Monitoring - Solid Waste

Komakuk Beach Clean-up Monitoring

Rationale

Fuel spill monitoring well at Komakuk Beach. © Parks Canada

The BAR-1 Distant Early warning (DEW) line station at Komakuk Beach was closed in 1993 as part of a general closure of the DEW line. The site became part of Ivvavik National Park after a clean-up was completed in 2000. The clean-up involved demolishing buildings, excavating contaminated soil, remediating an area where fuel was spilled, collecting debris, excavating three landfills and closing a fourth. A landfill and fuel spill monitoring program to monitor conditions at the site after the clean-up has been developed and implemented by Inuvialuit Environmental and Geotechnical Inc. (IEG) in cooperation with the Department of National Defence (DND), the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation (IRC) and Parks Canada.

Objectives

• To monitor the condition of the remediated fuel spill and landfills at Komakuk Beach.

Methods and Information Collected

• Komakuk Beach is located on the Yukon North Slope at 69º 35’53” N; 140º 11’00”.
• The monitoring program has two phases, both conducted by IEG. Phase One started with a site visit on September 5 and 6, 2004 and will end in the summer of 2005. Phase Two will start in 2007 and take place for a total of 20 years, with summer visits to Komakuk on the second, third, fifth, tenth and twentieth year.
• Samples are taken from the fuel spill monitoring wells.
• The landfill sites are monitored for vegetation growth, settlement, erosion, discoloration and odours.

Komakuk Beach fuel spill site. © Parks Canada

Results

• Monitoring will begin in September 2004 and results will be available in the summer of 2005.

Years of Data

• Clean-up conducted in 1999 and 2000
• Monitoring began in September 2004

Partners

• Department of National Defence – Defence Construction Canada
• Inuvialuit Regional Corporation

Funding

• Department of National Defence

Data Location

• Department of National Defence, Ottawa

---