THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, January 3, 1996 TAG: 9601030648
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY SCOTT HARPER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 90 lines
The Army Corps of Engineers has won approval of a major study of the pollution-choked Elizabeth River, hoping to find ways to clean up one of the dirtiest rivers in the nation by the year 2000.
Among other ideas, the $400,000 study will review a technique scientists have used in protecting Puget Sound in the Pacific Northwest - burying toxic wastes in the water by pouring tons of clean, sandy material on top of the contaminated muddy bottom.
Craig Seltzer, an Army Engineers oceanographer and project manager, said the study will look at constructing man-made wetlands and forests along the riverfront, which would act like natural sponges in curbing toxic and dirty runoff from washing into the Elizabeth.
``Obviously we're never going to have a river like we had 200 years ago,'' Seltzer said, ``but I think it's clear we can do better . . . that we can get this river in a lot better shape.''
The study was approved in concept this fall by Congress as part of a national transportation bill. U.S. Rep. Norman Sisisky, D-4th District, which includes parts of Chesapeake and Portsmouth, attached the study to the bill.
If Congress funds the study, as expected this summer, the study would dovetail with local efforts to revive the meandering river through Chesapeake, Portsmouth and Norfolk. A tributary of the Chesapeake Bay, the Elizabeth is infamous for hazardous pollution from heavy industries and shipyards that line its shores.
The Elizabeth River Project, an environmental group, is leading local efforts in a cooperative, consensus-building experiment that has become a favorite with Gov. George F. Allen's administration.
Indeed, Allen's appointed secretary of natural resources, Becky Norton Dunlop, has been lobbying local officials for months to help fund restoration strategies embraced by the study. So far, she has won tentative backing from Norfolk and Chesapeake, with Portsmouth and Virginia Beach still considering the plan, Seltzer said.
``We all have a vested interest in restoring the Elizabeth River system to the highest level of environmental quality,'' Dunlop said in a letter to Chesapeake Mayor William E. Ward, ``and it is anticipated that these investigations will bring us closer to providing practical solutions.''
Marjorie Mayfield, a coordinator for the Elizabeth River Project, said group members - which include the Navy, local shipyards, businesses and civic groups - at first were reluctant to support what many perceived as another study of a well-known problem.
But with federal money and muscle at stake, they decided this study was different.
Mayfield was especially interested in what the corps recommends for sediment contamination.
``That seems to be the big problem no one knows what to do with, especially in the Southern Branch,'' where toxic wastes and cancer-causing agents to fish have vanquished water quality in this lower region, Mayfield said.
The Southern Branch is home to Atlantic Wood Industries, which is on the federal Superfund toxic-waste cleanup list because of high amounts of a dangerous compound known as polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons, or PAHs. The compound is present in creosote, used for years to treat wood products at Atlantic's plant in Portsmouth.
In Puget Sound, one answer has been covering up such contaminants with a blanket of clean sand. As Seltzer described, about three to four feet of clean material is placed on top of contaminated areas, effectively capping toxic hot-spots.
The study would probably start in March 1997 and take about one year to complete, Seltzer said.
The second phase would require state and local governments to pay half the estimated $1 million to $4 million in restoration projects. The federal government would pay the other half.
All work would likely be underway within four years, Seltzer said. ILLUSTRATION: Graphic
WHAT'S IN THE SEDIMENT
The following contaminants have been found in Elizabeth River
sediment. The ones in bold have been found in concentrations where
adverse health effects are possible, according to a 1994 study for
the Elizabeth River Project.
Some heavy metals have been found to cause problems with growth,
reproduction, severe abnormalities in fish: cadmium, chromium,
copper, iron, lead, mercury, nickel, silver, and zinc.
PAHs (polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons) have been found to cause
cancer, lesions and ulcers in fish: benzofluoranthene, chrysene,
fluoranthene, phenanthrene, pyrene
Source: Elizabeth River Project
by CNB