Dredging Set to Start in Polluted Onondaga Lake

New York State environmental officials say dredging and capping pollution in Onondaga Lake will begin this summer.  WAMC’s Tristan O’Neill reports…

The work is part of a $451 million project at the Superfund site, where contamination has already been targeted with cleanups at industrial sites and improved wastewater treatment.

Decades of industrial activity poured mercury and other metals along with solvents and PCBs into the lake northwest of Syracuse.

The state Department of Conservation says Thursday an estimated 2 million cubic yards of material will be removed from 185 acres of the 3,000-acre lake bottom and 21 acres in three spots next to the lake. Another 417 acres will be capped.

Honeywell International is doing the project, which is expected to take five years.

The lake was added to the federal Superfund list in 1994.

Tristan O’Neill, WAMC News.

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