New dredge for Whitefish River cleanup

Cleanup of the Whitefish River is set to continue this month.

The work will make its way down river this summer and use a new hydraulic dredge that’s expected to make work quicker. Crews last year were hampered by mechanical issues and debris in the river.

Jennifer Chergo, with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, said crews will use similar technology as previously, but will have a new dredge.

“It should work a lot better,” Chergo said.

Crews are already mobilizing and are expected to be in the river working by the end of May.

A wet dredging system will be used to suck up the contaminated sediment and pump it up river to be cleaned. The soil and water are separated, then the water is cleaned and returned to the river.

This is the fourth phase of the cleanup project, which is working to remove petroleum contaminated sediment from the river bottom. Products such as diesel and bunker fuel have been identified in the river sediments in various locations due to historical releases from the Burlington Northern Santa Fe roundhouse.

Last year crews left off at the Second Street bridge. Work this summer is expected to start just below the bridge and move downstream to Spokane Avenue into fall.

“The goal is to get to Spokane,” Chergo said. “In the past crews have worked until winter, but this year they will likely complete work earlier than that.”

The pedestrian trail along the river closed Monday from the BN Railway trestle to the Second Street bridge.

The river is currently closed by the roundhouse. By the end of June, the river will be closed from the trestle to Spokane Avenue.

The cleanup project was initiated after the EPA received a report in 2007 of an apparent sheen at several locations along the river. EPA investigated and discovered petroleum products contaminating river sediments for two miles along the river.

Citing the Oil Pollution Act, EPA ordered BN Railway to clean up petroleum contamination from the Whitefish River and to restore it to as close to pre-removal conditions as possible.

Cleanup work is expected to stretch into 2013. However, as crews move beyond Spokane Avenue they are only expected to clean up selected areas.

“They will focus on areas that were highly contaminated,” Chergo said. “They will address sediments here and there with less impactful technology.”

— BN Railway and the EPA will host a public meeting on cleanup work on the Whitefish River and Whitefish Lake on Thursday, May 10 from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Whitefish Community Center.