Anchor QEA is currently assisting Honeywell with development of the conceptual (30%) remedial design of Onondaga Lake sediments.  Anchor QEA also assisted Honeywell with completion of the Feasibility Study (FS).  Onondaga Lake is an urban lake located in Syracuse and is roughly 4 square miles in size.  Millions of cubic yards of sediment have been impacted by past industrial activities at and around the lake.  Impacted sediments possess very unique physical characteristics affecting the evaluation and design of remedial measures.  More than 400 acres of cap will be placed within the lake to confined impacted sediments.  Caps will be designed to resist erosive forces such as currents, waves, and propeller wash.  Habitat also plays a critical role in the project.  Dredge cuts and cap surfaces will be designed to improve the habitat quality within the lake.

During the FS phase of the project, Anchor QEA’s landscape architects supported the development of habitat measures associated with capping, working with the Habitat Technical Work Group.  In this role, Anchor QEA landscape architects worked with ecologists and engineers to develop clearly understandable graphics to communicate to a multi-agency regulatory audience the approach to remediation through capping integrated with specific habitat benefits.  These habitat benefits included creating a more diverse nearshore ecosystem composed of riparian forest, emergent marsh, submerged aquatic vegetation, and large and small mouth bass spawning habitat.  The habitat design also addressed and communicated an approach to wind-wave and ice erosion. 

Anchor QEA is currently assisting Honeywell with the development of intermediate design deliverables related to the dredging, dewatering, capping, and habitat components of the project, and is also working with Honeywell to provide contracting strategy and bidding aspects for this estimated half-billion dollar construction project.