Superfund cleanup

Jun 20, 2016

Over 30 years of Wyckoff Superfund Site Diving Science

EPA Dive Team, Scientific diving, Superfund cleanup, Wyckoff Superfund site 3 Comments

By Sean Sheldrake

One diver jumps into the water while two other watch from the boat. In the background there is a city

Very early efforts to characterize the Wyckoff Superfund site. Like the cleanup, dive gear and protocols have evolved a great deal since this photo was taken in 1985.

If you’ve followed our previous blog posts about EPA’s scientific diving program, you may know the program dates back to the very beginning of the Agency. What you may not know is that EPA underwater scientists have also been supporting the Superfund program since its beginning in the early 1980s. In this installment we talk about the long term involvement of underwater scientists in taking a Superfund site from contaminated to clean – and keeping it that way. This is how science made the difference in Washington’s Puget Sound.

The first step.

Wood treating operations at the Wyckoff Superfund site in Washington’s Puget Sound have a long history that resulted in substantial soil, groundwater, and Puget Sound sediment contamination. Divers were instrumental in documenting the problems on Bainbridge Island, and were involved in early mapping efforts to locate the worst of the contamination on the bottom of Puget Sound.

The first step was finding all the contamination on the bottom, and identifying particularly problematic areas that might require more aggressive cleanup options.

pool of creosote at the bottom of the water

Mapping pools of creosote underwater is a “dirty job.” Photo by Sean Sheldrake, USEPA.

Diving at Superfund sites is “dirty diving” and requires special methods on the boat, and medical monitoring on a regular basis. Divers must be trained in how to properly protect themselves with the right types of gear, including a drysuit that keeps them completely isolated from the dive environment. In addition, they must carry out decontamination steps to fully clean the gear after each dive, so they don’t risk exposing themselves or the boat crew. In one dive in 1997, I can remember being very edgy about maintaining my buoyancy as I looked down upon my reflection in one of many of these creosote pools – it was like being inside of a lava lamp full of highly toxic chemicals.

How bad is it?

Some of the worst areas where pools of creosote were documented had to be completely removed, versus capped with clean material in place. During these early dives in the 1980s and 1990s, divers reported seeing dead crab littering the bottom with obvious cancer tumors from exposure to the polyaromatic hydrocarbons present in the creosote.

one diver in suit is cleaned by someone in hazmat attire

An EPA diver on SCUBA undergoing decontamination. Photo by Brandi Todd, USEPA.

Why not use contractors?

While some underwater science necessary to make EPA cleanup decisions can be delegated to contractors, many underwater tasks take substantial training and technique to perform in a manner that will obtain quality data. Ensuring that EPA diving scientists are involved from the early stages of sampling planning through collection ensures that the data will be of high quality and meet the project manager’s decision making needs.

EPA underwater scientist Brent Richmond takes a surface sediment sample. Photo by Sean Sheldrake, USEPA.

Science underwater: a ruler is used to measure pollution

EPA divers sample the outfall from the Wyckoff groundwater treatment plant to ensure it meets cleanup standards and is protective of Puget Sound.

EPA diver Brent Richmond installs a passive sampler into the seafloor in 2013 to evaluate whether low levels of contamination exist in the pore spaces that could hurt bottom dwellers. This information was later used to determine that the east beach area required cleanup similar to areas within Eagle Harbor near the Wyckoff Site. Photo by Sean Sheldrake, USEPA.

Did the cleanup work?

As a diver that was involved in the early cleanup and also monitoring to make sure it is still protecting wildlife, I find the Wyckoff site almost unrecognizable. A flurry of bottom fish and crab are present at every turn, where before it was virtually a dead zone.

EPA diver Lisa Macchio dons her surface supplied diving rig in preparation for a dive.

Is it still working?

We can’t stop now! EPA divers continue to dive at the Wyckoff site to investigate areas where cleanup fixes might be needed, such as the east beach area, where additional cleanup was proposed based on underwater samples showing contamination. Ongoing sampling work is necessary where waste is left in place to make sure the cleanup is still functioning as designed.

Then and now

While diving equipment and protocols have certainly evolved over the past 30 plus years of Wyckoff cleanup, underwater science has been an ever present part of making decisions upon good data throughout.

EPA divers will continue to be at the ready for the next 30 years to provide good scientific data for EPA’s Superfund cleanup program and to ensure the protection of people and wildlife.

For more information on the Wyckoff cleanup, watch the video Wyckoff Eagle Harbor Superfund Cleanup.

Read more about the latest in EPA scientific diving on the EPA Divers Facebook page.

EPA divers have a new website!

About the author: Sean Sheldrake is a 19 year veteran of the Seattle EPA Dive unit and is also a project manager working on the Portland Harbor cleanup in Oregon. Sean Sheldrake serves on the EPA diving safety board, responsible for setting EPA diving policy requirements. In addition, he works to share contaminated water diving expertise with first responders and others.

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May 25, 2016

Going Home to Manage the Final Steps of Omaha’s Historic Lead Cleanup

air particulate, children's health, Human Health, lead contamination, lead-based-paint, Soil Pollution, Superfund cleanup 2 Comments

By Steve Kemp

About two years ago, when my boss first asked me to take the lead Remedial Project Manager’s role at the Omaha Lead Superfund Site, I had to laugh. I was born and raised in Omaha, where I graduated from Benson High School, left for four years while I was in the Army, returned to get my degree at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, and then moved away to start my career.

Although I still go back frequently to visit family and friends, I haven’t lived in Omaha since the late 1980s. However, it seems that every few years I am drawn back to my hometown for one project or another.

I worked at the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality (NDEQ) for many years, and one of the projects I was involved with was the Omaha Riverfront Redevelopment. At the time, the project was the largest in Nebraska’s Voluntary Cleanup Program. The project included the area for the Gallup Riverfront Campus along Abbott Drive, and extended south to the National Park Service building, and the Bob Kerry Footbridge.

The project was a cooperative effort among state, local, and federal government entities, and businesses. Thanks to my staff, the project was a big success. Now I was being asked to assume responsibility for the Omaha Lead Superfund Site, the largest residential lead cleanup site in the history of the Superfund program. I thought it seemed appropriate.

Over a Century of Lead Contamination

The soil in much of eastern Omaha was contaminated with lead from several sources, including a former paint manufacturer, and lead battery recycling, and smelting operations. The most significant source was the former ASARCO lead smelter, located on the west bank of the Missouri River just north of Douglas Street. Lead smelting began at this location in 1870 when the plant was owned by Omaha Smelting Works. The plant changed ownership over time and was owned by ASARCO starting around 1899. By 1915, the ASARCO smelter was the largest lead smelter in the country. ASARCO owned the plant for about 100 years. The ASARCO plant closed in 1997 in a separate cleanup action coordinated by NDEQ.

Workers clean up lead from residential yard in Omaha

For a century, the ASARCO plant discharged fine particles of lead from the smokestacks into the air. The lead particles were transported by wind and deposited over a large area. In addition to the lead particles from the smelter, another significant source of lead in Omaha’s soil is lead-based paint that chips off of buildings and falls onto the soil near structures, such as houses and garages.

Serious Health Issue

This lead was found in the soil, and people – especially children – were exposed to the contaminated soil. Beginning in the 1970s, children in Omaha were tested and many living within the boundary of the site had very high levels of lead in their blood. This was a serious issue, because lead poisoning can cause a wide variety of health problems, including difficulty with learning and behavioral development. In 1998, the Omaha City Council requested that EPA help address the lead problem in eastern Omaha.

In 1999, EPA began collecting soil samples from properties, including child care facilities, schools, playgrounds, parks, and of course, private homes. EPA later began testing the paint on homes to determine whether the paint contained any lead. EPA also began collecting dust samples from homes to determine whether lead-contaminated dust had entered from outside.

Successes and Challenges

Example of yard before cleanup

After 16 years, EPA’s work is now winding down. Over that time, EPA tested soil samples from 40,000 properties and cleaned up more than 13,000 properties that were contaminated with lead. During the busiest years, EPA cleaned up about 2,000 properties each year. Over the last few years, EPA has cleaned up a few hundred properties each year. The slower pace is largely due to increased difficulty obtaining permission from the remaining property owners to clean up their properties.

In 2010, EPA committed to completing the field work for the project by the end of 2015. When I was assigned to the project in February 2014, there were still about 1,800 properties left to be remediated. EPA had obtained permission to clean up a little more than half of these. One of the challenges was to find a way to clean up all the remaining properties and keep the commitment to complete EPA’s field work by Dec. 31, 2015.

City Takes on Final Phases

Example of yard after cleanup

In late summer of 2014, EPA began discussions with personnel from the City of Omaha Planning Department to determine whether the city would be willing to take the lead on the remaining contaminated properties. EPA explained that we had done all we could reasonably do to obtain voluntary access from property owners. If EPA was going to obtain additional access, it would likely be necessary to pursue legal action to compel the remaining property owners to allow their properties to be cleaned up. After extensive discussions, the city decided to take on the final phases of work, agreeing that it would attempt to obtain permission to collect soil samples and clean up the remaining properties.

In May 2015, EPA awarded $31 million to the City of Omaha through a cooperative agreement to address these final phases of work. It is hoped that the owners of remaining properties will feel more comfortable, and therefore, more willing to grant access to the city. Only time will tell.

As EPA completes its portion of the residential cleanup activities, I am glad to have been part of this project. Although I only worked on the project for two of the 16 years, I’m grateful that I was able to make a contribution in my hometown. I am also hopeful that as the city continues with its part of the project, this will prove to be a new type of cooperative approach between EPA and local governments.

Learn more about the Omaha Lead Superfund Site.

About the Author: Steve Kemp has served for the past two years as project coordinator for the Omaha Lead Superfund Site. He’s a native of Omaha, and a professional geologist and remedial project manager for EPA Region 7.

Jun 15, 2012

Underwater with EPA Divers

contaminated water diving, EPA diving, polluted water diving, Scientific diving, Superfund cleanup 3 Comments

by Sean Sheldrake, EPA Region 10 Dive Team and Alan Humphrey, EPA Environmental Response Team (ERT)

In Rodney Dangerfield’s 1986 classic “Back to School” the older college student is called upon to win a high diving competition with his infamous and highly choreographed “Triple Lindy” maneuver. This high dive involves twists, turns, somersaults, and all manner of intricate movements. While EPA does not have a high diving team, we do have a scientific diving program to undertake its mission underwater to protect human health and the environment – and choreography is absolutely part of their training.

EPA scientific divers are often called upon to perform all manner of scientific dive missions on behalf of EPA. Divers in the Gulf Coast areas may conduct invasive species or coral reef health surveys, while divers in Oregon may be studying eelgrass health in estuaries. Divers in the northeast survey for invasives in inland waters and survey artificial reefs to determine their effectiveness. EPA’s Region 10 (Pacific Northwest area) and Environmental Response Team divers primarily conduct work in contaminated water in support of various cleanup projects for EPA and the Clean Water Act.

Northwest divers and the Environmental Response Team often partner on polluted water scientific diving projects all over Region 10’s vast area of Alaska, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington. Those collaborations very recently included those on the Willamette River in Oregon. Two divers from Region 10, and one Environmental Response Team diver partnered recently to conduct solid phase microextraction device (SPMD) work with the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality. Like past work where divers installed miniature wells into the river bottom to measure the creep of toxic polyaromatic hydrocarbons, this mission was to place sampling devices into the river bed that mimic the way bottom dwelling creatures, such as crayfish absorb chemicals. The miniature glass fibers within the sampling device will actually absorb chemicals just as the body of the crayfish would — and can be more easily analyzed at the lab. The data will determine whether a multi-million dollar cleanup is working, if it is done very carefully.

Read more about the latest in EPA scientific diving at www.facebook.com/EPADivers

About the authors: Sean Sheldrake and Alan Humphrey both serve on the EPA diving safety board, responsible for setting EPA diving policy requirements. In addition, they both work to share contaminated water diving expertise with first responders and others.