At the last City Council Meeting, the organizations involved in the multiyear Railyard Cleanup project provided an update on the work that is currently underway. The Railyard Cleanup has moved into its most difficult phase: removing the retaining wall. This portion of the multi-year cleanup project requires the most in-river work. Some turbidity was observed in the river as this process began over the last two weeks, and the agencies involved in the cleanup are working to eliminate any future river turbidity. Additionally, several different groups are monitoring the river and railyard cleanup to ensure the wall is removed safely and none of the contaminants escape the railyard.
Here are the agencies on-site monitoring the Railyard cleanup and the River.
- An OSRO-certified contractor (Republic Services) has a minimum of 3 staff onsite during work hours conducting visual monitoring for turbidity and oil. Additionally, they have resources staged onsite to clean-up and recover oil/sheen produced by site activities.
- Jacobs collects turbidity measurements at a minimum of every 4 hours during work hours from locations upstream, downstream, and adjacent to the site per state permitting requirements.
- Additionally, visual monitoring for turbidity is conducted continuously during active construction. All onsite staff and agency representatives are empowered and expected to alert project team of observations.
-Each morning, before any work within the river starts (wall removal, placement of rock toe, etc.) clean fill will be released into the IRIB in the planned work areas to ensure that the IRIB is functioning correctly. If a turbidity release is observed, the IRIB will be adjusted. Work within the river will not commence until the IRIB is tested successfully.
- Representatives from the USEPA, USCG, CDFW, and Regional Water Quality Control Board are routinely onsite and providing support including monitoring and recommendations under a Unified Command structure.
-The Office of Environmental Health Hazard and Assessment (agency under CalEPA) is being consulted regarding the safety of the fishery in regard to recent turbidity plumes in the river.
Routine project updates are provided by the California Department of Fish & Wildlife and can be found here (link).