Dam removal can bring environmental benefits, but comes with costs. These costs can include not only the expense of physically breaching the dam and removing its remains, but also costs associated with sampling and remediating contaminated sediments trapped behind the dam. Here's a quick look at two case studies, providing updates on stories I've noted before.
Last November, I looked at what's trapped behind dams on South Carolina's Twelve Mile Creek near Clemson. Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and other chemical contaminants from electronics manufacturing operations have become trapped in sediments behind several dams slated for removal. Removal of the dams is expected to allow cleaner sediments to flow down into Lake Hartwell where they are hoped to be able to cap the PCB-contaminated lake bottom. Work on a sediment storage area is now ongoing along Twelve Mile Creek, funded through the $9 million settlement in the enforcement lawsuit against the manufacturer.
Just over a year ago, I noted that a settlement agreement would lead to the removal of four hydro-electric dams on the Klamath River in California and Oregon. There, utility PacifiCorp has agreed to undertake the dam removal, which is projected to commence in 2020. Overall, the Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement and Klamath Hydroelectric Settlement Agreement contemplate a dam removal cost of $450 million, with another $1 billion in environmental restoration activities. How will dam removal be paid for? At least part of the funds (albeit a relatively small share) will likely come from PacifiCorp's ratepayers. A California administrative law judge has recommended that the California Public Utilities Commission approve a nine-year 2 percent rate increase to raise $13.8 million for dam removal. Where the rest of the money will come from, as well as whether U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar decides to support dam removal, remains to be seen.
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Showing posts with label PCB. Show all posts
Showing posts with label PCB. Show all posts
February 15, 2011 - small non-hydro dam removal
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
From the dam removal department:
Picture a small dam stretching about 50 feet across a stream. The Gravesleigh Dam on Sackett Brook in Pittsfield, Massachusetts was built in the 1930s by Merle Dixon Graves, a native of Bowdoinham, Maine who served in the Massachusetts House of Representatives from 1921-1924 and who owned Gravesleigh, an estate surrounding the brook just above its confluence with the Housatonic River. Merle Graves had the dam built to create a small pond for his estate. Over the years, the pond filled with silt, and much of the Gravesleigh estate became Massachusetts Audubon Society's Canoe Meadows Wildlife Sanctuary.
Now, Massachusetts Audubon is interested in removing the dam for reasons including improving water quality, restoring riparian wildlife habitat, and creating educational opportunities to learn about watershed health and science. Moreover, as part of a deal to allow the Pittsfield Municipal Airport to expand, the dam site has been identified as able to offset some of the habitat lost at the airport as a condition for state water quality certification. With the impoundment silted in, and no renewable power production at the site, these benefits may make the Gravesleigh Dam seem like a good candidate for dam removal.
The Housatonic Valley has a long history of industrial manufacturing, some of which resulted in PCB (polychlorinated biphenyl) contamination of the valley's soils and water. According to EPA, "PCBs are probable human carcinogens and can also cause non-cancer health effects, such as reduced ability to fight infections, low birth weights, and learning problems." If these chemical contaminants are trapped in the sediment impounded by the Gravesleigh Dam, the dam's removal could send the PCBs downriver into the Housatonic. This is the same problem as found on Twelve Mile Creek in Clemson, South Carolina, where dam removal initiatives must be weighed against the risk of disturbing PCB-laden sediments. In Pittsfield, dam removal could be paired with sediment remediation, but that would significantly add to the project's cost - already predicted to be $303,000 without sediment remediation. This points to the importance of understanding what's trapped behind the dam.
Sampling of impounded sediments was undertaken last summer. While most samples came back negative for PCB, one of the sediment samples did show PCB contamination. This triggered another round of sediment testing last month. The results of that testing have just come in, and suggest that sediment remediation will not be required for dam removal.
The Gravesleigh Dam's saga may soon be over. In this case, chemical contaminants trapped behind the dam may not prove sufficient to prevent the dam's removal. Each dam has its own story, and may have its own baggage that must be addressed if the dam is to be removed. I'll keep you posted on the Sackett Brook story as it continues to flow.
Picture a small dam stretching about 50 feet across a stream. The Gravesleigh Dam on Sackett Brook in Pittsfield, Massachusetts was built in the 1930s by Merle Dixon Graves, a native of Bowdoinham, Maine who served in the Massachusetts House of Representatives from 1921-1924 and who owned Gravesleigh, an estate surrounding the brook just above its confluence with the Housatonic River. Merle Graves had the dam built to create a small pond for his estate. Over the years, the pond filled with silt, and much of the Gravesleigh estate became Massachusetts Audubon Society's Canoe Meadows Wildlife Sanctuary.
Now, Massachusetts Audubon is interested in removing the dam for reasons including improving water quality, restoring riparian wildlife habitat, and creating educational opportunities to learn about watershed health and science. Moreover, as part of a deal to allow the Pittsfield Municipal Airport to expand, the dam site has been identified as able to offset some of the habitat lost at the airport as a condition for state water quality certification. With the impoundment silted in, and no renewable power production at the site, these benefits may make the Gravesleigh Dam seem like a good candidate for dam removal.
The Housatonic Valley has a long history of industrial manufacturing, some of which resulted in PCB (polychlorinated biphenyl) contamination of the valley's soils and water. According to EPA, "PCBs are probable human carcinogens and can also cause non-cancer health effects, such as reduced ability to fight infections, low birth weights, and learning problems." If these chemical contaminants are trapped in the sediment impounded by the Gravesleigh Dam, the dam's removal could send the PCBs downriver into the Housatonic. This is the same problem as found on Twelve Mile Creek in Clemson, South Carolina, where dam removal initiatives must be weighed against the risk of disturbing PCB-laden sediments. In Pittsfield, dam removal could be paired with sediment remediation, but that would significantly add to the project's cost - already predicted to be $303,000 without sediment remediation. This points to the importance of understanding what's trapped behind the dam.
Sampling of impounded sediments was undertaken last summer. While most samples came back negative for PCB, one of the sediment samples did show PCB contamination. This triggered another round of sediment testing last month. The results of that testing have just come in, and suggest that sediment remediation will not be required for dam removal.
The Gravesleigh Dam's saga may soon be over. In this case, chemical contaminants trapped behind the dam may not prove sufficient to prevent the dam's removal. Each dam has its own story, and may have its own baggage that must be addressed if the dam is to be removed. I'll keep you posted on the Sackett Brook story as it continues to flow.
November 23, 2010 - Twelve Mile Creek dam removal?
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Whether a dam will be removed can depend on what's trapped behind it. Dams can trap a lot of sediment behind them, as solids carried downstream in a flowing river fall out into dams' impoundments as the flow backs up behind the dam. These sediments can add up to a huge volume of material. For example, on the Elwha River in Washington's Olympic Peninsula, where the Glines Canyon and Elwha dams are being removed, nearly 18 million cubic yards of sediment were trapped above the dams. That's a whole lot of sediment. (Picture a large gravel trailer passing you on the highway. Even if the truck can haul the weight, it's likely carrying less than 100 cubic yards, meaning it would take more than 180,000 truck trips to haul the sediment away.)
Sometimes the sediment trapped behind dams comes with an even heavier burden: toxic contaminants washed downriver from upstream sources. South Carolina's Twelve Mile Creek provides a vivid example of this hazard. From from 1955 to 1987, Sangamo Weston, Inc. owned and operated a capacitor manufacturing plant in Pickens, South Carolina. Waste and effluent including 400,000 pounds of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) made its way (in part through direct discharges) to Town Creek and Twelve Mile Creek, a major tributary of the 56,000 acre Lake Hartwell (where Clemson, South Carolina is located). Sangamo Weston ultimately merged with Schlumberger. The area is now a Superfund site.
In 2006, a court ordered Schlumberger to take a variety of remedial actions, including paying $9 million in damages and removing two lower dams -- and possibly a third upstream dam owned by the Easley-Central Water District. It is this dam behind which some of PCB-laden sediments are now trapped. The question is not as much whether, but rather how much. Other sediments have made their way down into Lake Hartley; removal of the three dams is expected to allow cleaner sediments to flow down into Lake Hartwell where they are hoped to be able to cap the PCB-contaminated lake bottom. A study of this dam removal was approved earlier this year, but has yet to commence due to lack of funding.
If and when the dams in question are removed, what will happen to the sediment? Will it have downstream effects? PCB contamination can be serious, as seen in the Champlain Hudson Power Express transmission line's route jog to avoid PCB-contaminated sediments in the Hudson River. Recall that this PCB problem may have been exacerbated by dam removal: the 1970 removal of the Fort Edwards Dam on the Hudson River downstream of PCB-releasing General Electric factories allowed PCB-laden sediment to flow farther and more quickly downstream, resulting in one of the country's largest Superfund sites. By contrast, in Danville, Virginia, where the Brantley Dam is now targeted for removal, studies suggest a small enough volume of sediments (and a low enough toxics load) that dam removal may be feasible without requiring the kind of extensive sediment recovery that may be needed on Twelve Mile Creek.
Sometimes the sediment trapped behind dams comes with an even heavier burden: toxic contaminants washed downriver from upstream sources. South Carolina's Twelve Mile Creek provides a vivid example of this hazard. From from 1955 to 1987, Sangamo Weston, Inc. owned and operated a capacitor manufacturing plant in Pickens, South Carolina. Waste and effluent including 400,000 pounds of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) made its way (in part through direct discharges) to Town Creek and Twelve Mile Creek, a major tributary of the 56,000 acre Lake Hartwell (where Clemson, South Carolina is located). Sangamo Weston ultimately merged with Schlumberger. The area is now a Superfund site.
In 2006, a court ordered Schlumberger to take a variety of remedial actions, including paying $9 million in damages and removing two lower dams -- and possibly a third upstream dam owned by the Easley-Central Water District. It is this dam behind which some of PCB-laden sediments are now trapped. The question is not as much whether, but rather how much. Other sediments have made their way down into Lake Hartley; removal of the three dams is expected to allow cleaner sediments to flow down into Lake Hartwell where they are hoped to be able to cap the PCB-contaminated lake bottom. A study of this dam removal was approved earlier this year, but has yet to commence due to lack of funding.
If and when the dams in question are removed, what will happen to the sediment? Will it have downstream effects? PCB contamination can be serious, as seen in the Champlain Hudson Power Express transmission line's route jog to avoid PCB-contaminated sediments in the Hudson River. Recall that this PCB problem may have been exacerbated by dam removal: the 1970 removal of the Fort Edwards Dam on the Hudson River downstream of PCB-releasing General Electric factories allowed PCB-laden sediment to flow farther and more quickly downstream, resulting in one of the country's largest Superfund sites. By contrast, in Danville, Virginia, where the Brantley Dam is now targeted for removal, studies suggest a small enough volume of sediments (and a low enough toxics load) that dam removal may be feasible without requiring the kind of extensive sediment recovery that may be needed on Twelve Mile Creek.
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