News Releases - 1997

Sign Removal Marks Milestone in Waukegan Harbor PCB Cleanup

Springfield, Ill. -- Signs warning anglers not to eat fish caught in Waukegan North Harbor will be removed Feb. 20, 1997, putting fish taken from the harbor in the same consumption categories applied to all Lake Michigan fish. Removal of the signs will mark the end of nearly two decades of restrictions imposed after polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) contamination of the harbor was identified in 1981.

Officials from Waukegan, the Lake County Health Department, the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and members of the Citizens' Advisory Group (CAG) for the harbor will take part in ceremonies celebrating removal of the warning signs. The event is scheduled for 3 p.m.

Illinois EPA Director Mary A. Gade hailed removal of the signs, saying "Several years ago we celebrated the removal of more than one million pounds of PCBs in harbor sediments. Today, we mark another milestone with the removal of the fish consumption warning signs. Our fish sampling program since the sediment cleanup has shown that the harbor is no longer a significant source of PCBs in Lake Michigan fish.

"The Illinois EPA remains committed to working with the local community to restore full beneficial uses of the harbor and the lakefront," she said.

Rescinding restrictions on Waukegan Harbor fish consumption coincides with the adoption of expanded, more precise guidelines for eating all Lake Michigan fish. The new guidelines will add two categories to the existing three advisory levels, providing more specific health-based information for eating Lake Michigan fish species.

Previous advisories classified fish in one of three categories: unlimited consumption (no restriction), do-not-eat, or eat no more than once-a-week. Newly added classifications recommend one meal a month or one meal every two months for certain kinds and sizes of Lake Michigan fish.

The decision to remove the warning signs and withdraw warnings targetted specifically at fish taken from Waukegan North Harbor reflects continuing improvements in the harbor following removal of approximately one million pounds of PCB-contaminated soil from the harbor in 1992.

Subsequent monitoring of fish from both the harbor and Lake Michigan have shown no appreciable difference in PCB concentrations in fish from the harbor and those from the open lake.

Waukegan North Harbor has been designated an Area of Concern (AOC) by the International Joint Commission on the Great Lakes, U.S. EPA and the Illinois EPA, under a U.S.-Canadian agreement that requires this designation when conditions exist on the Great Lakes that have caused or are likely to cause impairment of beneficial uses.

In response, the advisory group was formed, and a plan developed that included removal of the PCB contaminated soil as well as other needed corrective actions at sites within the area. Work is now underway identifying other needed cleanups in the vinicity of the harbor and the near-shore area. Efforts in Waukegan illustrate one of the first AOCs to actually demonstrate environmental benefits resulting from a cleanup.