Public gets up close view of sediment sampling in West Bay

An ongoing effort by the Port of Olympia to collect sediment samples in West Bay this winter featured a new wrinkle on Tuesday, March 4 — the public was invited to get an up close view of the process.

The event, which was dubbed Public Observation Day, offered visitors a dockside view of the process along with boat tours of West Bay on a pontoon boat provided by Freedom Boat Club. Visitors were also afforded the opportunity to talk with port staff and members of its environmental team about the work.

“The Port of Olympia is doing a broad cleanup project of Budd Inlet,” said Port of Olympia Environmental Manager Jon Wolf while standing dockside at Port Plaza under cool and rainy conditions on Tuesday. “Today we’ve invited the public down to just see what is going on to get a better idea.”

The ongoing work aims to pinpoint areas of contamination in the West Bay area, including the Marine Terminal, multiple private tideland owners, and historic industry along the shore and various marinas.

One collection method being used in West Bay is a process known as vibracore sampling, which is a technique that obtains samples by vibrating a core barrel into the sediment, the U.S. Geological Survey said. 

The vibracore sampling was done with the use of a vessel that environmental consultants Dalton, Olmsted & Fuglevand have been using to get the sediment samples. 

Vibracoring can collect samples up to 20 feet, and is considered easier to accomplish than rotary-drill core methods. The port is also doing surface grab samples in West Bay.

The collected samples are later chopped up into pieces and then sent off to labs, which test for pollutants, including heavy metals, mercury, arsenic and dioxins.

Port Executive Director Alex Smith said last month that she hopes to get sediment analysis results by year’s end.

Sampling activity has been timed to match the fishing window to the same time as last year when the port conducted a similar effort in East Bay.

More than 1,100 sediment samples were collected from East Bay as part of the cleanup effort.

Staff writer Jerome Tuaño contributed to this report.