The learning curve was steep, but project officials and state regulators say it is leveling off. Basically, it will take continuing effort-and money-to keep construction of Sound Transit's Central Link light rail line within state and federal environmental standards.
Sound Transit faces two big environmental challenges. The first is oil and other chemical pollution on property being vacated for the widening and reconstruction project. Most of it comes from former service stations and dry-cleaning establishments. And Sound Transit is encountering more of it than planners originally anticipated.
The second challenge involves meeting strict state standards for controlling dirty runoff water from the project-both on the ground and from construction trucks leaving the project area.
This helps prevent sediment from the project running off and eventually finding its way into Lake Washington, Puget Sound or the water table. Anything that goes off the site has to be cleaned off.
Early on in the project, the Washington state Department of Ecology found a number of violations involving runoff water.
Sound Transit is working with DOE (Washington State Department of Ecology) and the contractor RCI-Herzog to make sure the problems don't continue to generate violations.
Runoff
"Just about the time we began work on the project, the rains started and there was a steep learning curve, getting the contractor's attention and making the seriousness of the project known," said Mark Menard, senior environmental analyst for Sound Transit. "The learning curve was steep. But they are coming around."
The Washington State Department of Ecology agreed about the steep learning curve-especially with storm runoff water. The project has a National Pollution Discharge Elimination Permit, which sets strict standards for runoff and other issues.
Sound Transit and its contractors are required to stay within the levels allowed by the permit.
"Small to mid-sized violations of their permit have been written-but when they need to, they address the problems," said DOE spokesperson Caitlin Cormier. "We have worked to make sure that the contractor is being very aware of the issues."
Sound Transit has hired the engineering firm of Camp, Dresser and McGee as environmental consultants to make weekly inspections along the project and monitor the activities of the contractor, according to Geoff Patrick, a spokesman for the transit agency.
"The consultants help determine whether this would exceed limits of the permit," said Richard Conte, construction manager for the Link Light Rail Project. "We also inspect the jobs once a week for compliance with Best Management Practices (BMPs)-these are DOE standards."
Sound Transit forwards the results of these weekly tests to the state. Regulators then review the reports and make recommendations, but they don't always wait to receive a paper report.
"DOE joins us on the inspections," Menard said. "If there has been a rain event we check for turbidity, or suspended particles in the water. And we check the pH balance in the runoff."
A pH test determines the level of acidity, and it can be an issue, particularly from cement dust.
"When concrete dust washes into the water, a change in the pH balance can cause fish kills-if there is too much alkaline or too much acidity," said DOE spokesperson Cormier. "It is critical."
"If the pH is too high (or too low), we take extra measures," Menard said. "We measure to prevent pollution, and if we determine there is a violation, we self-report it to the DOE. They follow up and track to see how many violations and whether there are any trends."
Another source of concern is "turbidity"- the amount of dirt and sediment in the runoff water. Sound Transit spokesman Patrick said the standards are so strict that runoff water can be classified as having too much sediment-even at levels that are difficult to see with the naked eye.
Regulators and Sound Transit inspectors even make sure the contractor cleans the wheels of construction trucks and other equipment leaving the site. Cormier said this initially was a major source of violations-but there was a fairly simple fix.
"We required that they install truck wheel washing station before the trucks leave the site," Cormier said. "They need to wash all of the water into a retention basin. They use recycled water so that it's not consuming tons of fresh water. "
Cormier said the state agency is absolutely adamant about it.
"It's a big issue. If the truck driver doesn't stop at the wheel wash, they get 'red-tagged' and they cannot come back to the site until they meet with us," she said.
Menard said another way to keep pollution off the trucks is to require that they be loaded with dirt or other material on the pavement, rather than on muddy soil in the project.
The DOE also requires the contractor to power-wash ground areas around the edges of the project, according to Cormier. This is part of the "learning curve" DOE and Sound Transit officials referred to.
"We're working with a 'live road', and they cannot just close down the activity on the street," Cormier said. "So instead we require that they power-wash the ground around the site."
"Every catch basin has a filter sock to remove particulates," environmental analyst Menard said.
Chemical quantity surprises
Sound Transit is also finding far more pollution than originally expected from oil and chemicals, as crews excavate dirt from sites along the right-of-way. This costs time and money.
Planners originally expected to find 18 sites with possible pollution from oil or gasoline tanks-but so far, they have found 44, according to Menard and Sound Transit spokesman Geoff Patrick.
Contaminated soil has to be taken to special disposal facilities, and the contractor has to use specially trained crews.
"It is a serious problem. We are finding (pollution) on sites that we didn't know existed," Menard said. "We originally set aside $3.25 million for cleanup, but that is now trending towards $5.5 million."
"And there are indirect costs," Conte said. "We have to stop, evaluate it, and in some cases crews go on standby or 'leapfrog' to another part of the project.
Menard added that so far, no one has had to completely shut down the construction project.
Sound Transit said in a report to the public that it "continues to work with the contractor on schedule issues and analysis of delays relating to environmental remediation work and utility conflicts."
Menard and Comte indicated it is fairly easy to determine the direct cost of hauling contaminated soil to a special disposal facility. Sound Transit will have to negotiate with its contractor on the issue of more indirect costs of delays and additional training for construction crews.
Sound Transit has budget contingencies that should cover the extra costs, according to Patrick.
He explained the contract for the Rainier Valley section of the project has $16.8 million in contingencies built into the budget for unexpected costs.
"Beyond that, there are project reserve funds and unallocated contingencies [project-wide]," Patrick said. "So far, we are at the first level, but I hesitate to project beyond that. We do have adequate resources."
While $2 million seems like a lot of money, Patrick noted that RCI-Herzog's $128.3 million proposal was $30.4 million under the engineer's estimate. The Rainier Valley contract is the fourth major Central Link Initial Segment contract to come in under budget.
Asked who pays for the cost of cleanup, Patrick said it is simple: "We clean up sites that we own. We cannot clean up someone else's property."
So if Sound Transit purchases property to widen Martin Luther King Jr. Way to make room for the Central Link light rail, it has to pay the cost of cleaning contaminants found on that property- or on any right-of-way or easements.
On the other hand, if oil is leaking into the ground from a neighboring property which is not part of the right-of-way, Sound Transit's inspectors report it to state and city officials, who can order the property owner to pay for any clean up.
Asked why there are so many more polluted sites than originally anticipated, Menard and Comte said it would have been absolutely cost-prohibitive to take soil samples from every piece of property along the right-of-way.
Patrick said Sound Transit and its contractor are committed to keeping the project as clean as possible. He noted that as part of the project, if crews have to work on a wetland on the Link Light Rail right-of-way, Sound Transit pays to improve wetlands in other areas, like a project going on in Beer-Sheeba Park along the shores of Lake Washington.
John Livingston may be reached through editor@sdistrictjournal.com.[[In-content Ad]]
