Superfund Site – Cleanup at Lower Duwamish

Construction kicked off in late November to clean up the five-mile Lower Duwamish Waterway Superfund Site as Pacific Pile and Marine began removing contaminated sediment in the uppermost segment of the project area. The City of Seattle, King County, and Boeing are working together to implement the multi-year project as members of the Lower Duwamish Waterway Group. 

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is overseeing the cleanup design and construction for the waterway, and the Washington State Department of Ecology is the agency coordinating source control efforts on land. 

“EPA is very pleased that the remaining phase of the cleanup of the Lower Duwamish Waterway is finally moving forward,” said Casey Sixkiller, Regional Administrator of EPA’s Northwest and Alaska Region 10 office in Seattle. “While previous efforts have reduced sitewide PCB levels by half, this work signals the start of a new and critical chapter of cleanup and will further reduce risks to people and the fish and wildlife in the Duwamish River valley.”

The in-water project will continue to improve water quality and reduce the risks sediment contamination presents to people and fish after more than a century of heavy industrial and commercial use.