Canal dredging method may be changed
BY JIM MASTERSEAST CHICAGO -- The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is considering changing the proposed method of dredging the Indiana Harbor and Shipping Canal.
The Corps of Engineers announced at a meeting this week at Riley Park that a hydraulic dredging method is being considered. Residents have criticized the plan that originally called for using a "clam shell" method to remove dredged material from barges.
Hydraulic dredging is potentially cheaper, cleaner and safer, according to Corps of Engineers officials.
As such, a recirculation process would be used in hydraulic dredging to minimize water use, officials explained. Recirculation would involve reusing the water available within the Confined Disposal Facility for adding water to the dredge material in barges.
Officials said the water from the CDF could be used as many times as necessary during a dredging season to unload all of the barges that come to the site.
The dredging will involve the removal of contaminated sediments, including polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polycylclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and heavy metals.
The information session was attended primarily by local industry officials and a handful of citizens. Presentations were given on such topics as vegetation along the canal, particulate control and evaluation of sediment placement technologies.
Steve Rock, an environmental engineer with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Region V office in Cincinnati, explained how the introduction of new plant species can actually feed off the oil in the earth and on the water.
A Purdue University experiment has reported success in planting grasses, Rock said.