Bentonite Clay Surry Wall
OENJ Cherokee Corporation, Bayonne, New Jersey
Project Description:
The OENJ Cherokee Corporation, Bayonne site consisted of a former industrial site south of the Military Ocean Terminal on the Constable Hook in the city of Bayonne, New Jersey. The property is bound on the North and East by the Upper New York Bay and on the South by several chemical manufacturing and industrial facilities. The site was part of the New York Bay until the early 1900s, when the Constable Hook area was filled with various wastes and fill material during the period from about 1910 to 1983.
The project included a 38-acre former municipal landfill and a 97-acre industrial fill site formerly owned by PSE&G. OENJ later properly capped and closed the former landfill and remediated and capped the former PSE&G site using approximately 4.5 million cubic yards of amended dredged material from the New York Harbor, and other recyclable materials. Once the site was remediated and capped, it was developed into an 18 hole golf course named the Bayonne Golf Club. Additional amenities include a club house, wetlands refuge area, and perimeter public waterfront walkway.
Approach:
There were several environmental issues to be addressed in order to fully remediate the site. Phase I consisted of constructing the Bentonite Clay Slurry Wall necessary to hydrologically isolate the site and prevent further contamination to the New York Bay and surrounding area. The containment of the site was required by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection NJDEP before any further environmental improvement and procurement of dredge material necessary to cap the site, could be initiated.
The 300,000 SF continuous Bentonite Clay Slurry Wall extends 14,000 lf to a maximum depth of 47 ft, which keys into an underlying geological impermeable layer. The wall prevents the lateral movement of groundwater on and off the site. By preventing any migration of groundwater onto or off the site, thus allowing leachate collection and treatment systems within the site to work more efficiently.