Water Justice and the Grand Cal

cameron davis, fish, Great Lakes, Lake Michigan, Region 5, Stormwater, Wastewater, water 1 Comment

The Grand Calumet River after restoration work

Not far from Chicago’s South Side Altgeld Gardens, where Hazel and Cheryl Johnson helped birth and nurture the critical work of environmental justice, meanders the Grand Calumet River.

The two branches of the Grand Cal come together to flow out through the Indiana Harbor Canal into Lake Michigan. These waterways are home for some of the heaviest industrial legacy pollutants in the country. Neighborhoods that line the river experience some of the toughest blight of any urban area. Some 90 percent of the river’s flow comes from municipal and industrial effluent, cooling and process water, and stormwater overflows.

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Nov 4, 2013

Taking Care of Our Coasts

Great Lakes, Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, Lake Erie, Lake Metroparks, Ohio, Region 5 1 Comment

Our coasts support jobs and everyday life for millions of people, and it’s no secret that we’re crowding them: more people are moving to them and more people are going on beach vacations. Coasts are also some of the most biologically rich places on Earth, including those on the Great Lakes, where fish go to reproduce and birds stop during migration.

It’s little wonder that so much demand for our coasts means that so little open coastline remains.

Here in the Great Lakes, that changed a little on September 16^th when northeast Ohio’s Lake Metroparks added about 1.6 miles of coastline as a public space. When completed later this year, the park will encompass some 600 acres.

Jul 26, 2013

Three Years Later: EPA Continues to Clean Up Kalamazoo Oil Spill

Enbridge, Enforcement, epa, Great Lakes, Kalamazoo, oil spill, Region 5, Susan Hedman, water 0 Comments

Three years ago today, EPA responded to one of the largest inland oil spills in U.S. history. When we arrived on scene, oil from a ruptured pipeline was pouring into the Kalamazoo River – a Great Lakes tributary.

Site of the 2010 Enbridge oil pipeline spill

At the time of the spill, it was raining hard and oil was carried quickly downstream in the fast-moving river – flowing over dams and flooding riverbanks.

Oil completely covered the surface of the river