The Khabarovsk Krai Ministry of Natural Resources Department of Nature Protection (Headed by Viktor Bardyuk) organized a joint expedition
among the three major environmental laboratories of Khabarovsk in coordination with the visit of the Portland in-stream assessment
delegation to Khabarovsk. The three Khabarovsk laboratories were (a) the Khabarovsk Agricultural Chemical Center, (b) the Institute
for Water and Ecological Problems, and (c) the Environmental Monitoring Center of the federal Ministry of Emergency Situations.
The water laboratory of the Khabarovsk Vodokanal participated as well. The Portland delegation included Thomas Benke, Brent
Jorgensen and Gerritt Rosenthal. To the right is pictured the chartered boat used for the full day expedition.
This GeoTech Exploration barge is dedicated to sediment sampling in the Portland Harbor and was included in Mr. Bardyuk's tour of
the Superfund site to illustrate the early emphasis on sediment sampling. Sediment contamination is a direct indicator of contamination
in bottom feeding fish, which is in turn the primary "risk" driver for cleanup of the harbor. This risk-based approach to remediation
is one of the ideas that the Portland delegation brought to Khabarovsk.
Water and sediment samples were taken at three locations in the Amur River (representative of three distinct flows) and split among
the three Khabarovsk laboratories participating in the event and also the Portland delegation for its independent analysis.
Gerritt Rosenthall looks over a display of most of the sampling equipment that the Portland delegation brought to Khabarovsk and left
in the possession of the Krai.
Water samples are taken from the Amur river during a joint investigation by three major Khabarovsk laboratories. Results of
the sampling were shared at the end of the project with all participants and analyzed critically for consistency, representativeness
and sufficiency.
Viktor Bardyuk (center) was given a two hour tour of the Portland Harbor Superfund site by the Lower Willamette Group's Principal
Scientist Jim McKenna. From later discussions it appears that Viktor was most impressed by the millions of dollars being spent
to cleanup a five mile stretch of the Willamette, a mere tributary of the Columbia river.
Brent Jorgensen demonstrates use of the "MudSnapper" sediment sampling device, one of many illustrative devices that the Portland
delegation brought to Khabarovsk.
The work of the in-stream assessment team in Khabarovsk began and ended with conferences in the offices of the Khabarovsk Krai Ministry
of Natural Resources. This was the first fully collaborative investigative effort of the various Russian laboratories with responsibility
for assessing contamination in the Amur River basin. The Portland delegation participated in the information exchanges fully,
including the exchange of preliminary, unevaluated data obtained before and during the program by the various investigators.
The Portland delegation agreed to not report, and to protect as confidential, data shared and obtained in the course of the project
(including data obtained by the Portland delegation itself.) Krai official Anatoloy Frolov documented the final meeting, stating
"The parties have expressed the practical advantages of teamwork, of the application of special analytical equipment in field
conditions, and of the necessity of further mutually advantageous cooperation."
