Sediment Concerns Raise Commitment

An early 20th Century image of a man standing on Bubbly Creek which was loaded with organic and industrial waste.

In January, Friends of the Chicago River and 18 other prominent environmental organizations including the Illinois Environmental Council and Earthjustice, sent a letter to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region 5 urging them to allocate funds under the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI) to address contaminated sediment in the Chicago-Calumet River System, including contamination in the infamous Bubbly Creek, the South Fork of the South Branch of the Chicago River.

For more than five decades, USEPA has focused on cleaning up Areas of Concern (AOC) around the Great Lakes but not the Chicago-Calumet River system, though the System’s contaminated sediment is similar to official AOCs. The Chicago-Calumet River system is not listed as an AOC and we were not advocated that it be designated as one, but it has many of the same characteristics. As such, USEPA’s use of GLRI funds and the Great Lakes Legacy Act’s cost-share approach to invest in the System is appropriate and overdue. The letter also sought support for a cost-share partnership approach to leverage resources from a variety of partners including state and local government agencies, local water resource agencies, and businesses.

In February, we were pleased to receive a positive response from EPA’s Great Lakes National Program Office (GLNPO) which detailed their plans to take action. While they will not address the system as a whole, over the next several years they will develop, analyze, and select options to address contamination and lack of habitat in Bubbly Creek. Bubbly Creek is the site of a proposed 44-acre ecological restoration project by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers which has been hampered by potential liability relating to the sediment issue.

The GLNPO said the actions include:

  • Complete a pre-design investigation to characterize contaminated sediment in approximately 22 acres of Bubbly Creek.
  •  Fund a pilot project to cap sediment in Bubbly Creek based on results of the pre-design investigation.
  • Share results of the cap pilot with partners, to inform, update, and guide implementation of the National Ecosystem Restoration plan developed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE).
  •  Include CAWS projects in the updated Lake Michigan Lakewide Action and Management Plan (LAMP)

In 2024, GLNPO developed and assessed options intended to remediate and restore habitat in Bubbly Creek to address impacts to aquatic wildlife and to improve dissolved oxygen levels in the water column and at the sediment surface.

We will continue our action and advocacy for funding of this critical work for the health of the river, its people, and wildlife.