Cleaning up the Lower Fox River Greg Hill, Wisconsin DNR Winnebago Project University of Wisconsin Oshkosh, May 23, 2008

Fox River Background The Lower Fox River is Wisconsin’s largest tributary to Lake Michigan Flows northeast about 40 miles from Lake Winnebago to Green Bay Once called “the hardest working river in the world” because of heavy use by industry Industry brought positive economic effects and some negative environmental effects

Pollution in the Fox River Paper mill discharge into Little Lake Butte des Mortes, 1973

Where Did PCBs Come From? Paper companies used PCBs in carbonless copy paper About 700,000 pounds of PCBs were discharged into the river from EPA outlawed PCBs in 1971, but they remain in river sediment DNR estimates over 64,000 pounds of PCBs are in Fox River sediment today

The Problem with PCBs Small river organisms eat sediment with PCBs PCBs accumulate in fatty tissue and get passed up the food chain PCBs cause wildlife deformities immune system and reproductive problems developmental delays possibly cancer

Demonstration Projects Two demonstration projects conducted to evaluate full-scale sediment dredging and disposal on the Fox River Locations Deposit N, upstream of Kimberly lock and dam Sediment Management Unit (SMU) 56/57, below De Pere Dam Showed dredging to be safe and effective and removed some contaminated sediment

Moving Forward with the Cleanup

Cleanup Activities at OU1 Cleanup work at OU1 (Little Lake Butte des Mortes) began in Summer 2004 Expected to take 3-6 years Cleanup site is on west shore of lake, near U.S. Highway interchange P.H. Glatfelter and WTM I are designing, carrying out and paying for the cleanup in this part of the river

The Cleanup Process Hydraulic dredge guided by GPS system removes sediment from riverbed where PCB concentration is 1 ppm or greater

The Cleanup Process Dredged sediment travels through underwater pipeline to on-shore “geotubes” made of material that allows water out but holds the sediment in.

Partially filled geotubes with clamp valves to regulate in- flow of dredged sediment

The Cleanup Process Water is treated with dissolved air floatation, sand filtration, and granulated active carbon filtration (picture of main filtration tank)

The Cleanup Process When sediment is dewatered (dried), geotubes are loaded into lined trucks with backhoe and transported to landfill

Truck loaded with dried sediment; note the liner and cap that cover sediment during transport

Trucks and all other equipment that come in contact with dried sediment are pressure washed before leaving the site (and at the landfill)

Activities at OUs 2-5 Final cleanup plan for OUs 2-5 (from Appleton Dam to Green Bay) is being designed by Georgia-Pacific and NCR Corporation Extensive sampling and testing was done in 2004 and 2005 and is the basis of final plan that is being developed The plan allows capping to replace part of the dredge area Cleanup work began in 2007 and will take about 12 years to complete

Phase 1 Project  Hot spot in the river’ down stream of the DePere Dam  140,000 cubic yards  Dredging was completed in 2007

Water and Sediment and Fish Sampling in Progress

The Big Show  Final Design being completed  Shoreline processing site being built  Contracts being developed/signed for dredging and disposal  Start-Up May 2009

With continued cooperation, we can look forward to a healthy Fox River future