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One of the bends in the River—Money Point—was so named for the wealth it created for shipping terminals, factories, and wood treatment plants, according to locals. Others believe Blackbeard buried treasure along the shores.

But the contaminated sediments in Elizabeth River are anything but treasure. A grassroots effort has joined together environmental and business interests to address a watershed action plan in what is one of the largest environmental cleanup efforts in the Chesapeake Bay.

Although the contamination is due to earlier industrial waste practices, as much as 90% of new pollution entering the Elizabeth River these days comes through stormwater runoff from parking lots, lawns, and other industrial and residential surfaces, according to some reports. An aging system of stormwater drains discharges soils, fertilizers, pesticides, and metals directly into the Elizabeth River.

The solution is to reduce stormwater runoff pollution while promoting stormwater reuse, say advocates of the effort to clean up the Elizabeth River.

“The Money Point project is not just cleaning up the contaminated sediments and walking away from the project—which a lot of times is what happens when people are only interested in cleaning up a contaminated site and that’s it,” says Joe Rieger, the director of watershed restoration for the Elizabeth River Project.

The Elizabeth River Project is a nonprofit grassroots effort spearheading the Elizabeth River cleanup. Begun around a kitchen table in 1991, the organization grew under the leadership of Marjorie Mayfield Jackson, who serves as executive director, from the original four interested parties to a current staff of eight and a dues-paying membership of more than 2,000.

The grassroots effort has expanded to include industries; citizens; and local, state, and municipal government agencies, all of which are undertaking individual efforts toward the main goal of remediating the river and its shorelines.

“Since the day Marjorie founded this organization, our main mission was to work with the state and federal government along with the industries, because we knew that we couldn’t be effective on this river if we had an attitude of pointing fingers,” says Rieger.

While the efforts embrace the Elizabeth River watershed as a whole, special attention is being given to critical concerns at Money Point. The overall philosophy of action looks not only to remediate the consequences of the past, but also to set in place actions that will ensure no recontamination in the future.

To that end, the Money Point Revitalization Task Force met from January 2005 to August 2006, convened by the Elizabeth River Project and facilitated by the University of Virginia’s Institute for Environmental Negotiation.

The group produced a 10-year plan “put together with diverse stakeholder input that included all of the Money Point landowners, the state government, and the citizens, and we got their input as to the most comprehensive plan we could come up with to restore Money Point,” says Rieger.

“What we didn’t want to do is spend $5 million, walk away from the project, and then find out that the River got recontaminated from the uplands. This plan addresses the recontamination issues.”

Former USEPA administrator Christine Todd Whitman has called the Elizabeth River Project “the model” for voluntary partnerships between government, businesses, and citizens to achieve real environmental results.

The main waste pollutant over the years has been creosote, used as a wood preservative. Lumber for outdoor use—such as railroad ties, posts, and marine pilings—was soaked in creosote to extend the life of wood that is exposed to weather elements. Money Point had been one of the focus areas for creosoting timber.

The lumber had been treated there before it was sent north for use in telephone poles or piers. At one time, four large creosoting facilities were located within a 2-mile area in the southern branch of the Elizabeth River. Eventually, some of the highest levels of PAH (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons) in the world were found offshore of Eppinger and Russell, a former wood treatment plant, as well as at the site of the former Republic Creosoting. The PAH suite of compounds is typically found in creosote and creosote materials that go onto various types of timbers.

Some 35 acres are contaminated by PAH.

 “There’s a spottiness of contaminants out there in the river, which has led us to believe—based on looking at some historical structures—it’s the result of day-to-day activities when there was no Clean Water Act for controlling substances like creosote,” says Rieger.

The Elizabeth River has played an important role in the history of the region. It is part of the Elizabeth River watershed, which includes the towns of Norfolk, Portsmouth, Chesapeake, and Virginia Beach.

The watershed is further divided into smaller branches, with the main stem, the eastern branch, the western branch, the southern branch, and the Lafayette River.

The Elizabeth River watershed is 200 square miles and is one of the oldest port facilities, has one of the largest naval fleets on the Eastern seaboard, and is the third-largest cargo importer into the East Coast.

Consequently, it is a “very protected” harbor area because the harbor has protection from large storms, which is why it became a port and is one of the nation’s oldest ports, notes Rieger.

“It’s become a key area for the maritime industry,” Rieger says. “The soft bottoms allowed for dredging to occur so they could get larger ships into the port without having to dig through stone or other materials, like in New York Harbor where they have to blast.”

Over time, as material was dredged to create port facilities, the Elizabeth River became deeper and narrower. Initially, it was a very shallow estuary with a maximum depth of about 20 feet, but the average depth was about 5 to 7 feet.

Rieger points out the Elizabeth River is not a “flow-through” river as are others. The southern portion of the river is part of the Intracoastal Waterway, and a canal links it to the Dismal Swamp, which is the only constant source of freshwater other than stormwater runoff during rain events.

“It doesn’t have a current like you’d normally picture in your mind when you think of a river flowing past,” says Rieger. “It’s an inter-tidal estuary, so the far reaches of this river that are most inland have very low flushing range. That affects the river’s dynamics. Like a bathtub effect, it just sloshes back and forth on the tidal ranges.”

The Money Point Revitalization Task Force has developed five main goals to be implemented in 10 years.

1. Clean up the river bottom at Money Point.

“When we started out, we identified that cleaning up the contamination in the bottom of the Elizabeth River was the first action that needed to be taken before anything else,” says Rieger. “There was this historical contamination sitting on the bottom of the river, which was re-distributing throughout the river basin.”

Contaminated sediments are to be cleaned up at the former Eppinger and Russell facility by 2009 and those offshore of the former Republic Creosoting site by 2016. The sediments are to be cleaned to 45 parts per million or less of PAH. Cleaning will be done by dredging the contaminated sediments and replacing them with clean sand, where oyster reefs and wetlands will be added.

Sediment cleanup will involve both offshore and onshore remediation, says Dave Koubsky, environmental project manager for the Elizabeth River Project. Offshore remediation will involve dredging with sediment brought into the upland area where it would be dewatered and treated in an economical and practical manner yet to be determined by design engineers. “Upland areas are being remediated through a combination of pumping where there are groundwater impacts that have migrated through the water table and accumulated in the base of the aquifer,” says Koubsky.

One of the major upland cleanup efforts on Money Point is being spearheaded by the Hess Corp., which now owns most of the former Eppinger and Russell site. The company entered the voluntary remediation program in 2002 and has conducted soil and groundwater investigations at the site, finding PAH contamination in a small area of soil and groundwater.

“Hess’s contractor is currently pumping out raw product from the groundwater to prevent continual contamination,” says Koubsky. To date, some 30,000 gallons have been pumped and recovered. The material is being moved offsite for incineration for its BTU value as energy recapture.

2. Prevent upland pollution from entering the river at Money Point, improving and maintaining water quality.

This is the focus of heading off recontamination issues at the pass because without them, eliminating contamination would be a futile effort, say Elizabeth River Project advocates.

Contamination is carried from the uplands with stormwater during each rain.

Freeman Avenue, the main two-lane thoroughfare at Money Point, has not only been a hazard in winter with skidding trucks carrying petroleum around its sharp turns, but also was a host to stormwater contamination runoff due to a lack of any municipal stormwater controls or treatment.

Chesapeake has engaged in a $450,000 stormwater management improvement project, of which $368,000 came from a state of Virginia grant; the rest of the amount was matched by the city.

“We are a small component in the nonpoint-source pollution, which is all of the pollutions carried by the stormwater runoff to the Elizabeth River,” says Sam Sawan, senior drainage engineer for the city of Chesapeake. “The way in which we can address that is by doing stormwater improvement.

“With the nature of the Money Point area being industrial, you can imagine that any stormwater runoff getting to the river is not the kind of runoff you want to get to the river directly,” he adds.

Chesapeake recently completed a survey and is moving into the detail design for a new stormwater project that will address many flooding issues at Money Point.

“The Money Point Drainage Improvement project—funded through a Community Development Block Grant—includes the installation of a drainage system along Freeman Avenue,” says Sawan. “Stormwater runoff will be directed toward a BMP [best management practice]—probably an enhanced extended-detention facility—before discharging to the river.”

Chesapeake’s stormwater management program will entail cleaning out ditches along the northwest side of Freemont Avenue, including those at two 90-degree turns that are clogged and ineffective.

The funding will cover phase 1, which will address the Freemont Avenue drainage system. Additional funding is being pursued to ensure that a BMP becomes part of the project.

The city is considering a variety of BMPs, including a dry-enhanced extended-detention pond.

“It depends on the amount of pollutants being removed or treated before it is discharged,” says Sawan. “We have some conceptual ideas, but we have not got into the BMP because we don’t have the funding for it yet.

“If we cannot secure funding to construct the BMP, we could utilize a drainage outfall—which is just an open channel—and do some wetlands facing the ditches or plantings along the channels, which is the very least that we should be doing to make sure that we’re not just directly discharging to the river without any treatment.”

The Elizabeth River Project has worked with the city of Chesapeake as the city moves through assessing the problem and addressing the solution, Rieger says, noting that improved stormwater treatment will help flooding issues at Money Point.

“We don’t want a direct shot at the river without treatment, so we’re working on securing funding to add a water-quality-improvement project—a BMP or stormwater swales—to be integrated into that stormwater project,” says Rieger.

Aside from Chesapeake’s efforts, other ideas that have been considered include:

• The construction of stormwater wetlands at the southeast corner of the Buell and Freeman intersection, and the addition of more practices downstream of the stormwater wetlands, such as a treatment train process for further stormwater improvement
• Supporting additional stormwater treatment measures at other industrial sites and exploring regional stormwater treatment in the vacant 3-acre, phragmites-infested field north of CITGO The introduction of biostrips at parking areas to filter stormwater runoff
• The creation of a guide to sustainable redevelopment that includes BMPs for the Elizabeth River watershed, including Money Point
• Stormwater management plans that include bioswales, habitat corridor, retention ponds, and pervious paving
• The use of a network of vegetated swales and low-impact development or conventional practices to reduce standing water and other stormwater hazards for pedestrians and vehicles on major streets, as well as to provide habitat
• Advocacy for stormwater improvements on private property, which could connect with the public system

Additionally, industries at Money Point are taking their own measures.

The Hess Corporation is aggressive in its actions, notes Koubsky. “There’s also going to be an installation of a groundwater barrier between the contaminated zones upland and the shoreline that will protect the remediated area offsite from continued groundwater impact.”

Since plants take up pollutants through their roots, Hess has planted more than 1,200 native trees (such as poplars for phytoremediation) of creosote on its site. The action also serves to control water-level elevation upland.

“In addition to that, there will be some capping of the area to protect any groundwater as it rains, as water flushes through the contaminated soil and might reach into the groundwater,” says Koubsky, adding that various technologies are being considered.

3. Enhance the quality of life at Money Point, promoting co-existence of industrial, community, and ecological health.

Among the actions being considered is construction of pervious sidewalks on Freeman Avenue, as well as repaving neighborhood streets and parking areas with pervious paving to infiltrate runoff.

Sawan says Chesapeake does not consider pervious pavement appropriate for use on public facilities, only on private roads and parking lots.

“There are many products being marketed for use as BMPs, and pervious pavement is one of those,” says Sawan. “But there are concerns about the material strength, durability, and long-term maintenance.”

Other plans call for the establishment of a “Learning Barge,” a floating 120-foot classroom to bring the public and students to view restoration efforts at they occur on the river. Wind and solar energy will be used to teach alternatives to pollution-causing forms of energy. The barge also will include a display on sediment contamination and a living wetlands garden with native plants to filter graywater.

4. Establish environmental stewardship among industries through the River Stars program.

Through the River Stars program, industries along the Elizabeth River’s shores voluntarily engage in pollution prevention and habitat enhancement at their facilities.

“We have eight River Stars or industries we work with directly at Money Point, and we’ll probably be recruiting two to three more in the next couple of years,” Rieger says. “We have the major landowners on board and involved in the project.

“The River Stars program features CEOs and their workers from large corporations planting wetlands with the Elizabeth River Project. The idea is to gain a stewardship appreciation for people who work on the river; they take on that responsibility and participate in it. It’s been a great success here on the Elizabeth River using this type of approach.”

Companies along the shoreline are adding native trees, shrubs, and wetlands to filter runoff and restore habitats, as well as assessing and improving stormwater controls to prevent recontamination offshore and add new pollution prevention measures.

Among these efforts:

• Exxon (Kinder Morgan) is working with the Elizabeth River Project on a tidal wetlands project, placing 16 acres into a long-term conservation easement. Four of those acres have been carved out for tidal wetland and upland buffer restoration.
• Sims Hugo Neu, one of the largest scrap recycling companies in the United States installed a vegetative buffer along its shoreline.
• CITCO Petroleum created a wildflower meadow and native plant planting at its facility and is working on a stormwater project with the Elizabeth River Project. The company also placed 2 acres of property into a long-term conservation agreement with the Elizabeth River Project. CITGO also has installed a new oil/water separator to reduce runoff and replaced wiper seals on two tanks with mechanical shoe and secondary wiper seals, reducing volatile organic compounds by 1,749 pounds in one tank and 1,388 pounds in another.

5. Restore and conserve wetlands, vegetated buffers, shellfish beds, and urban forest, by creating an integrated network of habitat for wildlife in the Money Point Plan.

Organizers say these key steps will decrease and filter stormwater, support wildlife, and improve the area’s aesthetic appearance.

This part of the Money Point revitalization plan is currently underway with a 4-acre tidal wetland restoration with National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association's Restoration Center, notes Rieger. The project will restore both tidal wetlands and upland buffer back to an industrialized waterfront.

These five goals for Money Point remediation are based on a broader regional watershed action plan that encompasses a wide-scale effort of smaller projects. That widespread plan is based on a list of objectives called “The Clean 14.”

The objectives include:

• Reduce toxins and nutrients in stormwater runoff.
• Perform ongoing monitoring to guide effective restoration and conservation.
• Restore contaminated uplands, particularly those where brownfields—abandoned industrial sites—could further contaminate the area.
• Ensure that port expansions are ecologically and economically responsible.
• Engage in public education on the Elizabeth River’s key challenges.
• Reduce litter. (The Downtown Norfolk Council of 1,200 merchants employed private street sweepers who kept 77,000 pounds of debris out of storm drains and the Elizabeth River.)
• Support efforts to reduce levels of TBT (tributyltin) in marine paint. The pesticide is used in antifouling paints to protect boat hulls from barnacles and algae; its compounds are toxic to aquatic life.
• Promote mass transit and alternate transportation in recognition that automotive usage is a major contributor of nonpoint-source pollution to the river.
• Remove abandoned vessels and pilings.
• Support efforts to implement a “load allocation approach” that defines maximum total pollutant levels tolerable by the Elizabeth River ecosystem, and allocating portions among industries. One such action is to adapt a hydrodynamic model developed for the Elizabeth River by the Virginia Institute of Marine Science.
• Improve sewage systems. The goal for this year is to support municipalities in their efforts to improve insufficient sanitary collection systems, as well as establish effective sewage disposal for recreational boaters.

The Elizabeth River Project formed a sister nonprofit organization with its own board called the Living River Restoration Trust. It oversees an in-lieu fee fund, so if there were an impact to river sediments either from dredging or filling, an applicant would have the option to pay into the trust fund to clean up.

The initial amount of money placed in the trust—$5 million—came from a new port facility that was going to be dredging about 10 million cubic yards in the main stem of the Elizabeth River.

The Elizabeth River Project handles project management, while the trust handles direct contracting with consultants for design and construction.

A feasibility study and conceptual design have been completed. The design includes three phases. Phase 1 focuses on site investigation, including field sampling. Phase 2 involves the evaluation of remedial options, including sediment disposal issues and pre- and post-monitoring and maintenance. The final phase considers the conceptual remedial design, with a tentative completion date of 2010.

One of the essential components of sustaining efforts made in the Elizabeth River Project is stormwater treatment.

The Money Point stormwater system is dated and has not been upgraded, with very few water-quality improvements put in place to scrub the stormwater before it hits the river, notes Rieger. “In reality, I don’t think there is even a system to start with,” says Sawan. “It’s pretty much just an old area that over the past 10 to 15 years changed from being a residential area to an industrial area having the benefit of being on the shorelines. Shipping is an important industry in this area. It became mainly an industrial area, and the roads are not being kept up the way they should for the drainage.”

One of the reasons Chesapeake has fallen behind in stormwater initiatives is due to “extreme underfunding,” Sawan points out.

“There are a lot of things we want to do; we’re trying to improve our situation so we can do more,” he says. “We are doing all we can to work with the Elizabeth River Project folks. We’re not the only ones with industrial businesses on the shoreline. I believe most of the counties have the same problem.”

About 20 years ago, Chesapeake completed a master drainage plan for the entire city and began updating it a few years ago, starting with the Mill Dam Creek watershed.

“The master drainage plan is a planning tool to identify problem areas within the system, the impact of future growth, and recommends the appropriate stormwater improvements,” says Sawan.

In 2001, Chesapeake adopted a comprehensive stormwater management ordinance and program that addresses water quantity/flood control and water quality/nonpoint-source pollution, which is primarily funded by stormwater utility fees.

The underfunded situation by which Chesapeake Public Works has been operating may get some relief. The City Council approved an increase in stormwater fees, from $2.55 per equivalent residential unit (ERU) per month to $4.45, with an additional $1.90 per ERU/month for the next calendar year, then 50 cents thereafter to accommodate inflation and increased material costs.

“This increase will allow us to move forward with significant improvements in our environmental review process and our maintenance program and will fund some of our longstanding capital projects,” notes Patricia Biegler, director of public works for Chesapeake. “This is a step forward for the city.”

In the ongoing efforts is an education piece that seeks to school the next generation on how its practices affect stormwater pollution, says Tammy Barry, a public information specialist with Chesapeake’s Public Works Department.

“My view is that the money we spend on public education probably provides the biggest return per dollar spent of anything [the stormwater department] spends money on,” says Richard Broad, Chesapeake’s stormwater administrator.

“This is especially true for our education efforts in public schools. A child who understands the importance of pollution prevention—picking up pet wastes, not dumping oil down storm drains—can do more to educate other family members on these issues than we can.”

As the process unfolds, despair has been replaced by hope.

In the early 1990s, the Elizabeth River—a commercial and recreational fishing destination—was considered dead, with many bottom-dwelling fish suffering from cancer, deformities, lesions, and cataracts. Oyster fishing was shut down, although commercial crabbing continues, in addition to a great deal of recreational fishing.

But the river is not as dead as some would believe, notes Rieger.

“We have quite a diversity,” he says. “In a lot of these areas in which we are doing restoration, we can catch up to 21 types of finfish at the restored sites. The river itself is still alive, and there is still a tremendous amount of diversity of finfish and crabs using it.”

The goal throughout the process has been “not to look at just one of the problems of the contamination and re-contamination issue,” says Rieger, “but to look at the Money Point project on a landscape scale to see where we can do habitat improvement, stormwater improvement, where we can clean up sediment and overall enhance the area of Money Point.”