The Randle Reef remediation project will move to its third and final stage

Canada’s minister of the environment was in Hamilton on Wednesday to announce that the Randle Reef remediation project will move on to its third and final stage. The contaminated sediment has been dredged and moved into a container, and now the area in the Hamilton harbour will be capped.

Removing over a century of contamination from the Hamilton harbour is no easy task. In phase one of the Randle Reef remediation project a large container was built on top of the most contaminated area of the harbour. The containment facility has a surface area of seven football fields.

Then, stage two, which is now complete was the dirty work. The dredging of the area outside of the containment facility, sucking up the sediment, and bringing it inside of the holding tank.

Now its on to the final portion of the project, sealing the container so that none of the toxic sediment gets out.

Canada’s minister of the environment says all eyes are on Hamilton and how the massive clean-up project was handled, a collaborative effort between all levels of government and stakeholders.

Project managers say 615 thousand cubic metres of contaminated sediment has been contained. Either secured in the holding tank or capped in place in the Stelco channel. The sludge is harmful to the harbours ecosystems.

The capping project is expected to start this fall and be completed in 2024.