Pollution could return in Saginaw following cleanup

    Replacing contaminated soil, cleaning homes and paving roads in Saginaw's Riverside Boulevard neighborhood are all meant to prevent residents from being exposed to dioxins and furans.

    But, it's possible the work will need to be repeated in the future because the Tittabawassee River regularly floods the area containing 11 homes.

 The Dow Chemical Co. and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency agreed to cleanup work in July, and officials involved recognize there are limitations.

    "It's going to reflood; it's going to recontaminate to some extent," said Al Taylor, a Michigan Department of Environmental Quality geologist.

    It is unclear how fast, and at what level, contamination will return, Taylor said. He said previous cleanup sites have varied from having little to "significant" recontamination following flooding.

    A monitoring system needs to be developed to make sure contamination levels do not rise to current levels, Taylor said. He said action would have to be taken if levels rise to where they become a problem again.

    With work taking place to remove contamination upriver of the neighborhood, officials hope recontamination can be prevented.

    Dow's 1,900-acre chemical manufacturing plant in Midland was a source of dioxins and furans, which are byproducts from the manufacture of chlorine-based products. Dow spokesman John Musser has said the contamination found in the Saginaw neighborhood is thought to have been the result of releases from pre-World War I operations.

    Jeff Kimble, on scene coordinator with EPA Region 5, said the houses are unique because they regularly flood, as opposed to other houses along the river that generally are built above the floodplain.

    Detailed sampling of the neighborhood was triggered by one initial sample that contained 5,900 parts per trillion of dioxin and dioxin-like compounds. The testing found more than 10,000 parts per trillion in surface soils in the neighborhood.

    Kimble said samples taken indoors indicate the contaminants are being tracked indoors.

    In the yards, two feet of soil will be removed from the riverbank to Riverside Boulevard and replaced with fresh soil and vegetation. The dirt road, which creates dust in dry periods, will be paved.

    "Dow has been steadfastly working out there," Kimble said, with a goal of finishing by Oct. 15.

    Four other areas of concern that have a higher priority for the EPA also are being examined to determine contamination levels in residential soil. Kimble said those properties do not have houses as close to the floodplain, like the Riverside Drive neighborhood does.