Traverse City Progress made at 2 toxic hot spots in Michigan Lakes were designated as environmental 'areas of concern'

By John Flesher AP Environmental Writer TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) -- Officials reported progress Tuesday toward cleaning up two toxic hot spots in Michigan that have spent decades on a list of the most polluted sites in the Great Lakes region. The state Department of Environmental Quality said two forms of environmental degradation at Deer Lake in Marquette County -- deformed wildlife and excessive algae -- had been fixed. Meanwhile, cleanup work at Muskegon Lake in western Michigan has reached the point where materials removed during routine dredging no longer require special handling. Work remains at both sites, but officials said they were getting closer to restoring water quality and making the areas suitable for human use. Deer Lake and Muskegon Lake are among 43 sites designated by the U.S. and Canada as environmental "areas of concern" in 1987. Most have waters and sediments laced with chemicals. The areas have problems such as fish with tumors, foul drinking water and beaches unfit for swimming. Fourteen of the sites are in Michigan, including rivers, inland lakes and Great Lakes bays. Work has progressed in many of the areas, but only four have been improved enough to be dropped from the list -- three in Canada and the Oswego River and Harbor in New York. Lisa Jackson, chief of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, announced last month that Deer Lake was among nine U.S. locations that would be targeted for accelerated cleanups with money from an Obama administration program called the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative. Deer Lake is a 1,000-acre impoundment near Ishpeming in the central Upper Peninsula contaminated with mercury from nearby mines and sewage. A new wastewater treatment plant was installed in the 1980s, significantly reducing phosphorus and other nutrients that caused runaway algae growth. Recovery of bald eagle populations in the area is one sign that wildlife no longer is suffering reproductive problems or deformities from the contamination, officials said. The only remaining issue at Deer Lake is high levels of mercury in fish. A project getting under way this fall will divert the path of a tributary creek away from areas still tainted from long-ago mine operations with money from the city of Ishpeming and a federal grant. When the work is done, officials will evaluate whether the lake can be designated as restored. "This action demonstrates an enormous amount of progress made in restoring the quality of Deer Lake," said Patricia Birkholz, director of Michigan's Office of the Great Lakes. Cleanup work at Muskegon Lake in Muskegon County over the past decade has included removing sediments laced with mercury and other industrial waste. The resulting water quality improvements enabled officials to cancel dredging commercial and navigational restrictions there -- the first step toward removing the lake from the hot spot list. "We continue to work hard on water and habitat improvements so that Muskegon Lake can be fully restored as a clean and attractive part of our beautiful lakeshore area," said Cynthia Price, chairwoman of the Muskegon Lake Watershed Partnership, an activist group. Published: Thu, Nov 3, 2011