FRPD with their partner Milestone Environmental Contracting were awarded the contract for the Randle Reef Environmental Remediation Project. This project is in the southwest corner of Hamilton Habour, the Randle Reef site is approximately 60 hectares (120 football fields) in size. The site contains approximately 695,000 cubic meters of sediment contaminated with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) and other toxic chemicals – the largest PAH-contaminated sediment site on the Canadian Great Lakes. The contamination is often described as “a spill in slow motion” due to the continuing slow spread of contaminants across the Harbour floor and uptake into the food chain of the Harbour ecosystem. PAH contamination at Randle Reef is a legacy of a variety of past industrial processes dating back to the 1800s. There were multiple sources of contamination including coal gasification, petroleum refining, steel making, municipal waste, sewage and overland drainage.
Watch Environment and Climate Change Canada’s animated video describing the clean-up of the Randle Reef contaminated sediment site, the largest Canadian contaminated sediment site on the Great Lakes. The video provides an overview of how the clean-up of Randle Reef will take place over a 7-year period.