The EPA is beginning work tjhs summer on the fourth and fifth segments of the Tittabawasee River. There are seven that need remediation.
Mary Logan is the remedial project manager for the Tittabawassee River, Saginaw River and Bay site.
“The pace that we’ve been on right now each segment will take about a year and so we expect 2017 segment four will be complete, 2018 segment five will be complete.”
The river cleanup is expected to be complete by 2020. Once the Tittabawassee River is finished, Logan said attention will be turned to the Saginaw River and Saginaw Bay.
“When you get cleaner sediment over time the levels of contamination in fish tissue in the fish that live in the river are expected to go down. So we’re monitoring what's in the sediment over time and we’re monitoring fish over time so we’re hoping that we can see the result of these cleanup actions reduce contaminants in fish and in sediment.”
Logan says dioxins from the Dow chemical company contaminated the banks of the Tittabawasee river, then spread to the water and fish. Cleanup began in 2010.
