The DuPont Chambers Works in Deepwater, New Jersey, served as a manufacturing facility for over 100 years before becoming a 700-acre hazardous waste site.
The US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) and Galago's parent company Ramboll entered into a long-term engagement in 2018 to clean up the land managed by the USACE Philadelphia District. The task is large and daunting, but it is also something that anyone working in sustainability dreams of taking on and completing.
Tim Cushman, who is an experienced GIS Professional, 3D Visualization & Geospatial Technical Leader at Ramboll, led the Deepwater geospatial intelligence, 3D visualization and data analysis team. As a result of Galago's efforts, the environment has been left in much better shape than it had been a hundred years ago.
Galago's team consists of talented and dedicated GIS Professionals with extensive experience as environmental consultants in the Federal, Private, and Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) industries. Among the team's unique scientific technical skills are proficiency in Esri ArcGIS, Earth Volumetric Studio, relational database platforms, high-accuracy GPS data collection, drone imagery capture, processing and management, LiDAR data collection and visualization, environmental field sampling and geospatial project management from A-to-Z.
It is Galago's enthusiastic approach and fresh ideas that is helping solve the complex technical problems at the site today. Galago's team can distill highly technical information into digestible concepts and provide customized solutions for every situation. In recent years, Galago has been involved in several high-profile Federal contracts that have led to many highly esteemed project outcomes. Should we mention the PDT of the year and Meritorious Service Award here?
Geospatial work constituted most of Deepwater's mitigation efforts. Galago was tasked with improving conventional radiological data collection techniques and 2D data representations in order to create a more effective site map. To perform remedial actions, the team developed a tailored method for collecting and processing radiological data, which provided a robust and precise 3D visualization of radiation contamination that enabled real-time decision-making.
Throughout the entire project, Galago relied on a sophisticated GIS to support everything from base mapping to UAV (drone) data collection to high-quality, intelligent 3D web deliverables. approach powered up and enabled by Esri solutions including ArcGIS, the AEC Project Delivery Subscription and ArcGIS Experience Builder.
Starting from the ground up
Initially, Galago's team had limited information about contamination locations and the base mapping, so they had to start from scratch. The Galago team first set out to create the ArcGIS base maps, georeference 80 years of aerial imagery, and, most importantly, locate the contamination.
When the site was decommissioned, many of the structures contaminated with radiation were demolished, and the demolishers made use of the rubble in various ways. If they needed structural fill in a wetland area, they dumped a building there. If somebody offsite wanted to fill in a space, they’d give them a demolished building to get rid of it.
After identifying several key areas of aerial photography, Galago's team developed a web-delivered historical reference application designed to facilitate the identification of contamination areas using the ArcGIS swipe tool in Web App Builder. Consequently, workers had to verify contamination with full, cumbersome protective gear and mitigate soil contamination by digging it up, treating it, and moving it around as needed in a very dangerous environment. The actual earth moving and the fieldwork was done by New York’s Sevenson Environmental Services Inc. digital cameras.
Galago used an eight-rotor UAV with gimbal and sensor array mounts equipped with high-resolution LiDAR sensors to greatly densify control and site data, saving the situation and opening up new mitigation opportunities.
The ArcGIS visualization was continuously updated with x, y, and z coordinates and photographic data collected from 20-minute flights every two weeks.
The process was automated with Esri tools and made plug-and-play, according to team leader Tim Cushman. Galago’s team entered the photos and LiDAR data with the ground control points and the rest happened behind the scenes.
“The United States Army Corps 2021 Project Delivery Team (PDT) won the Year Award for Excellence. The DuPont Chambers Works FUSRAP Project is truly a testament to outstanding support and collaboration efforts. What we imagined in design driven database, you made possible and have exceeded our expectations. You have saved the project and the program millions of dollars.” Ramon Brigantti, LTC, EN Commanding
Real-time decision making and deliverables
With the ArcGIS Experience Builder visualization, owners and contractors can log in remotely and conduct weekly "touchpoint" meetings, which are highly productive. The mitigation work that has been performed over the past few weeks is verified using ArcGIS, and Galago makes fast, well-informed decisions about what needs to be done next. With this agile method, mitigation work decisions can be made in one meeting without wasting weeks, which cuts down on the time it used to take to manage a project.
As a result of Ramboll's excellent performance on this ongoing project, Gallago was awarded the USDOE Meritorious Service Award, and the USACE issued an official congratulatory letter to the firm in recognition of its accomplishments during the challenging COVID-19 year of 2021.
The state-of-the-art approach to data management has allowed this project to successfully move forward in the past year, and what was imagined in a design-driven database, Galago has made possible and has exceeded all expectations. As a result of Galago's team efforts, millions of dollars have been saved for the project and program. By integrating onsite tests with GIS capabilities, scientists can detect contamination areas faster, more efficiently, and at a lower cost. All Galago as a part of Ramboll and Esri deserve high praise.
View Esri's on-demand webinar "GIS Trends for Environmental Consulting" here and learn more about how Esri's solutions are being used to clean up the world.
Site remediation and cleanup information for business
Progress in management of contaminated sites - where to begin?
A contaminated site (CS) is a well-defined area where soil contamination has been confirmed and may pose a risk to humans, water, ecosystems, or other receptors. A risk management measure, such as remediation, may be necessary based on the severity of adverse effects on receptors under current or planned use. It is usually referred to as 'potentially contaminated sites' (PCS) when there is suspected soil contamination but no verification, which needs further investigation before an unacceptable risk can be determined.
In recent years, both parameters have been introduced. The four key management steps, which were previously used to assess soil contamination levels, were abandoned in 2011. Today, managing contaminated sites involves assessing risks and reducing them if necessary. A geospatial or historical study is the first step, followed by a detailed site investigation and remediation measures if necessary. Progress is shown in four key management steps: the preliminary study, the preliminary investigation, the site investigation and the risk reduction measures. There are two stages to each management step: estimating the number of sites that require this specific step and counting or completing every step.
If you need more information, Galago can provide details about the costs and outcomes of managing contaminated sites. Book a demo or request a quote here.
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