The Port of Walla Walla is constructing a new sanitary line between the Burbank Business Park and the City of Pasco to convey wastewater collected from businesses in the heavy and light industrial areas of the Burbank Business Park, and the Burbank School District. The wastewater will be treated at the City of Pasco’s wastewater facility. The cultural resource survey was used to obtain a real estate instrument to pass the pipe under Corps of Engineers lands—The Snake River. The area of potential effect includes a sewer line spanning approximately 1.55 miles in a trench measuring approximately 4.0 feet wide and 6.0 feet deep. The line will be installed under the Snake River using directional boring through bedrock, approximately 30 feet below the river bed. A bore pit staging area, measuring 150 x 100 feet, will be located on either side of the Snake River.
The pedestrian survey and intensive subsurface investigations for the Burbank Sewer Crossing Project provided no evidence of Native American or historic-era cultural materials or features within the Project Area. The Project Area lies within an area rich in Native American and Euroamerican history, and the archaeological record reflects this history with 27 previously recorded sites and two archaeological districts located within 1.0 mi (1.6 km) of the Project Area.
One site, 45FR2, lies within the proposed undertaking, and is identified as occupying an area bounded by the Snake River to the east, the BNSF railroad to the west and south, and a tank farm to the north. Systematic subsurface investigations were completed to determine whether the site extends west beyond the railroad bed. The subsurface investigations, however, provided no evidence that the site continues in the specific area of potential effect. Given the project’s proximity to the site, Plateau recommends that an archaeological monitor be present between specific stations of the project to allow for a 200-ft buffer from the known site boundaries.
Location: Franklin and Walla Walla Counties, Washington
