WAUSAU - Five soil samples will be taken from Riverside Park
this spring and tested for high levels in chemicals.
The city's Parks and Recreation Committee voted unanimously
to have five soil samples taken from the west-side park and tested for dioxins.
The tests were ordered after continued pressure from Citizens for a Clean
Wausau, a local advocacy group that works to ensure neighborhoods free from
harmful toxins.
The tests will be taken in several places throughout the
park at 100 Sherman St., but mostly on the western side, away from the river,
according to city documents. A sample will also be taken from a culvert
discharge area, where previous tests have shown elevated levels of dioxins.
The samples will include testing done at two different
levels, the committee also decided, at soil depths of about 1 inch and again at
5-6 inches. Each of the five tests is estimated to cost $1,500, said Eric
Lindman, the public works and utilities director.
The elevated levels of toxins are the result of a former
Crestline Window plant site, near the current 3M plant. As a part of its normal
functions, the Crestline plant in the 1980s released chemicals into the soil
and groundwater, according to Wausau Daily Herald archives.
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