USA: AECOM to Perform Buffalo River Sediment Remediation Project

AECOM, a global provider of professional technical and management support services, including a leading environmental practice, is part of a team selected by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Great Lakes National Program Office to perform sediment remediation of the Buffalo River in Buffalo, N.Y.

AECOM will support the prime contractor, Environmental Quality Management, Inc., in remediating and restoring the lower 6.5 miles of the Buffalo River and the City Ship Canal.

The project involves dredging and disposal of both TSCA-regulated (Toxic Substance Control Act) and non TSCA-regulated contaminated sediments in accordance with federal, state and local regulations, as well as sediment capping, habitat restoration and environmental monitoring. Valued at potentially up to $40 million, the project was awarded under the 7-year Great Lakes National Program Office Cleanup Services (GLNPOCS) indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contract.

The team will provide construction and engineering services to EPA to support contaminated sediment remedial response within the Great Lakes U.S. Areas of Concern (AOCs). Although discharges of toxic chemicals into the Great Lakes have been reduced during the last 30 years, high concentrations of contaminants persist in river sediments, harbors and bays.

The Buffalo River, located in the city of Buffalo, discharges into Lake Erie near the Niagara River. The Buffalo River AOC impact area extends from its mouth to a point 6.2 miles upriver, and includes the adjacent City Ship Canal.

Approximately 485,000 cubic yards of PCB-contaminated sediment will be dredged, processed, dewatered and disposed in regulated disposal facilities, caps will be placed on eight to 10 acres of contaminated sediments, and habitat restored in five in-water areas. AECOM engineers and scientists will perform Quality Assurance/Quality Control, environmental monitoring and surveying, and TSCA permit development. AECOM ecologists will lead the habitat restoration phase of work when this element of work is awarded.

According to Matthew Sutton, chief executive of AECOM’s environmental business, “We’re pleased to provide technical expertise in sediment remediation and restoration to help ensure the success of this critically important sediment remediation project.” AECOM is currently working on 30 sediment remediation projects across North America and is a technical leader in this area.

For a previous project under GLNPOCS, AECOM supported EQM in cleaning up the Sheboygan Harbor in Wisconsin, and restoring navigation to the lower reaches of the river. AECOM provided engineering services, construction management, community support and specialty services, including seawall stability analysis and hydrographic surveying. Concurrently, AECOM provided waterway restoration services supporting habitat restoration further upstream that was critical to completing the regulated cleanup and delisting.

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Press Release, October 10, 2013