Contaminated Sites
Sites of Environmental Contamination
Sites of environmental contamination are areas known to be contaminated
with any one of a combination of hazardous substances that either are
or may be injurious to human health or the environment. These substances
may include industrial or municipal wastes, pesticides, solvents, and
other organic chemicals and heavy metals. It is important to know the
number of contaminated sites in the watershed because these contaminants
may be carried to the Rouge River through the water
cycle.
These sites of environmental contamination are addressed by various
programs of the Remediation and Redevelopment Division (RRD) of the
Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ). The RRD administers
Part 201, Environmental Remediation, of the Natural Resources and Environmental
Protection Act, 1994 Public Act 451, as amended, (formerly known as
Act 307) and portions of the federal Superfund program established under
the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability
Act (CERCLA). Within these programs, the RRD conducts and oversees investigations
and cleanup activities at contaminated sites throughout the state. The
RRD reviews and approves site cleanup plans and oversees the cleanup
process at many cleanups performed by private parties.
To encourage and facilitate the redevelopment of contaminated urban
sites, the RRD provides a wide range of site redevelopment services.
Services include grant and loan funding for local units of government
for investigations and cleanup actions, site re-use consultation,
generic cleanup options based on future land use, and provisions to
protect
innocent parties from liability for pre-existing contamination, including
review of baseline environmental assessments and due care plans.
To obtain more information about the RRD programs please click
here to go to their web site.
MDEQ has many interactive and data driven lists that can be accessed
by clicking on the following: Environmental
Online Services. These online
lists will show locations of such things as the Part 201 hazardous waste
sites, leaking underground storage tanks, hazardous waste treatment,
storage, and disposal facilities in Michigan and their status, Superfund
sites, etc. These lists, available by county, are kept current by MDEQ
and therefore provide the latest available information.
Newburgh Lake was one of the largest known contaminated sites in the
Rouge River watershed. The contaminated sediment, which contained PCBs
and metals, was removed from the site. Sampling of fish in Newburgh
Lake in 2003 by MDEQ resulted in the lifting of the PCB fish consumption
ban for the general public for carp, channel catfish and largemouth
bass for fish caught in Newburgh Lake. Additional information on the
Newburgh Lake remediation can be found at Newburgh
Lake Restoration section and Restoration
of an Urban Lake: The Newburgh Lake Project.
The technical memorandum "A Summary of Waste Disposal Sites in
the Rouge River Watershed" is a summary
of data on waste disposal sites along the Rouge River in Wayne and
Oakland counties. A total of 112 active and inactive landfills and
dumps were
located.
Additional information specific to abandoned dump sites
is available on this website at Other Technical
Information/Leachate
from Abandoned
Dump Sites.
Contaminated Sites
|
