DETROIT – The Rouge River has been a magnet for pollution for decades, but there’s new money on the way to help clean it up.
The funding will help dredge the river bottom to help get contaminated soil out.
The exhaust flame over Zug Island telegraphs to everyone that the area is the most heavily industrialized spot in all of Metro Detroit. There are a lot of heavy metals in the lower Rouge River that have led to a major cleanup project. According to Marie McCormick, with Friends of the Rouge, the trouble is not just in the water, but in the sediment.
The United States Environmental Protection Agency announced it’s putting $84 million into a section of the lower Rouge River -- which is known in governmental circles as an area of concern -- using the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative and the Great Lakes Legacy Act.
Contractors will dredge 100,000 cubic yards of packed-down muck along a mile-long section north and northeast of Zug Island, near the Delray and River Rouge neighborhoods.
“It’s a lot of money but it’s a huge project and it’s a huge issue that’s just been sitting latent under the river literally for decades,” McCormick said.
And while it’s a popular fishing spot, it’s not the best idea to eat the fish from here. McCormick is happy to say that’s slowly changing.
“We do see a return of wildlife, more fish habitats being improved,” McCormick said. “Especially by the confluence of the Detroit and Rouge River.”
The cleanup project will be long-running. They last did work in 2019, and while it is on an upward path to cleanliness, a recent government survey didn’t think much of this part of the watershed.
“The Rouge River scored a D+,” McCormick said. “Which means we have a lot of work to do.”
The EPA will work with Honeywell International, Inc. to complete the project.