Press Releases
- 07-24-2008Craney Island Mosquito Spraying July 27
- 07-22-2008Corps, NOAA Deploy 'Smart Buoy' in Chesapeake Bay
- 07-16-2008Lake Drummond Reservation reopens; Dismal Swamp Canal to reduce lock openings to 2 per day
- 06-13-2008Lake Drummond, Reservation temporarily closes due to wildfire threat
- 06-02-2008FNOD Advisory Board Meeting
Nansemond River beachfront shoreline restoration tracking well, says Suffolk Wetlands Board
June 30, 2009
By Jerry Rogers
Norfolk District Public Affairs Office
SUFFOLK, Va.—City of Suffolk Wetlands Board members received an in depth briefing June 18, on the status of completed and ongoing work to stabilize the Nansemond River beachfront shoreline, which is part of the Former Nansemond Ordnance Depot (FNOD) here.
Jeff Zoeckler, FNOD project engineer for the Norfolk District, Army Corps of Engineers, presented an overview of shoreline stabilization activities completed at the NRB site in May, and briefed the board on planned construction work, which begins in early July.
The Department of Defense is responsible for cleaning up our nation's Formerly Used Defense Sites, which are properties formerly owned, leased, possessed or operated by the Defense Department. In 1987, FNOD became a matter of public concern when a piece of crystalline TNT was found at the Tidewater Community College, Portsmouth Campus. This initiated extensive historical research, investigations, testing and removal actions. In 1999, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency placed this site on the National Priority List.
Since the first discovery of buried TNT in 1987, the Army Corps of Engineers has conducted environmental investigation and restoration activities at the 975-acre site, which was used primarily to store and renovate ammunition during World War I and II.
The Corps recently completed a munitions removal action along the bluff of the Nansemond River beachfront. In total, over 1,200 pounds of bulk TNT, 1,400 pounds of munitions debris and 482 discarded military munitions items were removed from the NRB site. The initial work also involved reinforcing an existing revetment, designed to provide added shoreline protection and slope stabilization during the munitions removal project.
The second phase of work will provide long-term protection of the unstable shoreline immediately to the west of the removal action area. Two rock spurs and a single breakwater will be installed to break up wave energy during storm events. Additionally, a gently-sloped pocket beach will be formed behind the breakwater to re-establish habitat in the site area.
"We want to ensure this vulnerable portion of NRB shoreline is stabilized early in the 2009 hurricane season," said Zoeckler.
The Suffolk Wetlands Board was pleased with the progress to date and asked about additional site work planned.
There will probably be one other shoreline stabilization project completed under the FNOD environmental restoration program, Zoeckler told the board members. "This will take place in an area along the James River beachfront, where significant erosion is occurring adjacent to a revetment installed by the Corps in 2001," said Zoeckler.