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Bridge rises above environmental standards

Protecting the environment is reaching new heights when it comes to constructions like the Okanagan River Channel
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Markus Meyer of the commercial division of Kelowna-based Diving Dynamics signals for the lift of a large sandbag from the bottom of the Okanagan River Channel where a five-lane bridge is being constructed near the intersection of the Channel Parkway and Green Avenue. A team of four from the company were working at the site recently to help remove the sandbags.

The bar to protecting the environment has been raised to new heights when it comes to mitigating the impact of construction projects like the new Okanagan River Channel bridge.

As a fish-bearing and spawning waterway still in its recovery stages, Chief Jonathan Kruger of the Penticton Indian Band said this week it is imperative the crossing is carefully managed.

“So much work has and continues to be done to bring back the salmon and it is imperative we not do anything to negatively impact that,” said Kruger. “It makes me happy that they are doing such good work and it makes me confident that everything is going according to plan.”

One of the most important aspects related to protection of the fish and spawning, especially in this initial phase of construction which includes pile driving, is keeping siltation to a minimum.

Excessive amounts of fine sediment in the gravel bottom where the eggs are laid has shown to have a significant, detrimental effect on the emergence success of salmon fry and oxygen circulation among the roe.

That’s why a huge component of this particular bridge-building project began even before work started.

This involved the placement by crane of about 900 two-tonne “green” bags of sand from the channel bottom to the surface around the areas where the substrate would be most likely impacted.

“It’s designed as a containment system whenever you are doing marine work there’s always going to be some level of siltation and the channel is considered a specialized area and you have to have containment,” said director of operations Vern Johnston of Kelowna-based Diving Dynamics.

A team of four industrial/commercial divers from the company have been working in placement and removal of the sand bags for the past several weeks.

“When you are stirring up the substrate (river-channel bottom) you’re reducing or mitigating the opportunity for that siltation to float downstream (with the sandbags) from the pile driving and other things that are being done.”

The work involves a diver in the water who is connected by an umbilical line to an on-shore panel which provides breathing gas and communications.

“It’s not that sophisticated in our world, it’s pretty straight-forward but you’re working with a very serious crane so you still have to be very careful,” said Johnston.

According to senior project manager Brian Atwell of Emil Anderson Construction, one of the companies working at the site, once the containment bags were in place any fish inside had to be caught and released outside the barriers.

“From a construction side the biggest thing is that we have to isolate all the work from the open river channel,” said Atwell. “Also we have to have a daily environmental monitor so we have a registered biologist who is on site to monitor activities,”

And according to PIB advisor and consultant Chris Scott who has been working closely with the band, protecting the fish is only one component of the overall environmental picture.

“Another of the issues affecting federal property where the bridge lands is the species at risk because the painted turtles proximate to the area,” said Scott. “We had to make sure there were plans in place to make sure that doesn’t happen, plus a remediation plan when the bridge is built. All of that has been under rigorous environmental approvals before we were given the green light.

“This is something that’s highly, highly regulated by DFO provincial and federal ministries.”

He added it is critical on this kind of project to maintain transparency in the work and credited the efforts of Emil Anderson Construction for doing that.

“All I know is that the complexity of us getting all these approvals and all the permitting processes that are required was arguably the most complex project I’ve ever undertaken, but we achieved our objective,” said Scott. “And now we’re bridging the economies of the region with the Penticton Indian Band and I think that is a very promising opportunity for everyone.”

Construction on the five-lane structure is currently ahead of schedule and will continue until summer when there will be a two-month shutdown with work resuming in the fall.

Completion is planned for late October or early November.