CLEVELAND: State environmental regulators say sludge material dredged from the Cuyahoga River and dumped into Lake Erie in the 1970s might be moving toward a Cleveland water treatment plant.
The state Environmental Protection Agency says a roughly 2-square-mile toxic blob sits about 5 miles from an intake pipe that supplies drinking water to parts of Cuyahoga County.
The EPA says the sediment is highly contaminated with cancer-causing chemicals.
Cleveland water officials said Monday they are monitoring the water. Officials don’t know how fast the mass is moving or if it will actually reach the pipe. Officials say the city’s water is currently safe.
State environmental regulators in late March approved a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers request to dredge Cleveland’s harbor and the Cuyahoga River for shipping traffic.