End to river cleanup in sight

Crews recently began what is expected to be the final phase of cleanup on the Whitefish River.

“This will be our final season out there,” said Jennifer Chergo with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. “Our goal is to have everything open for the summer season.”

The river is being cleaned up after petroleum products were found in the river sediment at several sites. The EPA ordered BNSF railroad to cleanup the area after contaminated sediment was found on a stretch of the river. Initial cleanup of the historic contamination began in 2009.

This is the fifth phase of the cleanup. Crews working on the river in the past few weeks have been placing river rock in areas where contaminated soil was previously removed, Chergo said.

“They’re finishing up the stretches of the river that were cleaned before,” she said.

Crews will soon focus on cleaning more extensively the area of the river between Second Street and Baker Avenue.

In previous years, work has concentrated only on sediments below the low-water mark in the public domain. Last year the EPA discovered that there are potentially contaminated soils higher up the bank, between the low- and high-water marks. Crews will be testing those areas to assess for significant sheen when the soil is disturbed and return to excavate the contaminated areas.

“They will agitate the sediment and look for sheen,” Chergo said. “They will go back and dig up those areas with sheen. It’s a small strip, not above the vegetation.”

The areas where the cleanup will take place are on private property and the EPA has obtained permission to access them for the cleanup, according to Chergo.

Crews are also expected to clean a couple of small areas downstream of U.S. 93 South.

In the past work has been completed using a hydraulic dredge mounted on a barge to remove the contaminated sediment and pump it up stream to be cleaned. This year crews will only be using an excavator on a barge to remove the petroleum-containing sediments.

During the work, the bike path will be closed again between Miles Avenue and the trestle bridge.

“We expect to have everything wrapped up by June,” Chergo said.