$43 Million Ottawa River Cleanup Agreement Signed
TOLEDO, Ohio, February 2, 2009 (ENS) – In about two years, the Ottawa River will run cleaner due to a cost-sharing agreement signed Friday between the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Ottawa River Group.
The Ottawa River Group is a partnership of the City of Toledo and businesses along the river, including Allied Waste Industries Inc., Chrysler LLC, E.I. duPont Co., GenCorp Inc., Honeywell International Inc., Illinois Tool Works Inc., and United Technologies.
The parties agreed to a $43 million cleanup of contaminated sediment in the river. Contamination in Ottawa River sediment is a primary cause of state advisories against eating fish from the river and from Maumee Bay.
Costs will be equally shared between the EPA, using funds provided by the Great Lakes Legacy Act, and the Ottawa River Group
Arising in southeast Michigan, the Ottawa River flows for15 miles through northwest Ohio. It drains an area on the Ohio-Michigan border along the eastern and northern fringes of the city of Toledo, goes through Ottawa Hills, and empties directly into Lake Erie.
The poor water quality results from runoff and discharge from industrial sites, landfills and sewers and from the river’s form and structure, since it has a slow flow.
Combined sewer overflow on the Ottawa River (Photo by Peter Klaver)
The funding agreed Friday will cover the dredging of about 270,000 cubic yards of sediment contaminated with polychlorinated biphenyls, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and metals from a 5.6 mile stretch of the river.
There are some hot spots in the river containing hazardous levels of PCBs, so about 25,000 cubic yards of contaminated sediment will be dredged and taken to a specially licensed facility for disposal.
This part of the cleanup is expected to reduce the mass of PCBs entering Lake Erie.
The remaining sediment will be hydraulically dredged and transported through a pipeline to Toledo’s Hoffman Road landfill.
Site preparation work should begin this April with dredging scheduled for August to December. The project is expected to take two years to complete.
“The restoration of the Ottawa River not only benefits the immediate area but also helps improve water quality in a high priority area of the Maumee River Area of Concern and in Lake Erie,” said Bharat Mathur, acting administrator for EPA Region 5.
“This is a significant commitment of resources that will go a long way toward restoring the Ottawa River. I commend U.S. EPA and the Ottawa River Group for moving this much needed cleanup forward,” said Ohio EPA Director Chris Korleski.
“The City of Toledo is proud to be a member of the Ottawa River Group, and we are committed to cleaning up the unfortunate remnants of our manufacturing and industrial past,” said Toledo Mayor Carty Finkbeiner.
“At a time when many of our city’s construction workers are out of work, this $43 million dollar project will no doubt lead to many jobs,” said the mayor.
“I thank the EPA for working with the City of Toledo and other members of the Ottawa River Group on this project, which will soon allow our citizens to once again enjoy this great natural resource,” he said.
Although discharges of toxic chemicals to the Great Lakes have been reduced in the last 30 years, contaminants persist in the sediment of some rivers, harbors and bays as a legacy of urbanization and industrial activity.
To date, five Legacy Act cleanups have been completed. More than 900,000 cubic yards of sediment have been cleaned up, removing 1.7 million pounds of contaminants.
The total cost of the cleanups was $97 million, with $53 million coming from Great Lakes Legacy Act funds and $44 million from nonfederal sources.
