EPA Concludes Season's Dredging of New Bedford Harbor Contaminated Sediment (PCB's)
Contact: David Deegan (deegan.dave@epa.gov), EPA Office of Public Affairs, (617) 918-1017
For Immediate Release: December 1, 2005; Release # dd051201
(New Bedford) - Last week EPA concluded the second season of full scale dredging of PCB-contaminated sediment in New Bedford Harbor.
This latest dredging effort started in Sept. 2005, focusing on an area just south of the former Aerovox facility. Approximately 8 acres of sediment was dredged this year, resulting in the removal of 25,000 cubic yards of contaminated sediment. Dredging activities will resume again in Fall 2006.
Editor Note: The EPA's contractor, Sevenson, used a Mud CatT MC-2000 auger dredge for all the work.
The dredged material was pumped directly into a floating pipeline connecting the dredge to EPA's desanding building located at Sawyer Street, approximately one mile south of the dredged area. Booster pumps, located along the shoreline, helped pump the dredged sediment through the floating pipeline to the desanding facility.
At the desanding facility, coarse material was separated from the finer sediment producing a total of 2,300 tons of sand. A submerged pipeline carried the remaining sediment another 1.4 miles south to the newly constructed dewatering facility at Hervey Tichon Avenue and Herman Melville Boulevard. At the dewatering facility, specialized presses squeezed the excess water out of the dredged sediment. About 16,000 tons of dewatered sediment was transported off-site by train or truck and disposed of in a licensed PCB-landfill in Michigan. This season marked the first use of rail in transporting the dewatered sediment. Approximately 20,000,000 gallons of water was treated to stringent standards and then discharged back into the harbor.
In addition to the two seasons of full-scale harbor dredging, many other areas of PCB contaminated harbor sediment have been cleaned up to date, including:
- 19 acres capped in 2005 south of the hurricane barrier;
- seven acres cleaned north of Wood Street in 2002-2003;
- two acres dredged in 2002 for a business relocation;
- five acres of the most highly contaminated sediment dredged in 1994-1995
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