Weston Solutions, Inc.

Current Activities

The following activities have been completed by Dow's contractors during the period of August 24th through August 30th, 2007. Routine tasks such as air monitoring throughout the project area and turbidity data collection from both upstream and downstream turbidity monitors are performed daily.

Friday August 24th, Dow's contractors continued to set and drive permanent sheet piling along the eastern bank RGIS system within the enclosed portion of the temporary turbidity barrier. Assembly of a third construction barge continued. Work activities at the containment site included; storm water pumping, mechanical work, HDPE welding, electrical and instrumentation, and dust and track-out control.

Saturday August 25th, Driving of permanent sheet piling along the RGIS system within the enclosed portion of the temporary turbidity barrier continued. Assembly of the new construction barge continued. Work activities at the containment site remained the same as the previous day.
Monday August 27th, Continuation of the driving and setting of permanent sheet piling within the enclosed turbidity barrier and welding of a temporary panel beneath the upstream ‘piping' bridge was initiated. Dow's contractors set and drove a turbidity ‘cut-off wall' south of the downstream ‘railroad bridge'. The new cut-off wall isolates the middle section of the removal area. With the creation of this new isolation area, Dow's contractors will be able to perform concurrent activities on the river. New construction barge assembly continued. Work activities at the containment cell continued.
Tuesday August 28th, Continuation of the driving and setting of permanent sheet piling within the enclosed turbidity barrier and welding/grinding of the temporary panel beneath the upstream ‘piping' bridge continued. Contractors continued ‘cut-off-wall' activities south of the downstream ‘railroad bridge'. Work activities at the containment cell remain the same.
Wednesday August 29th, Dow's contractors completed the setting of permanent sheet piling within the enclosed portion of the temporary turbidity barrier north of the upstream ‘piping' bridge. Contractors will focus on driving permanent sheet piling to elevated grades. Contractors continued ‘cut-off-wall' activities south of the downstream ‘railroad bridge'. Work activities at the containment cell included a test run of the 9000 foot HDPE sediment transport pipeline, associated booster pumps and containment cell plumbing by drawing river water through the system.
Thursday August 30th, Dow's contractors continued driving permanent sheet piling to grade within the enclosed turbidity barrier north of the upstream ‘piping' bridge. ‘Cut-off wall' activities continued along with the driving of adjoined temporary sheet piling south of the downstream ‘railroad bridge'. Testing of the HDPE sediment transport pipeline, associated booster pumps and containment cell plumbing continued.

Planned Removal Actions

After the Labor Day Holiday, the dredge will be placed within the turbidity barrier upstream of the ‘piping' bridge and will be connected to the sediment transport pipeline. Dredging operations within the upper section of the removal area is scheduled to begin on or about September 6th, 2007.
Dow's contractors will begin removing historic flume sheet piling within the middle section of the removal area. Sheet piling will be driven down to established elevations to complete the installation of the middle section of the turbidity barrier between the 2 Dow bridges.
Installation of permanent sheet piling will begin along the RGIS System within the middle section of the removal area.
Full scale operation of the containment cell will begin once dredging operation begin. Operations will include: monitoring the filling of Geo-Tubes with sediment, dewatering the sediment, and water treatment.

Next Steps

Dow's contractors will begin driving the temporary sheet piling turbidity barrier from the Dow bridges downstream to the Dow Dam to complete the removal area.

The installation of two sections of gunderboom 'Turbidity Curtain' over a 30" and 36" underwater pipeline to complete temporary turbidity barrier south of downstream ‘railroad bridge'.

Disposition of Wastes

To date, 212 pieces (average length 10 to 12 feet) of historic flume piling have been extracted from the Reach D area north of the 'piping' bridge. The flume piling will be decontaminated and processed for metal reclamation

Waste consisted of Reach D rip-rap from the RGIS system. A total of 143 loads, estimated at 12 cubic yards per load total volume 1,716 estimated cubic yards

7-31-07, 34 loads
8-01-07, 35 loads
8-02-07, 39 loads
8-03-07, 24 loads
8-04-07, 11 loads