Land restoration of Bear Creek done
Land that required excavation as part of a $1 million cleanup of diesel fuel that leaked into the Bear Creek drain in Warren has been completed.
The conclusion marks a successful completion of a cleanup effort of one of the worst incidents of pollution in a stream, river or open-air drain in Macomb County, according to a news release from the county Public Works Office.
The Bear CreekDrain begins in Oakland County and runs diagonally from southwest Warren to the northeast where it reaches the Red Run Drain north of 13 Mile Road, east of Van Dyke Avenue. Cleanup of the petroleum leak, which was discovered in 2019, required a year-long process, including cutting of trees, excavation of dozens of truckloads of contaminated soil, digging a trench and other containment measures to prevent further seepage into the stream.
An entire section of the drain bank more than 150 feet long and approximately 20 feet tall was removed. During that excavation, a rotted pipe with old diesel fuel inside and around the sides was discovered.
Since then, the bank has been restored, rocks have been placed to prevent erosion, and grass and other vegetation is growing on the bank, Public Works Commissioner Candice Miller said in a news release.
“The water there is running clean,” Miller said in the release. “If you look at the property today, you’d never realize the severity of the contamination that was there and the extensive cleanup that followed.”
To ensure there is no further contamination into the creek, monitoring wells have been installed and will be checked over the next year.
The cleanup was financed through Michigan Underground Storage Tank Authority funds.
The Macomb County PublicWorks Office encourages anyone who witnesses or suspects a hazardous materials spill into any sewer or open-air drain to call the office’s toll-free hotline at 1-877-679-4337.