Dudley Reach project planning underway

MEDIMONT — Plans are beginning to come together for the work that is to be completed in the Dudley Reach area.

The CDA Work Trust and Environmental are putting together a plan to address riverbed contamination in that section of the Coeur d’Alene River.

According to the EPA, the project will be the first pilot project within the river channel inside the Lower Basin.

The CDA Work Trust purchased a 160-acre parcel of land in the Dudley Reach area in October 2021 and weren’t entirely sure at the time how they would utilize it.

The pilot project will examine and evaluate the potential effectiveness of various Lower Basin cleanup technologies such as, but not limited to, capping in-place, dredging, dredging/capping hybrid, and weirs to reduce erosion rates.

“Pilot projects help inform our approach when cleaning up in-river contamination,” said EPA project manager Ed Moreen in the most recent publication of the Basin Bulletin. “They help us refine our clean up technique in the river channel and develop ways to minimize downstream mine waste migration as we get cleanup done. Each lesson learned means we’re better at the next site.”

The EPA and the Trust have been gathering information in the Dudley Reach area to determine which direction would make most sense for their planning.

The exact location of the project is not yet set, but at this time they are focusing on a half-mile area about two miles downstream of the Mission Boat Ramp — including a large scour hole on the river bottom with high levels of mining-related waste.

“For now, we are considering a dredging and capping approach. We may modify our approach as we get new information,” Moreen said. “Dredging will require waste consolidation areas to be sited and constructed in the Lower Basin. We are now learning as much as we can about this site.”

The project is not an immediate one and won’t likely move into the design phase until next year at the soonest, with the project actually happening two years after that.