Kinnetic Laboratories, Inc

Scope Of Work

Dominguez Channel and the highly developed/industrialized Dominguez Watershed stretches northward almost to the LA International Airport. It is also downstream of the Montrose Chemical DDT Superfund Site. Kinnetic Laboratories, working with the Port of Los Angeles and CH2M Hill, carried out an extensive program to characterize and map contamination in Consolidated Slip located in the Northern part of the Port of LA at the mouth of the Dominguez Channel. This area contained over 20 feet of highly contaminated sediments and was listed as a Superfund Site. The characterization and mapping of legacy pollutants in sediments in the upstream Dominguez Channel was also part of the program. These sediments were highly contaminated with metals, petroleum hydrocarbons, and organic contaminants to levels approaching or occasionally exceeding hazardous waste criteria (having a strong odor, and are toxic to marine organisms). Chemical analyses of these sediments was difficult because of the very high levels of petroleum and other pollutants, and needed multiple runs and sample cleanup procedures for each analyte class in order to achieve appropriate marine QA/QC objectives.Subsequent to this work, additional field, laboratory, and planning work was carried out by Kinnetic Laboratories for the Port of Los Angeles channel deepening program that also included work associated with potential project designs, landfill capacity and CAD disposal, and capping solutions designed to remove or isolate these contaminants from the Harbor and coastal environment. Latter follow-on field work included further characterization mapping for project planning purposes plus obtaining data for quantifying water quality impacts associated dredging and construction plans. This additional work included work on pore waters, differing elutriates, long-tube settling tests, and other special tests to support design of a CDF facility as well as a cap design and to facilitate future permitting. The cleanup project would remove and/or cap contaminated sediments, channelize flows, provide a sediment trap, and facilitate future development on the Wilmington water front.Sediment quality data in Consolidated Slip show a reservoir of contamination available to marine organisms and subject to erosion and transport throughout the Harbor. Pollutants in these sediments are listed by the California Water Act 303(d) impairments for the Consolidated Slip water body, and fish body burden advisories are in place within Harbor waters. These listed pollutants are very high levels of Lead, Mercury, Zinc, Copper, Total DDT & Derivatives, Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs), and Total Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs). A major concern is the continued transport of these heavily contaminated sediments by physical and biological transport processes further down into the Harbor and coastal waters, especially serious because of the bioaccumulative nature of many of the contaminants present. Local beneficial uses of these waters off the shoreline of the City of Wilmington are also impaired by the polluted sediments and waters that exist within Consolidated Slip. The marine habitat within the Slip is heavily degraded.