Posted on September 28, 2020
Mud flows into the geopool of the City of Lorain Black River Dredge Reuse Facility on Aug. 20, 2020. The city is using a $4 million grant for a pilot project to see how the manmade lagoon filters sediment and water dredged from the bottom of the Black River. The dredge pipe that feeds sediment into the geopool is visible in the top center area of the photo; in the foreground, water is seen trickling out of the screen liner of the geopool.
A multi-million dollar project to reuse dredge material from the Black River and support the Port of Lorain is picking up steam as project leaders provide updates.
On Sept. 21, Kathryn Golden, stormwater manager in the city Engineering Department, was joined by representatives of Coldwater Consulting LLC in a work session of Lorain City Council.
With open water dumping of dredged sentiment no longer allowed as of July 2020, the city of Lorain needs to find an alternative location to put dredged material – an activity that supports Lorain industry and jobs.
“We, of course do, because it (dredging) provides a host of jobs, and quite a bit of revenue for both tax dollars from the city,” Golden said. “But, also the businesses that operate along its frontage.
“So, it’s important to the city, it’s important to our constituents, that that remain navigable. What that also means is that there’s an incredibly large investment that’s necessary in order to have to build this facility.”
The Black River and other northern Ohio rivers periodically are dredged to maintain the needed depth for the federally regulated navigation channels that freighters use when they dock and load or unload in the cities.
The city received a $4 million Healthy Lake Erie grant administered by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources and the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency to fund the planning and design of a facility which includes a pilot study.
Corry Platt, director of sediments, coastal and brownfield restoration for Coldwater Consulting LLC, walks in front of the geopool of the City of Lorain Black River Dredge Reuse Facility on Aug. 20, 2020. The city is using a $4 million grant for a pilot project to see how the manmade lagoon filters sediment and water dredged from the bottom of the Black River.
According to documents, beginning in 2019, the city and Coldwater Consultants identified and evaluated alternative sites, screened conceptual layouts, conducted bench testing and analyses.
The project is engaging in a pilot study with a facility called a geopool with a dewatering method.
Last month, the geopool was filled with sediments from the Black River.
The study remains ongoing and is about 60 percent complete with the following outstanding items: residual solids evaluation where blend with compost, sands, to create residual garden soil, agricultural soil, commercial/industrial fill (brownfield site cap), and structural soil (cement pad sub-base); and dismantling and storage in City Super Hut (warehouse).
Financial forecasting
The geopool is located on city-owned land between the East 28th Street steel mills and the Black River.
A failure of the structure in November 2019 during an experiment from the pilot study was due to the hardware used to secure it to itself and problems with the structure itself, Golden said.
“It moved more than it should have moved,” she said.
In addressing some of the problems from the first attempt, a secondary containment area was built and Golden described it as a much more robust product the second time around.
“We don’t ever want anything we do to fail, because we don’t want to fail — we want to do it right the first time,” Golden said. “But, the whole purpose of this is to really find out what the weaknesses are so that we can fix them before we move on to some kind of larger scale structure and facility.”
While the initial experiment was a failure, the experience gave the city a lot of new information enabling it to make the product better in the long run, she said.
The city currently is seeking an additional $11 million in funding for the construction of a permanent facility and long-term maintenance costs.
The hope is for the entirety of the project will be funded without local tax dollars.
Multipurpose uses
Corry Platt, director of Sediments and Dredging for Coldwater Consulting, said the geopool is only one aspect of the potential applications.
“We have accomplished a full alternative analysis as well as preliminary design of a facility that has multi-use or multi-purposes,” Platt said.
Black River sediments are some of the most difficult to dredge, making it hard to de-water.
The geopool resembles an overgrown above-ground swimming pool with a fabric similar to a window screen.
The financial forecasting aspect of the study will look at ways the facility can capitalize and turn it into a new revenue source in selling the material for potential use in industry.
Cleveland has a similar operation and part of the pilot project is continuing to identify potential commercial uses for the sediment.
“Because we haven’t done that study to identify its uses, we can’t identify what the value of it is,” Golden said. “So, it’s a relatively slow process.
“At this point, I would hope that we’ll have some answers within the next six months as to what direction we’re going to be able to go with that.”
Golden also noted a portion of the $4 million grant is on hold due to the novel coronavirus pandemic with the grant reduced to $3.25 million.
Source: morningjournal
