"Milwaukee Riverkeeper fought hard over the last couple of years to have the Kinnickinnic River recognized as one of the nation's "Most Endangered Rivers" and to advocate for an extensive cleanup effort. The first leg of the cleanup was the recent dredging effort between Beecher and 1st St. led by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources"
"Over the past four months federal, state and local agencies have worked together to remove 167,000 cubic yards of contaminated sediment from the Kinnickinnic River between Becher Street and Kinnickinnic Avenue. A former brownfields site next to the river has sprouted a boater's lounge in a newly refurbished office building, a microbrewery, additional boat slips, moorings and fisherman wharves, riverwalks and a boat launch ramp."
"The river was cleaned up using $14.3 million from the Great Lakes Legacy Act fund and $7.7 million provided by Governor Doyle's "Grow Milwaukee" initiative. The project took place between June 3, 2009 and October 3, 2009. Dredging ended ahead of schedule.
The cleanup removed about 1,200 lbs. of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and 13,000 lbs. of polyaromatic hydrocarbons (a byproduct of petroleum) that were contaminating the river. The dredged material was transported by barge and disposed in a special cell within the Milwaukee Area Confined Disposal Facility at Jones Island, owned by the City of Milwaukee and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers."
Great stuff, something to be proud of for Milwaukee. It is certainly a good thing to see a city taking responsibility for decades of pollution and wastewater flowing directly into a Great Lakes drainage.
Hats off to the Milwaukee Riverkeeper as well for pushing for and keeping tabs on this project as well as other river projects in the district.
