Underway and Completed Projects
Grand Calumet River
This stretch of the West Branch Grand Calumet River appears
picturesque, but the river sediment is highly contaminated.
A new Great Lakes Legacy Act project will remove 91,000
cubic yards of polluted sediment followed by capping of the
river bottom.
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U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and its State of Indiana
partner agencies will begin work early next year on a two- to
three-year undertaking to dredge sediment from a heavily polluted
one-mile stretch of the West Branch Grand Calumet River in Hammond.
This is very unique area as it is one of the most industrialized
area in the country as well as home to some of the most diverse
native plant and animal communities in the Great Lakes Basin. The
$33.1 million project is being funded under the Great Lakes Legacy
Act (GLLA). The Act provides federal money that along with local
matching dollars are used to clean up polluted sediment (mud) along
the U.S. shores and waterways of the Great Lakes. EPA’s Great Lakes
National Program Office, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Indiana
Department of Environmental Management (IDEM) and Indiana Department
of Natural Resources (IDNR) are cooperating in the project. The
Grand Cal work calls for the removal of about 91,000 cubic yards of
polluted sediment followed by the placement of a cap over the
dredged area. The sediment contains pollutants such as PCBs and PAHs
(polychlorinated biphenyls and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons),
heavy metals, and pesticides. The removal will be conducted between
Columbia and Hohman avenues in Hammond southwest of the Indiana
Harbor and Ship Canal (see aerial map below). This project is being
coordinated with sewer improvements being made by the Hammond
Sanitary District that also include some sediment cleanup along this
stretch of the river.
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