Work on the second stage of the Randle Reef remediation project in Hamilton, Ontario, was awarded to Milestone Environmental Contracting Inc. and Fraser River Pile & Dredge Inc., in a $32.9 million joint-venture contract announced on July 21, 2017.
The Stage Two contract is part of the three-stage $138.9 million project to clean up a heavily contaminated area of Hamilton Harbour known as Randle Reef. According to Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC), Randle Reef is approximately 60 hectares in size and contains 695,000 cubic metres of contaminated sediment at the bottom of the harbour. The Bay Area Restoration Council said Randle Reef is the largest polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon contaminated sediment site in the Canadian Great Lakes.
Watch Environment and Climate Change Canada’s video on the Randle Reef project.
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Stage One of the project involved re-constructing an adjacent harbour pier wall and constructing an engineering containment “box” which uses double steel walls to seal in approximately 6.2 hectares of the most heavily contaminated soil.
Stage Two involves dredging contaminated sediment from the surrounding areas and placing them in the containment facility via an underwater pipeline. This stage is expected to begin in the spring of 2018 and take two years to complete.
In Stage Three, the contained sediment will be dewatered and compacted, with an impermeable cap being placed over the containment facility. This final stage is expected to be completed in 2022.
Remediation of Randle Reef is the last remaining environmental restoration project in Hamilton Harbour. According to ECCC, its completion will help remove the harbour from the list of Great Lakes Areas of Concern, and spark development along Hamilton’s waterfront and increase tourism.
For more information on the project, visit: www.canada.ca or www.randlereef.ca
