Cleaning Up: Lower Duwamish work forges ahead

By Seth Preston, Communications Manager, Toxics Cleanup Program

Combined efforts to clean up the Lower Duwamish Waterway in south Seattle took a major step forward this week.

Work is under way on cleaning up the site known as Slip 4, one of the major pollution “hot spots” in the Lower Duwamish, which is a federal Superfund site.

“The cleanup of Slip 4, about three miles upstream from Harbor Island, near the Georgetown community, comes as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency considers how to clean up the rest of the five-mile portion of the river. EPA’s cleanup plan is expected to be issued next year,” according to a city of Seattle news release issued in conjunction with a kickoff for cleanup work.

Seattle is one of the major cleanup partners, as is Ecology. You can read here about Ecology’s efforts.

Here’s some coverage from KOMO-TV about Thursday’s event.

And here’s a nice perspective piece on the Lower Duwamish from earlier in the week by Phuong Le of The Associated Press.

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