DATE: Wednesday, September 28th
PLACE: Hawthorne Lucky Lab Brew Pub, 915 SE Hawthorne Blvd
TIME: 11:30 a.m. Networking, 12:00 – 1:00 p.m. Presentation
SPEAKER: Erik Bakkom, Maul Foster & Alongi
TOPIC: Zidell Waterfront Cleanup
Former ship breaking and salvage operations at the Zidell facility, located 3 miles upstream of the Portland Harbor Superfund site in the Willamette River, had impacted the upland and aquatic environment with polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), tributyltin (TBT), metals, and asbestos on this half-mile stretch of river. The remedy selected by the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) required soil and sediment caps to isolate contaminants, riprap armoring to resist river erosion, and bank grading to address slope stability. Following the Record of Decision for the site, an iterative design process was begun with the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality to develop the sediment and bank line cap design. The project manager encouraged the design group to develop concepts that would reduce ecological impacts associated with the remedy and its implementation, improving the chances of success during the Endangered Species Act consultation for listed fish (salmon and steelhead). During the design process, the team evaluated contaminant distribution, contaminant isolation, bathymetry, fluvial dynamics, bank stability, armoring against erosion, site operational considerations (vessel launching), hydraulics (impacts to flood elevation), ecological impacts, and infrastructure (e.g., municipal stormwater discharges, existing and proposed bridges). Investigation of these elements provided the design team a higher level of understanding of the site needs, resulting in a significantly modified and more complex remedy concept that integrated the bank and sediment cap components. In three construction phases the remedy was implemented to remove hot spot soils, to stabilize more than a half-mile of river bank and cap 12-acres of sediments, and then cap 30-acres of upland soils. The design team coordinated extensively with the City of Portland during the abandonment of a former city outfall and with TriMet for the construction of the Tilikum Crossing Bridge. The project was recognized in 2014 with ASCE/COPRI’s Project Excellence Award in the large project category. Erik will review the process of developing the complex remedial design for upland and sediment and how several significant challenges were turned into significant opportunities.
Erik Bakkom is a senior engineer at Maul Foster & Alongi, Inc. He has 17 years of experience in environmental engineering, focusing on brownfield/industrial site cleanup, sediment remediation, and solid waste planning and design. Erik has worked as part of various teams to bioremediate a large solvent plume adjacent to the Willamette River, to cap and redevelop the Astoria landfill to a high school sports complex, and construction of a mine waste repository in Idaho’s Silver Valley to address cleanup of the Couer d’Alene River. Erik began design work on the Zidell Waterfront Property cleanup in 2006 and has overseen construction between 2010 and 2016.