The mud is safe

Posted at 10:44 AM on July 27, 2012 by Paul Tosto
Filed under: Disasters

Derek Montgomery for MPR

Among all the worries about the massive flooding that hit Duluth last month, there were concerns about whether the hard-hit Fond du Lac neighborhood had been inundated with toxic sediment from flood waters.

The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency today helped cross that worry off the list. The agency reports:

The lab tested the samples for eight metals (arsenic, barium, cadmium, chromium, lead, mercury, selenium and silver), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs).

"The results for all samples are well below the Residential Soil Reference Values for metals, PCBs and PAHs., MPCA Superfund project manager Susan Johnson, said. "Given the very low, or nondetectable levels for the parameters tested, it does not appear that the source of the mud sampled in the Fond du Lac area is a contaminated area or reservoir."

-- Paul Tosto

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