EPA dredging PCBs from the Kalamazoo River

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will this week start cleaning up soil and sediment contaminated with polychlorinated biphenyls – or PCBs – along the Kalamazoo River near the Trowbridge Dam in Allegan, Michigan.

Under EPA oversight, responsible party NCR Voyix is working with Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy on the multi-year cleanup to prevent future contamination in the Kalamazoo River.

According to EPA, a dredging barge will pump sediments for processing at a newly constructed area off 108th Avenue downstream of the 26th Street bridge.

NCR Voyix will build a temporary structure onsite to manage river levels until the cleanup is expected to be finished in three years.

The Trowbridge Dam cleanup is part of the larger Kalamazoo River Superfund Site. The project involves removal of PCB contaminated in-stream sediments and riverbank soils within an approximate 2.4 mile section of the river immediately upstream of the Trowbridge Township Dam.