Randle Reef

[ScreamingViking]

This is great news. Still a couple of years out from full completion but coming along steadily.


Dredging of contaminants at Randle Reef in Hamilton Harbour is complete

https://www.thespec.com/news/hamilto...-dredging.html

Teviah Moro
The Hamilton Spectator
Fri., June 18, 2021



The last of the contaminated sediments have been dredged from Randle Reef and deposited in a massive steel box as part of a years-long effort to clean up Hamilton Harbour.

“It’s certainly something that we’re quite thrilled about,” Mark Bainbridge, the city’s director of water and wastewater planning and capital, said Friday.

That stage of the $138.9-million project was completed in March, Bainbridge said, noting some less serious remaining contaminants still have to be capped with sand.

But the “vast, vast majority” of the material befouled by more than a 100 years of heavy industry has been placed in the 15-acre steel isolation container built in the southwest corner of the harbour, Bainbridge noted.

The so-called reef is roughly 148 acres and contained an estimated 695,000 cubic metres of sediment polluted with toxic chemicals has been the most befouled site on the Canadian Great Lakes.

The effort to build the steel box is a project jointly funded by the federal, provincial and area municipal governments, as well as Stelco was inked in 2015. Hamilton’s share is $14 million.

Bainbridge expects the “sand-capping” of remaining contaminated sediment — in a channel by the steelmaker that dredging equipment couldn’t reach — to be finished in August.

The next stage of the remediation project will involve placing an “environmental cover” on the containment box, built with about $10 million in Stelco steel, is expected to start early next year, the federal government says.

Dealing with Randle Reef is considered a major step toward delisting Hamilton Harbour as an “area of concern,” a status it was given in 1985 under the Canada-United States Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement.

The project is expected to be finished in late 2023, Bainbridge noted in a recent update for city council.

...

full story here

Google map from the story

[thistleclub]

Would make an epic miniputt course.

[Dr Awesomesauce]

Originally Posted by thistleclub

Would make an epic miniputt course.

A hell of a water hazard...

[ScreamingViking]

All contaminated sediment at Randle Reef has been removed or capped, feds and province say
The rest of the project, says BARC executive director, is just 'putting the roof on'

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamil...reef-1.6378829

Aura Carreño Rosas
CBC News
Mar 09, 2022


Source Tweet


Crews have finished the dredging of Randle Reef, a major step in the effort to clean up the most contaminated site on the Canadian side of the Great Lakes.

Federal, provincial and city government reps announced Wednesday that stage two of the three-part, $139-million project is finished. That means all of the toxic coal-tar sediment has been removed from the water or capped inside a double-steel container.

The federal government says that's more than 615,000 cubic metres of sediment — enough to fill a hockey rink three times over. The contamination dates back to the 1800s.

Filomena Tassi, Liberal MP for Hamilton West-Ancaster-Dundas and minister of public service and procurement, deemed this a "milestone."

"Hamilton Harbour is now a cleaner and safer place for people and wildlife, and will provide new opportunities for socio-economic development in the community," she said.

Randle Reef is a big part of Hamilton Harbour being listed as an area of concern under the Canada–United States Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement. The announcement Wednesday takes Hamilton a step closer to de-listing, said Chad Collins, a city councillor-turned-Liberal MP for Hamilton East-Stoney Creek.

Stage one of the Randle Reef project involved building a steel container with a lifespan of 200 years just off the coast of Hamilton's industrial area. Stage two involved using a sort of underwater vacuum cleaner to dredge the industrial waste and deposit it in the container.

Stage three is due to begin this fall and finish in 2024. That involves removing and treating the remaining water from the container before releasing it back into the harbour and the installing the final capping of the container.

Chris McLaughlin, executive director of the Bay Area Restoration Council (BARC), said his organization has always supported the project.

"It's a terrific milestone in its implementation," he said. "The fact that all of that contaminated material now has been stored up in the giant steel box is a tremendous accomplishment. One that the whole community can be very proud of."

McLaughlin said that stage two was the "critically important" part of the project.

"The rest of it is now like a technicality, is just sort of putting the roof on. The important stage was building the walls, and getting that material out of the environment and into the steel box."

The Randle Reef project is a joint initiative involving the federal and provincial governments, the City of Hamilton, Halton Region, City of Burlington, the Hamilton-Oshawa Port Authority, and Stelco.

[ScreamingViking]

Some additional photos and a video from the Spec's version of the story:
https://www.thespec.com/news/hamilto...ndle-reef.html

• Video Link

[ScreamingViking]

Another overhead shot, posted in the 'Letters to the Editor' section of today's Spec

[SteelTown]

Final stage of cleaning up contaminated Randle Reef gets underway in Hamilton Harbour
The project is expected to be completed by 2025

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamil...hree-1.6958295

The third and final stage to remove sediment at Randle Reef is underway.

The $150-million project is cleaning up of the once-most contaminated site on the Canadian side of the Great Lakes.

Randle Reef had over 615,000 cubic metres of sediment — enough to fill a hockey rink three times over. The contamination dates back to the 1800s, after years of industrial pollution.

The clean up started in 2016 and was originally set to be done by 2022 but the pandemic resulted in some delays, said Hamilton West-Ancaster-Dundas MP Filomena Tassi on Wednesday.

The last step involves removing and treating the remaining water from the container before releasing it back into the harbour and installing the final capping of the container.

The project, now expected to be completed by 2025, will "resonate far beyond the shores of the Hamilton Harbour," Tassi said.

"The Great Lakes are an essential to the health and well being of millions of Canadians, our ecosystems and the economy. Pollution has been putting all this at risk."

[Innsertnamehere]

have they said what they plan on doing with the land once it's complete? It's nearly 15 acres so it's fairly large. I recall seeing somewhere a while ago that HOPA was considering using it as the port's container terminal.. Wonder if that's still the case and if demand for containers is strong enough to need it.

[ScreamingViking]

I'm not sure definitive plans have been shared. The June 18, 2021 Spec story noted a vague "likely" use but that may have changed in 2+ years.

The newly created space will allow a ship to moor there and will likely be used as a cargo handling area for bulk materials, Fenn said.

“One of the really neat opportunities is to be able to connect rail to the new Randle Reef area to allow for cargo transfer direct from vessel to rail.”