The Bull Run watershed is 102 square miles and is located 26 miles east of downtown Portland and serves as the primary drinking water source to the City of Portland and a few surrounding communities. The City of Portland was faced with a problem of trying to address competing demands between preserving the drinking water supply and releasing water for Endangered Species Act (ESA) listed fish in the river below their reservoirs.
Ten miles of the Lower Willamette River in highly urbanized downtown Portland have been impacted with PCBs, metals, and PAHs by industrial, marine, commercial, defense, and municipal activities by 150 parties for more than 100 years. The Record of Decision issued by EPA in 2017 described a combined remedy expected to remove three million cubic yards of sediment, cap 176 acres, take 12 years to implement, and cost $1.2 billion. Geosyntec was retained as the common consultant by the PRP group to co-lead and help them navigate the pre-remedial design and baseline sampling program. In addition, Geosyntec will develop and scope work plans, design a statistically robust random sediment sampling plan, collect quality data, and produce pre-remedial design (RD) reports for agency approval.
On behalf of the Port of Portland (Port), Geosyntec assisted with water quality assessments and stormwater master planning for the Portland International Airport (PDX), four major marine terminals, and two industrial parks in response to significant new stormwater permit requirements and other drivers, including deicing control, and the need for conveyance system assessments and upgrades. The Port holds industrial stormwater permits and is the co-permittee on the City of Portland's Municipal Separate Storm Sewer (MS4) permit. These permits obligate the Port to develop and implement plans to manage and monitor stormwater discharges from their drainage system. Furthermore, the MS4 permit required the Port to implement a stormwater retrofit strategy for currently developed areas identified as impacting water quality. The objective of the stormwater master plan (SWMP) was to develop a consolidated and coordinated plan to comply with current regulatory requirements while still meeting the level of service needs required by their tenants and the general public.
Home Depot USA, Inc. (Home Depot) is continually expanding into new territories through development of key property locations that meet their market demographic requirements and fit their site development model. Home Depot has substantial experience in converting closed landfill sites and other environmentally-impacted properties into productive store locations. In Oregon City, Oregon, Home Depot identified a site that is located above a portion of the closed Rossman's Landfill, which was operated between 1969 and 1983 and received residential and commercial wastes. A primary requirement for the redevelopment of the site was protection of customers and employees from potential risks associated with landfill gas (principally, methane, carbon dioxide, and trace gases). The project approach utilized by Home Depot involved design and installation of a gas monitoring and control system in compliance with Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (ODEQ) regulations.
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