MTA UXO Survey and Target Recovery on Lake Erie at the Former Erie Army Depot

摘要

The former Erie Army Depot, Ottawa County, OH, is located along the western shore of Lake Erie about 5 miles west of the town of Port Clinton. This site and the associated impact areas are designated by the United States Government as a Formerly Used Defense Site (FUDS) under the Defense Environmental Restoration Program (DERP).1,2 This property was formerly used for artillery, testing and mortar and small arms training, resulting in impact areas on land and northward into the Lake almost to the Canadian Border. Ordnance and explosive waste (OEW) and potentially live or unexploded ordnance (UXO) have been found on the lake bottom, in the Federal navigation channel in the Toussaint River, in the marshland adjacent to the firing ranges, and along beaches fronting the former Depot, (Reference 2, Appendices B and J).3-5 The impact areas were located on, near, or offshore of the FUDS beaches adjacent to Lake Erie. Several different range fans have been described that were associated with different types of ordnance operations. Proof testing of projectiles and the gun barrels that were designed to fire them took place from a series of 15 fixed gun emplacements (located adjacent to one another in a line about 2000 meters inland from the beach, see later). Ordnance found on or near the FUDS shore of Lake Erie appears to be mobile and may have originated from offshore or near shore impact areas. In FY06, ESTCP was directed by Congress to conduct work to characterize UXO contamination impacting the Toussaint River and Lake areas associated with ordnance testing that may affect the shoreline and the river. This operation was set up in accordance with the recommendations of the Defense Sciences Board.