Phase two of the Randle Reef clean up project was awarded to two Canadian contractors. They now have the job of dredging the area outside of the containment facility. More than one million tonnes of coal tar lays at the bottom of Randle Reef, enough to fill First Ontario Centre three times over.
Construction of this containment facility is in phase one and is expected to be completed by the end of the year. Phase two which will begin next year, will be the dredging of the area outside of the containment facility sucking up the sediment and bringing it inside of the holding tank.
“It’s like a big gigantic vacuum cleaner that sucks it all up by pipeline, it will never touch the air that’s important for public safety and it goes into the containment.” Jon Gee, environment & climate change.
The almost $33 million contract for phase two has been awarded to Milestone Environmental contracting and Fraser River Pile and Dredge. Phase two should be finished in three years after that, phase three will be about securing the containment facility, capping it and making sure none of the toxic sediment can escape.
Once this project is completed in 2022 the containment facility will be a paved pier used by the Hamilton Port Authority. The purpose of the project is to make the Hamilton Harbour a healthy eco system again and to delist Hamilton as a Great Lakes area of concern.
