The Fox River Cleanup Project is moving into the final stage with the 11th season of dredging works now underway in Brown County.
According to the project spokesman Scott Stein , the 11th season should be the final year of dredging activity removing PCB’s from the riverbed.
Scott Stein also added that since the start of dredging and processing (April 28, 2009) approx. 5.4 million cubic yards of material has been dredged. “ The campaign that will clean some of the environmental damages caused by industries along the river will probably go right up to November. ”
In order to complete the works, J.F. Brennan Company Inc. will be using different vessels on the Fox River. Engaged in the project will be dredge Ottawa River, Mark Anthony, as well as other utility vessels.
The Fox River Cleanup Project is designed to reduce risk to human health and the environment due to the presence of PCBs in the river sediment. It’s a multi-year cleanup effort that includes dredging, capping and covering over a 13-mile stretch of the Lower Fox River.
Dredging involves removing sediment from the riverbed and pumping the dredged sediment as slurry to a processing facility in Green Bay where the sediment goes through a dewatering process prior to disposal.
Crews are conducting dredging activities 24 hours a day, five days a week, avoiding peak times for recreational boaters on Saturdays and Sundays. Buoys and markers are once again in place marking the areas where the work is going on, concluded the Fox River Cleanup Group.