Residents fear ditch cleanup not enough
The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency has removed 468 tons of soil to clean up a ditch contaminated with zinc and cadmium that runs just north of one of the city's most historic AfricanAmerican neighborhoods and flows into Alum Creek.
The agency is spending an estimated $310,000 to clean up 500 feet of the ditch that runs along the northern border of the American Addition neighborhood on the Northeast Side, plus remove debris. The work was to be completed last week.
But some neighborhood residents and advocates wonder if that's enough.
"It's not good enough to go 500 feet," said Bee Tolber, a member of the North Central Area Commission who grew up in the area.
Marie Moreland-Short, who lives in the neighborhood, remained concerned about the people who live in homes on East 12th Avenue east of Joyce Avenue and whose yards back up to the ditch and the water flowing through it.
"How do we know it hasn't contaminated the property?" Moreland-Short said.
Residents and others have been worried about the contaminated ditch for years. It carries stormwater runoff, running east from the former American Smelting and Refining Co. site at 1363 Windsor Ave. The zinc smelter operated from 1920 to 1986, first as American Zinc, then as ASARCO.
Three years ago, the Ohio EPA discovered elevated levels of zinc and cadmium in the ditch, and asked 26 nearby property owners to stay away from it. The same metals were found in 2003 in sediment in Alum Creek, into which the ditch drains.
Exposure to zinc can result in nausea, vomiting, loss of appetite, diarrhea and headaches.
James Lee, an Ohio EPA spokesman, said only 500 feet was excavated because that's the section where contaminants exceeded national standards for lifetime exposure.
Peter Whitehouse, assistant chief for the Ohio EPA's central district office, said a team went up and down the stream testing sediments. An excavator removed 12 to 18 inches of sediment from the 500 feet of stream where the contaminants were found. Crews also removed 200 tires and other debris and garbage from the ditch, said Jeff Martin, an Ohio EPA environmental specialist.
Crews will remove a gravel road laid for equipment after the work is completed, then plant trees and other vegetation in the area. The restoration work should be completed in the spring.
Asked why it took a year after it proposed the plan for the agency to clean up the ditch, Whitehouse said it took time for planning the project, letting the contracts and obtaining permits.
"There was work done every month on this," Lee said.
The remediation work comes as the long-neglected American Addition neighborhood is mounting a comeback.
The city of Columbus committed $11.7 million in public improvements, including new streets, curbs and alleys.
The nonprofit developer Homeport has built 20 homes there, with plans to build another nine in 2018. It anticipates building another 19 after that, possibly in 2019, depending on funding.
The neighborhood was settled by African-Americans who moved to Columbus from the South in the early 1900s. But the city didn't hook up the area to sewer and water until 1969, the same year that the neighborhood's homes were connected to natural gas.