The aim of the Esquimalt Harbour Remediation Project (EHRP) is to define and implement remediation and risk management measures to address contaminated sediment within Esquimalt Harbour for which the Department of National Defence (DND) is responsible. The EHRP has a project budget that exceeds $100 million and is expected to take nearly a decade to fully execute. Currently the project is in the implementation stage, which involves remedial dredging at four harbour sites. There are also several other major capital construction and remediation projects overlapping with the EHRP including the A/B Jetty Recapitalization Project, the Small Boat Floats construction project, and the Esquimalt Graving Dock South Jetty Rebuild. Given the complexity, short timeframe for completion of the project, and coordination with a multitude of stakeholders it was essential to have a strong communication plan in place. The project communication protocols were outlined in the project management plan (PMP) and provided a foundation for building solid communication tools.

The ultimate goal on any project carried out for DND is to promote the operational readiness of Canada’s Forces. At CFB Esquimalt that entails ensuring the operational readiness of the Pacific Fleet. For the EHRP to incorporate DND’s mandate of operation readiness in setting the objectives of remediation and risk management measures, integration with the DND operational tempo at CFB Esquimalt is required. As the implementation stage of the EHRP approached, the EHRP project managers communicated operational overlap of the intended remedial construction elements to internal DND stakeholders and used feedback from stakeholders to modify the program’s schedule as to best fit operational constraints. The team transitioned from the detailed planning tools, such as the MS Project detailed Master Project Schedule and Monte Carlo Schedule Risk simulations to more visual communication tools such as a simplified Harbour Activity Gantt Chart and a week-by-week operational graphic of harbour berthing and remedial activity. These tools allowed relevant planning information to flow between stakeholders effectively and each stakeholder could utilize the information for their own planning purposes. For the EHRP team this information led to the modification of project schedules in tender document that would best fit with DND operational requirements.

These new tools simplified the communication of complex activities and provided many overall benefits to the project including:
• A visual tool that allowed the Admiral to be easily updated on planned Harbour activity on a weekly basis;
• The improved communication of EHRP and other Esquimalt Harbour activities greatly reduces many of the project risk factors identified in the EHRP’s Risk
• Register (e.g., conflicts between the remedial program, the construction program and/or the operational program); and,
• The visual communication of the remedial sequencing aided both the integration with other harbour projects, as well as helped identify areas subject to the risk of recontamination.

The communication tools are aspects of the PMP that are designed to avoid, accept or mitigate project risk and are aligned to support the successful completion of the EHRP. These tools are constantly being reworked and redesigned as continuous improvement is one of the key philosophies behind the EHRP’s success.

Risk management decisions in working harbours must consider that bioaccumulative chemicals such as PCBs can be present from multiple legacy and ongoing sources, and that concentrations of these chemicals may be changing over time due to the effects of source control and natural recovery. Risk management decision-making benefits from accurate predictions of future food web contaminant concentrations. These predictions can be used to compare environmental benefits achievable under different risk management options. However, for the predictions to be useful, they must be accurate and representative, which requires greater complexity than the food chain models commonly used during aquatic risk assessments to evaluate ecological risks from sediment contaminants to higher trophic level receptors.

Recent examples of PCB bioaccumulation modeling for working harbour sites include the lower Grasse River site on the St. Lawrence River, 100 kilometers upstream from Montreal, Quebec, and Victoria Harbour, on Vancouver Island, British Columbia. At the Grasse River site, an integrated model was developed incorporating existing environmental and food web tissue data, as well as foraging and dietary uptake assumptions for prey and species. Contaminant uptake was calibrated for different harbour subareas using established relationships between environmental concentrations and fish and prey tissues. Sediment transport and natural recovery processes were quantified and simulated using hydrodynamic, sediment transport, and contaminant fate and transport models. The integrated model allowed both current and future fish tissue concentrations to be estimated under baseline natural recovery scenarios and under different remedial alternatives. During remedial planning, the resulting model predictions were validated by a supplemental round of environmental and tissue sampling conducted up to 11 years after the initial model results were used in the draft feasibility study. Findings demonstrated good alignment with model predictions, and the model was subsequently used in 2011 to develop a final sediment feasibility study submitted to and approved by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. That plan is currently undergoing design and permitting, with construction expected to occur between 2018 and 2022.

Similar evaluations have been conducted within Victoria Harbour to support future risk management planning. Complexities in Victoria Harbour requiring such modeling included the need to evaluate the contribution of ongoing stormwater inputs to observed food web concentrations of PCBs, as well as the need to estimate the beneficial effects of stormwater source control and sediment natural recovery in the long term. As with the Grasse River, a food web bioaccumulation model was used to document current conditions. Stormwater pollutant inputs were quantified with recent sampling data, and stormwater PCB fate was estimated using hydrodynamic and sediment transport modeling. Natural recovery effects were quantified in parallel geochronology and time-trend studies. Results confirmed the importance of both stormwater source control and natural recovery to future food web concentrations of PCBs. Findings of that work are being used to inform ongoing risk management planning for Victoria Harbour sediments.

Small Craft Harbours (SCH) is a nationwide Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) program that operates and maintains a national system of harbours to provide various harbour users with safe and accessible facilities. In 2015, a tool was developed to assist DFO in estimating remediation liability costs for SCHs based on a common set of assumptions related to site characteristics (e.g., the nature, magnitude, and aerial extent of sediment contamination). The objective of the tool was to help prioritize sites for future investigation/remediation and to audit existing liabilities as there was concern that previous estimates had been overestimated. Application of this tool to six SCHs resulted in significant decreases in liability estimates at all of the SCH sites. Based on the liability estimates, one site located in a remote First Nations community in BC, was identified as the highest priority for investigation/risk assessment as the liability estimate was at least double the estimates from the other six SCH sites.

To address the site with the highest liability, in the summer of 2016, a supplemental investigation and human health and ecological risk assessment was conducted to evaluate the potential for adverse effects and if warranted, provide recommendations for risk management. The human health risk assessment evaluated potential risks under a recreational exposure scenario and concluded that risks were acceptable. The aquatic ecological risk assessment evaluated potential risks to benthic invertebrates as the primary ecological receptors using a weight of evidence (WOE) approach. The integrated results of the WOE assessment indicated a low to moderate risk for benthic invertebrates at the site. However, decreased abundance and richness observed in samples were not correlated with metals or organics contaminants of concern, but were attributed to the presence of anthropogenic debris within the water lot. Extensive debris was observed on the sea floor within waterlot including a large volume of fishing gear as well as boat batteries, boat parts, bicycles, and general residential refuse (bottles, clothing, plastic debris). Because no human health risks were identified and risks associated with the benthic community did not appear to be related to chemical stressors, the liability associated with contamination present at the site was considered to be minimal and physical remediation of sediments was not recommended. Instead, removal of debris and management of waste inputs were recommended as risk management approaches to reduce the liability at the SCH.

Returning to the site in fall 2017 and winter 2018, with the assistance of the local First Nation, targeted debris removal was conducted with the aim of improving conditions within the water lot. The field programs also included diver surveys of the sea floor and collection of benthic invertebrate samples to provide a baseline for monitoring recovery of the benthic community. Risk communication and education activities will also be initiated in early 2018 in collaboration with DFO and the local First Nation, with the aim of reducing future disposal of debris and waste into the water lot.