The Onondaga Lake Cleanup Team received the 2017 Western Dredging Association (WEDA) Environmental Excellence Award for Environmental Dredging in Vancouver, British Columbia, on June 28. WEDA recognized the team, led by Honeywell, for incorporating innovative technologies into an environmentally sustainable remedy for the restoration of Onondaga Lake, which is now becoming an economic driver for the region.

The Onondaga Lake cleanup team includes Honeywell, Parsons, Anchor QEA, OBG, Geosyntec Consultants, Sevenson Environmental Services, Infrastructure Alternatives, and de maximis.

Recognized as one of the largest restoration projects in North America, the Onondaga Lake cleanup is the result of more than two decades and millions of hours of intensive effort. The project was completed through an unwavering focus on sound science, technical excellence, community engagement, sustainable practices, and a commitment to health and safety. Project innovations resulted in significant advancements in sediment remediation technology. The cleanup combined innovative dredging and capping designs with long-term habitat restoration, leading to an environmentally protective solution.

Honeywell completed the dredging in November 2014, a year ahead of schedule. About 2.2 million cubic yards of material was removed from the bottom of the lake using hydraulic dredges. Onondaga Lake capping was completed in December 2016. Habitat restoration, a major focus of the cleanup, continues into the fall of 2017.

“Careful design, planning, and execution by a passionate team of scientists, engineers, and skilled craft laborers led to groundbreaking collaborative work on the largest sediment lake cleanup in the country,” said Honeywell Director of Remediation Design and Construction William Hague.

Onondaga Lake cleanup management team members, pictured left to right: Kendrick Jaglal, OBG; Tom Drachenberg, Parsons; John McAuliffe, Honeywell; William Hague, Honeywell; Brian Shanahan, Sevenson Environmental Services; Bill Cretens, Infrastructure Alternatives; and Walter Dinicola, Anchor QEA.

 

 

 

“The cleanup represents more than world-class investigations and engineering. The lake’s restoration is the return of a community jewel and a source of pride and optimism for Central New York,” said Honeywell Syracuse Program Director John McAuliffe. “We celebrate with the community in accepting this prestigious award.”

Pictured left to right: WEDA Environmental Commission Chair Craig Vogt, William Hague, John McAuliffe, and WEDA Board of Directors Chair and President Marcel Hermans.

 

 

 

WEDA is a member of the World Organization of Dredging Associations and covers North, Central, and South America. WEDA is dedicated to the exchange of knowledge in fields related to dredging, navigation, marine engineering, and construction by sponsoring or co-sponsoring national and international technical conferences, seminars, and symposiums, including publication and dissemination of the proceedings.

In 2014, WEDA awarded the Onondaga Lake Cleanup Team the WEDA Annual Safety Awardfor its outstanding safety record and performance. The award is presented to “corporations or projects that have been conducted with special attention and focus to public and worker health and safety.”

For more information on the Onondaga Lake cleanup, please visit www.lakecleanup.com.

“Water quality is the best in 100 years and more than 110 species of fish, birds, and mammals have returned to restored wetlands. Hundreds of Central New Yorkers are working on the project, and nearly 500 more have become environmental stewards helping to restore the watershed,” said John McAuliffe, Honeywell Syracuse program director. “The completion of dredging is a significant milestone in the restoration of one of Central New York’s most valuable resources. The community’s pride and passion has helped fuel this progress and is being rewarded as the lake will be a healthy, sustainable asset for generations to come.”

Capping and habitat restoration will continue through 2015 and be completed in 2016.

Early Completion of Dredging Result of Focused Execution
of Carefully Designed Project Plan

The completion of dredging a year ahead of schedule is the result of:

• seven years of design, piloting, and engineering
• investments in team building, health & safety and emergency response planning, community engagement, and contractor dialogue
• strong design team of national and local experts, the best in the field, who were motivated to work as a team
• talent, creativity, and dedication of local universities, engineers, suppliers, and craft labor
• on-site regulatory presence supporting timely decision-making
• commitment to continual improvement
• dedicated EPA / DEC oversight personnel

SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry and Audubon
to Provide Input on Grass / Native Vegetation for Consolidation Area

Honeywell is working in cooperation with local environmental and wildlife stakeholders to explore innovative ways to enhance the traditional vegetated landfill cover for the consolidation area where the lake material will be permanently stored in geotextile tubes. Experts at SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry and Audubon are providing critical input on selection of native grasses and vegetation as well as best management practices to foster sustainability.

Rendering of grass and native vegetation at consolidation area.

To view a fact sheet, click here.

Individuals interested in more information should contact Honeywell at 315-552-9784. For more information on the Onondaga Lake cleanup, visit www.lakecleanup.com.

To view a video from the event, click here.

Click here to download the 2012 Annual Report (4MB PDF)

Click here to download the Fall 2012 Fact Sheet (4MB PDF)

Click here to download the 2011 Onondaga Lake Cleanup Annual Report (4MB PDF)

Click here to download the 2010 Onondaga Lake Cleanup Annual Report (2MB PDF)

Click here to download the 2009 Onondaga Lake Cleanup Annual Report (1.2MB PDF)

Click here to download the 2008 Onondaga Lake Cleanup Annual Report (600 KB PDF)

The State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry (SUNY-ESF) and Honeywell were joined today by Onondaga County Executive Joanie Mahoney, Onondaga County Legislature Chairman Bill Meyer, and Camillus Town Supervisor Mary Ann Coogan as SUNY-ESF finished planting 60,000 shrub willows on the Solvay basins. The program more than doubles the number of willows previously planted, bringing the total number of shrub willows to 100,000.

Onondaga County Executive Joanie Mahoney praises the “green” solutions being explored by Honeywell and SUNY-ESF at the Solvay Basins.

Representatives from the Camillus Town Council, Camillus Town Supervisor Mary Ann Coogan and others learn how this renewable resource may provide a living cover at the Solvay Basins.

SUNY-ESF graduate students operate a specially-equipped tractor to plant shrub willows.

A large mixer incorporates Agri-Brew, yard waste, biosolids and lime into the soil prior to planting the renewable shrub willows.

In 2007, SUNY-ESF and Honeywell harvested willows from Phase I, demonstrating that shrub willows can become a productive source of “green” energy and bio-fuels for the region while also functioning as an effective “bio-cap.” The production and conversion of the shrub willows is carbon neutral; meaning that for every unit of carbon emitted throughout the planting, harvesting and transportation of the willows, they will take up an equal amount during their growth — there is no net addition of C0₂ to the atmosphere.

SUNY-ESF Research Associate Timothy Volk describes the shrub willow life cycle from the time it is planted to the time it is harvested for renewable energy.

To add nutrients and enhance the growth of the shrub willows SUNY-ESF and Honeywell are mixing biosolids leftover from the Anheuser-Busch Baldwinsville brewery’s bio-energy recovery systems (BERS) with a soil product manufactured at the Metropolitan Syracuse Wastewater Treatment Plant and then adding yard compost from the towns of Camillus and Geddes. These materials are then mixed into the basins before the willows are planted.

In about three years the shrub willows will be harvested and used to create renewable energy at facilities like the Lyonsdale Biomass Plant in Lyons Falls, NY.

Montezuma Audubon Center Director Frank Moses and SUNY-ESF President Cornelius Murphy join Honeywell to mark the 10-acre expansion of the shrub willow project at the Solvay Basins.

SUNY-ESF Research Associate Timothy Volk (r) and Onondaga County Legislature Chairman Bill Meyer (l) discuss the pioneering research being done by Honeywell and SUNY-ESF.

“The vegetative cover being evaluated has tremendous environmental benefits including an increase in biodiversity, the development of bioenergy feedstocks and carbon sequestration,” said SUNY-ESF President Cornelius B. Murphy, Jr. “For every acre that we re-vegetate, we sequester approximately 10 tons a year of carbon dioxide. This represents an important contribution to climate control here in Central New York. If we re-vegetate all of the Solvay basins, we would reduce our carbon dioxide footprint by approximately 7,000 tons/year.”

“Last year, we demonstrated how this renewable resource can create a living cover for the Solvay site and become a productive source of ‘green’ energy,” said Honeywell Syracuse Program Director John McAuliffe. “The 60,000 shrub willows in Phase II of the project mark the next step in our exploration of environmentally and economically viable solutions that benefit the environment and communities around Onondaga Lake. This innovative partnership is creating a clean, sustainable way to address remediation priorities, reduce our use of fossil fuel, and enhance wildlife habitat to this area.”

SUNY-ESF Research Associate Timothy Volk discusses how researchers have tested more than 30 species of willow at the Solvay Basins.

County Executive Mahoney and Honeywell Syracuse Program Director John McAuliffe listen to F.O.C.U.S. (Forging Our Community’s United Strength) Greater Syracuse founder Chuckie Holstein as she describes the regional benefits of biomass energy research.

“The Anheuser-Busch BERS operation converts nutrients from brewery process wastewater into renewable biogas providing about 19 percent of the brewery’s fuel needs,” said Steve McCormick, plant manager, Anheuser-Busch Baldwinsville brewery. “Over the past three years, Agri-Brew, which is the solids left over from the BERS process, has been an important contributor to the SUNY-ESF/Honeywell project. We look forward to the shrub willows’ continued growth as a possible renewable fuel source.”

Based on the success of the pilot project, experts say mass plantings and cultivation of shrub willows would create a sustainable and effective cover for the basins, eliminating the need for synthetic liners and clay caps, which do not provide the same energy, biodiversity or recreational benefits. SUNY-ESF says they can substantially reduce the amount of water that percolates through the settling basins and into the groundwater. The shrub willows also offer opportunities for recreation and improved habitat for wildlife. SUNY-ESF is also planting salt marsh vegetation in the hope of recreating salt marshes that once were prevalent in the Onondaga Lake vicinity. Salt marsh vegetation also will prevent erosion and attract wildlife.

A newly planted shrub willow will grow as high as 30 feet in the next four years.

“On behalf of the town of Camillus, we are again very proud to partner with SUNY-ESF and Honeywell in this innovative and sustainable project that will provide great future recreational and educational benefits to the community,” said Camillus Supervisor Mary Ann Coogan.

Dr. Murphy and SUNY-ESF Research Associate Timothy Volk provided tours of the site to the elected officials and representatives from Anheuser-Busch this morning. The officials toured the site, observed the soil mixing process and planted shrub willows.

Over the next year, the recently planted shrub willows will be carefully monitored by SUNY-ESF. They will be cut every three years, allowing them to re-sprout with new growth in the spring. Each shrub can be harvested at least seven times before replanting.

For more information on the Onondaga Lake cleanup, visit www.onondaga-lake-initiatives.com.

The Onondaga Lake cleanup continues with the installation of 25-foot steel sheets on the southwestern shore of Onondaga Lake. The sheets will create a temporary wall that will facilitate the installation of underground piping associated with the construction of the second phase of the barrier wall, a one and one-half mile long and 30-foot to 50-foot deep underground wall, which will prevent contaminated groundwater from entering the lake.

Pile Foreman Mark Clapp attaches a vibratory hammer to one of the temporary barrier wall sections. This hammer drives the metal sheet into the ground.

The hammer creates a vibration, liquefying the ground below the sheet allowing it to slide easily into place.

Pile Foreman Mark Clapp checks a newly-installed metal sheet.

Specialists from Atlantic Testing are on hand during the installation process to monitor the level of vibration that reaches underground pipes and infrastructure.

The barrier wall is being built in three phases under the supervision of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC). Phase one, the Semet section, extends from the West Side Pump Station (near Exit 7 on Interstate 690) to the Causeway Bridge. The second section, the Willis/Causeway section, will extend from the Semet section to the East Flume and the third section, the Harbor Brook portion, will extend from the East Flume to Harbor Brook.

The Semet section of the wall was completed in the summer of 2007. The construction of the Willis/Causeway section is scheduled for spring 2008.

Contaminated groundwater that is collected behind the barrier wall is pumped under I-690 to the Willis Avenue Groundwater Treatment Plant. Treated groundwater will be tested to ensure it meets DEC guidelines and returned to Onondaga Lake via piping under I-690.

These construction activities represent another step in Honeywell’s efforts to stop contamination from reaching Onondaga Lake – work that must be completed before direct work on the lake cleanup can begin.

For more information on the Onondaga Lake cleanup, visit www.onondaga-lake-initiatives.com.