Tetra Tech Coffey’s specialists were behind one of Australia’s largest soil, ground gas, and groundwater contamination study.
One of Australia’s largest soil and groundwater contamination studies to date was conducted at Sydney Olympic Park in the 1990’s. This extensive study was initiated to address the environmental challenges posed by the site’s industrial past before it was transformed for the 2000 Summer Olympics. Here Sam Gunasekera, Senior Principal and Project Director at Tetra Tech Coffey reflects on his experience working on the Olympic precinct and the main Stadium site.
Long before Sydney was awarded the 2000 Olympic and Paralympic Games, Tetra Tech Coffey was commissioned in the early 1990’s for the environmental site investigation of Homebush Bay. The area, previously known as Homebush Bay, had a history of industrial use, including abattoirs, brickworks, and chemical manufacturing, which led to significant soil, ground gas and groundwater contamination.
The NSW government of the time had decided to ‘clean up’ the dilapidated site to make Homebush Bay into a mixed-use precinct, which even at that time, I think there was the intention of bidding for the Olympics.
The concept was to sell this Olympics as the environmental games; a legacy game where the clean-up and rejuvenation of a derelict precinct was put forward as a key feature of the Olympics.
“It was the first time such a concept of the ‘green Olympics’ had been put forward with the aim of leaving a legacy of environmental consciousness.”
Given the size of the precinct and the environmental issues that existed, it was a massive contamination investigation. There were very few companies at the time with the capability of delivering on such a large-scale project. We were successful in our tender, and we were most likely the first consultants ever awarded a contract for over $1 million for a contaminated land investigation in Australia. It was just unheard of 35 years ago.
The Contamination Site – Tetra Tech’s involvement
Tetra Tech Coffey conducted the site investigation at the Olympic Development Site at Homebush Bay, now referred to as Sydney Olympic Park.
Large areas of the Olympic precinct were polluted by different types of contaminants, some were landfills, some were industrial dumps. At certain times we had up to six drilling rigs operating, with a team of six to ten people in the field and another team in the office running the logistics of the entire operation.
The challenges of cleaning up the various contaminated areas were immense. To remove all the waste and contaminated material to landfill offsite was going to come at an enormous cost, not to mention we would be transferring the problem elsewhere. So, it was decided to contain most of the contamination on site into various containment cells or, as they are also known, containment mounds. There are 13 such containment mounds within the Sydney Olympic precinct. As a Geo-environmental engineer, I found it fascinating that these mounds are an engineered structure that you can walk on and cycle around and supports ecological communities but has waste that is safely contained so there are no risks to human health or the environment.
A lasting legacy for our contaminated land industry
At the time, contamination investigations of this magnitude were unprecedented in Australia and posed a huge learning challenge for everyone involved. It is fair to say that the skills and expertise developed because of this project, contributed to the growth and development of Australia’s contaminated land industry, as well as generating many professional insights and experiences.
What were the biggest challenges the project had to address?
Staffing – One of the main challenges for delivering an investigation of this scale was staffing. Having staff and experienced professionals that had the skills and expertise to undertake the project work. A lot of in-house training at Tetra Tech Coffey had to be rolled out, where teams were quickly trained up on the many dimensions of the still relatively new contaminated land investigations.
We also had to recruit specialists from overseas, so we had a number of Americans who came to work with us, as the growth of the contaminated land industry in the US was about a decade ahead of Australia at the time.
I would say that our extensive training of so many of our people at that time, some of whom went on to advance their careers with other organisations in various roles, contributed to the then booming industry sector of contaminated land management. The industry certainly reached new heights after the Olympics and has not looked back.
Contamination Testing Services – In the early 90’s laboratories were not sophisticated like they are today. Contamination testing procedures were not well established, and our staff had to work ‘hand in glove’ with the laboratories to design testing and sampling procedures and protocols. We engaged a few commercial labs and Commonwealth government analytical laboratory who did most of the contamination testing.
Project Management – One of the greatest challenges was the co-ordination, management, and communication of up to six field teams across multiple sites. You can imagine the logistics of handling a large volume of contaminated samples, as these samples have to be delivered to offsite labs in good condition within the relevant holding times. It is a huge challenge even today, let alone back then. There is also the large quantity of geological and chemical data that is generated in the investigation that needs to be checked and interpreted. If you think about it, tools such as the internet, AI for data interpretation, and even mobile phones, the tools that we take for granted and are integral to our work today, were not at the disposal of contaminated land consultants back then.
On reflection, I don’t think I am exaggerating when I say that it was amazing how the Tetra Tech Coffey team and all the other consultants and contractors at the time did it! The project gave a lot of people in the contaminated land industry the expertise, experience and confidence to say, “I’ve got the skills and the capability to do this kind of work!”
“I’m very proud to say, Tetra Tech Coffey was at the forefront of the industry in Australia at the time and it is great to see that we continue to take on these types of challenges and deliver successful outcome for our clients to this very day.”
An urban centre for future generations – Tetra Tech Coffey continues to play a role in monitoring and maintenance of an Olympic legacy.
Post Olympics, the Sydney Olympic Park Authority (SOPA) was formed by the NSW Government to take over the precinct and the containment mounds were built.
Environmental monitoring continues at Olympic Park
Some of these mounds are regulated by the Environment Protection Authority (EPA). As manager of the land, therefore the contamination, SOPA continue to monitor the containment mounds and any other areas where contamination been left behind.
We are very proud that Tetra Tech Coffey continues to be involved in this facility and provide ongoing monitoring. Our Senior
Associate, Dave McFadden, has been proactive in developing efficient data collection procedures and data management tools to identify any issues early to prevent risks to the environment.
The 2000 Summer Olympics had many memorable moments. Where were you when Cathy Freeman won gold n the 400-metre final?
I clearly remember where I was, and I’ll never forgot it! I wish I had been at the Stadium, but I wasn’t, I was sitting in front of the TV at home. I remember as Cathy came to the final home stretch, and she was behind, and then she pulled away and that was it – it was amazing. I can remember those glorious last few seconds of the race like it happened yesterday.
Connect with Sam at [email protected]