United States Environmental Protection Agency
Region V
POLLUTION REPORT

Subject: 

On June 27, 2007, U.S. EPA ordered The Dow Chemical Company (Dow) to negotiate an Administrative Order on Consent, to address removal of extremely elevated levels of dioxin-contaminated sediment from within Reach O of the Tittabawassee River near Midland, Michigan.  Dow agreed to the terms of the Order and on July 12, 2007, the Order was signed by the Regional Administrator and Dow.  For additional background information please see the site profile.

On-Scene Coordinator (OSC) Jim Augustyn is providing oversight with assistance from U.S. EPA’s START Contractor, Weston Solutions, Inc.

The following tasks are currently on going:

•    The decontamination and demobilization of the heavy equipment.
•    The importing and application of topsoil.
•    The restoration of the haul access road along the river embankment.
•    Planting of native plants along disturbed section of river bank

To view a map that depicts current site progress, please visit the Document Section of this website and open the document titled "Site features map".

The following tasks have been completed by Dow contractors during the period from October 18 – 31, 2007:

Thursday, October 18: Work activities suspended due to severe weather conditions.

Friday, October 19: Dow completed the removal of all sheet piling from the river. Other work activities included the decontamination and demobilization of barges, sheet piling and heavy equipment from the Site. Shoreline stabilization and restoration activities started at the RMU 1/2 access ramp.

Saturday, October 20 and Sunday, October 21: No Site operations conducted.

Monday, October 22: Dow continued the dismantling, decontamination and demobilization of heavy equipment from the Site. Stabilization and restoration activities of the river shoreline continued at the RMU 1/2 access ramp.

Tuesday, October 23:  Site activities included: the transportation of excavated logs to the Salzburg Landfill for staging purposes, continued shoreline stabilization activities at the RMU 1/2 and RMU 5 access ramps, and continued dismantling and demobilization of heavy equipment from the Site. Dow’s contractor also began discharging the treated wastewater (Batch #4) to the Tittabawassee River. The dewatering pad will not be dismantled as part of this scope of work. The dewatering pad will remain intact for possible future use.

Wednesday, October 24: Dow continued the stabilization and restoration activities of the river shoreline and the access haul road along the top of the river embankment. Other restoration activities included the importing and application of topsoil, straw bails, and straw matting.

Thursday, October 25 and Friday, October 26: Dow continued the stabilization and restoration activities of the river shoreline and the access haul road along the top of the river embankment and continued demobilization of some heavy equipment from the Site.

Saturday, October 27 and Sunday, October 28: No Site operations conducted.

Monday, October 29: The haul road sand removed from along the top of the river embankment was transported to the Salzburg Landfill for disposal. Approximately 4 inches of sand backfill material was also removed from the dewatering pad and transported to the Salzburg Landfill for disposal. Since all work activities within the Tittabawassee River has been completed, the upstream and downstream turbidity meters were removed from the river.

Tuesday, October 30:  Surface soil samples were collected from post excavation area inside the dewatering pad to identify the presence of any residual contaminated sediment. Dow continued the stabilization and restoration activities of the river shoreline and the access haul road along the top of the river embankment.

Wednesday, October 31: Dow completed the shoreline stabilization and restoration activities, and continued the demobilization of equipment from the Site.

The following tasks are soon to be implemented:

•    The decontamination and demobilization of the wastewater treatment equipment.
•    Reducing the temporary stone access road to the Site from two lanes to one lane
•    Complete restoration and planting of native plants.

As of 10/31/07, Dow has removed and transported to the landfill approximately 16,398 in-place cubic yards of impacted sediment from the Reach O site. A total of 911 loads, estimated at 18 in-place cubic yards per load, have been transported to the Salzburg Landfill for disposal. The following disposed waste dredged and disposed from the Reach O area includes:

8/31/2007    6 loads        150 in-place cubic yards
9/7/2007      84 loads    1,512 in-place cubic yards
9/8/2007    174 loads    4,350 in-place cubic yards
9/10/2007    33 loads    825 in-place cubic yards
9/15/2007    71 loads    1,278 in-place cubic yards
9/16/2007    76 loads    1,368 in-place cubic yards
9/18/2007    164 loads    2,952 in-place cubic yards
9/24/2007     162 loads      2,916 in-place cubic yards
10/5/2007    77 loads    1,386 in-place cubic yards
10/29/07       64 loads    1,152 in-place cubic yards

As of 10/31/07, Dow has treated and discharged approximately 63,444 gallons of water. The wastewater treatment process includes settling and filtration using 25 and 10 micron filters. Samples are collected continuously during the discharging process and tested for Total Suspended Solids (TSS) and Total Equivalent (TEQ) concentrations of dioxin and furans. The following quantity of water discharged from the Reach O treatment operations include:

9/14/2007                  Batch 1        18,311 gallons discharged
9/24/2007                 Batch 2              7,953 gallons discharged
10/4/2007                 Batch 3        22,678 gallons discharged
10/23/2007               Batch 4        14,502 gallons discharged