The awesome but ill Tittabawassee
Cleanup, whenever that day comes will be a monumental task. Miles and miles of highly contaminated and eroding riverbanks (photo 456 and 457), some in excess of 40,000 ppt of dioxin, continue to contaminate backyards, wildlife and floodplain; human health protections remain a primary concern. Photo 466 shows toddlers sitting on the banks of the river, well within walking distance of a residential neighborhood. If these kids live in the nearby community, the picture begs the question—how often do they visit the river? Is dad feeding his daily catch to these little ones?
Forming the Saginaw River, the Tittabawassee and Shiawassee River, converge at Green Point (photo 484), part of the Shiawassee National Wildlife Refuge. Here we saw a number of people fishing (photo 494) within yards of the site where the nation’s highest concentrations of dioxin (1.9 million ppt) in a body of water were found in 2007. Fishing from the banks, these folks were likely catching the fish on MDCH’s do not eat list. The public health piece of this contamination has yet to come front and center. Simultaneously Dow continues to deny the toxicity of dioxin in the community. Ignoring the abundance and decades of research on dioxin, the media all too often frames the toxicity debate as an argument between Dow and the environmental community. EPA needs a louder public health voice and need to commit resources and energy to educating the public.
Many technical, ethical, scientific and complex issues lie ahead. Numerous questions need to be answered and solutions debated. For many the biggest question is Dow’s willingness to get’er done.
If you get the chance take a trip down this beautiful river then lend your voice in defense of the Tittabawassee. Remember it feeds the Saginaw river and Lake Huron.
