A small section of the Tittabawassee River is being dredged to remove dioxin contamination. This section of river is slightly upstream of the Dow dam, on the east side of the river. The ‘hot spot’ (an area of unusually high dioxin concentration) is near the company’s historic discharge from a phenol plant, constructed and operated during the First World War.  If the contamination is associated with this plant, dioxin discharges to the river began more than ninety years ago. With a generation being thirty years, three generations of riverside residents have been exposed to dioxins.

The total amount of dioxins which the company discharged into the river at this location will never be known. However, ninety years later, dioxin levels in this section of the river are still high enough to be considered a ‘hot spot’.

It is believed far greater quantities of dioxins were discharged further downstream in the vicinity of the company’s hazardous waste facilities, some of which were in operation in the 1930’s.  More dioxin ‘hot spots’ are scheduled for cleanup but agreement on total mediation of the river has not been reached.

After ninety years of dioxin contamination, known for more than thirty years, partial cleanup of the Tittabawassee River has begun.  Accolades to The Dow Chemical Company, the MI DEQ and the U.S. EPA for beginning the long overdue cleanup.