Kalamazoo River Area of Concern
The Kalamazoo River was designated as an Area of Concern under the 1987 Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement. The river was listed as an AOC due to historic releases of PCBs associated with de-inking operations at local paper mills. Kalamazoo River priorities include remediation of PCB-contaminated sediments in the river, control of nonpoint source pollution (particularly phosphorus) and habitat restoration.
About Kalamazoo River AOC
Restoring Kalamazoo River AOC
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The AOC suffered a slight setback in July 2010 when a large volume of crude oil was spilled into the Kalamazoo River after an Enbridge Energy pipeline ruptured. In the fall of 2014, Enbridge completed its removal of recoverable oil as ordered by EPA. EPA demobilized from the Enbridge Oil Spill site in November 2014 and transitioned the site to the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality.