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EPA Discusses Donna Lake Clean Up Efforts

4 years 4 months 1 week ago Thursday, November 21 2019 Nov 21, 2019 November 21, 2019 9:03 AM November 21, 2019 in News - Local

DONNA - Environmental Protection Agency officials will be in the Rio Grande Valley to talk about clean-up efforts at Donna Lake.

Cancer causing chemicals were discovered in fish and sediment, dating back more than 20 years.

Officials first discovered the presence of P-C-B's back in 1993, man-made chemicals known to cause cancer.

Since then, state and federal crews have conducted tests and removed contaminated fish from the reservoir several times.

The EPA eventually tracked the source of the contamination to a siphon in one canal.

EPA remedial project manager Kenneth Shewmake told a group of other concerned residents about a new cleanup project, the machines that will be used and how they will get rid of cancer causing chemicals.

Shemake tell us this is why they hold meetings with the public to let people know not to eat the fish. 

The EPA will take the contaminated sediment to an approved landfill, then the  water will be treated and the fish will continue to be checked.

The first phase of the project will start sometime in January.

Construction will not happen here, it's to be at a canal where contaminants were found in 1993 from a siphon.

THE EPA is still encouraging everyone not to fish in Donna lake and also not to dump their trash there.

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