The Clean Harbors remediation team has completed another successful job at a high-profile location. The team was brought together on a potable water filtration plant media replacement job late last year at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba. This project was critical to providing armed forces members and their families on the base with quality drinking water. The scope of work was to remove and replace the existing media from three large multimedia tanks, which filter all the desalinated water on the base. They were also tasked with making repairs to the underdrain assemblies at the site as necessary.
The filtration system could not be taken out of service completely; two of the three beds remained in service at any given time. Each filter bed had to be addressed individually and emptied, cleaned, repaired, refilled and put back into service before the next filter bed could be emptied. This project had multiple difficulties and obstacles that required the team to think outside the box and adjust their scope of work.
For starters, all equipment and materials had to be shipped from Jacksonville to Guantanamo via barge, which only sailed every two weeks. Transit took five days, meaning that the Clean Harbors team had to be meticulous in their planning and execution.
“Timing was really crucial for this job,” said Vice President of Remediation Tony Fisher. “Delivery of materials from vendors and equipment from Clean Harbors facilities needed to arrive in Jacksonville within a specific period. Any missed deadline would cause a four-week delay, and the team knew how important the timing was.”
Once on location, team members also faced site conditions that were different from what had been initially described. The original plan of utilizing an industrial vacuum unit to remove the sand media was re-evaluated due to significant buildup of lime in the media, causing substantial clogging in the vacuum equipment. The team revisited the work plan and implemented a new technical approach.
Through use of a mobile conveyor system and buckets, personnel manually removed the sand layers from the tanks, and the conveyor system transferred the material to the bulk material bags staged outside of the building.
The project team also operated within challenging site conditions, which included oppressive heat and humidity, as well as high mosquito activity.
“From the logistics phase to project completion, the remediation team delivered superior service to stakeholders as part of this job,” Fisher said. “The project was completed on time and on budget and everyone was extremely pleased with Clean Harbors’ performance. We commend the team for their excellent work on this high profile job.”