This year, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (WDNR) sent the City of Wausau a Responsible Party letter to investigate and cleanup soil with dioxin levels far lower than were found in Riverside Park years ago. Yet, to this day, no substantive action has been taken by the DNR or City in or by the park where the higher soil …
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According to the DNR letter, the City of Wausau is responsible for the “discharge of a hazardous substance or other environmental pollution.” The letter references 132 River Street as the specific site of contamination. The DNR has confirmed that the pollution in question is dioxin contamination that exceeds state soil standards for a residential setting.
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Results are in from soil samples that were professionally taken for Citizens for a Clean Wausau by Sand Creek Consultants and sent to Pace Analytical — a DNR-certified laboratory — for analysis. Three samples were taken in Riverside Park in November 2019, and the sample with the highest dioxin level — based on TEQ — was five times higher than …
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After a year and a half of community concern and deliberation at City Hall regarding Riverside Park, on Tuesday, October 22, the Wausau City Council approved the request of Citizens for a Clean Wausau (CCW) for access to the park to take soil samples and analyze them for dioxins and furans. Results from 2006 private soil samples near a culvert …
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A proposal which the City may present as a compromise plan now includes only 3 samples (50% of limited samples taken) which may be relevant to the primary concern expressed by the community and council members — the runoff zone near the park’s southern forest. A map of revised boring locations for today’s meeting now show that 50% of them …
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Today’s comments urge environmental regulators to add extensive on-site excavation and an off-site pump and treat system to WAULECO’s remediation efforts The DNR is currently reviewing WAULECO’s Remedial Action Alternatives Plan for the next phase of the Thomas Street neighborhood’s groundwater remediation effort. The neighborhood’s groundwater was highly contaminated by pentachlorophenol after decades of its use at the Crestline and …
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Sample files from the UW archives of the office of Congressman David Obey show TCE and PCE contamination in water at specific locations in Wausau in the 1980s. The records suggest that Wausau residents were potentially drinking contaminated water for years before the issue was resolved. The files can be viewed embedded below or directly accessed and downloaded through the …
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In a March 9, 2017, Capital Improvements and Street Maintenance Committee meeting, a resident asked the environmental consultant from AECOM (formerly Earth Tech) what kind of dioxin problem WAULECO had in the past. The consultant responded that it was not dioxin, but pentachlorophenol. However, a 2007 letter sent to the consulting firm regarding Thomas Street Construction from WAULECO’s consultant RMT …
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While the assessment from Wisconsin Division of Public Health (DPH) concluded that the levels of arsenic in the area used for the farmers market are not expected to harm people’s health due to the interim measure of clean gravel fill covering the un-vegetated portion of the site, it could “not conclude whether or not people could have been harmed in …
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Regarding the contamination of Wausau’s drinking water supply in the 1980s. Civil Action in the Western District Court naming Wausau Chemical, the City of Wausau, and others as defendants. “Analysis of water samples taken from various taps within the City of Wausau have shown evidence of contamination with hazardous substances including PCE.” The contamination resulted in a Wausau Superfund site …
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