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Ordinance to protect drinking water goes before Detroit City Council today

Posted at 5:21 AM, Feb 18, 2020
and last updated 2020-02-18 09:25:19-05

DETROIT (WXYZ) — An ordinance to protect drinking water will be put before the Detroit City Council Tuesday.

But first environmental and community groups will present it to the public. It was drafted after the December dock collapse in southwest Detroit triggered chemical run-off into the Detroit River.

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A number of groups worked on this ordinance, including the Great Lakes Environmental Law Center and Councilmemebr Castaneda-Lopez who will introduce it to Detroit City Council this morning in effort to prevent contamination from that December dock collapse from happening again.

When that dock collapsed in southwest Detroit – by the Old Fort Wayne – aggregate began spilling into the river and a sinkhole began to grow on a site that used to be where atomic bombs were under development in the 1940s. It's a site containing toxic chemicals that include PCBS, uranium and cyanide.

So far, 7 Action News has been told there are not hazardous levels in the river. But still, there are concerns about not only this situation but many other industrial sites near our fresh water sources.

The press conference is scheduled at 9:15 a.m. and we’ll find out more about what is being proposed.