MADISON HEIGHTS, Mich. — A bright green, confirmed cancer causing chemical is seeping onto a freeway in Metro Detroit -- and now with rain in the forecast, crews have mounting concerns.
The chemical is called hexavalent chromium and was first noticed on Interstate 696 more than a week ago.
Experts told WXYZ in Detroit that rain can speed up the rate at which chemicals move through soil and into ground water. The U.S. EPA emergency response team is working with Michigan's EGLE to prevent that. Crews are focused on preventing the rain from washing chemicals onto the road. That way poisoned water doesn't reach storm drains and ultimately, the Great Lakes.
Jennifer Wilson, with WXYZ, reported Monday that crews have installed sump pumps to pull water and moisture from the ground, sucking up the rain before it can run off and spread hexavalent chromium. The freeway walls and concrete near the contamination point have also been sealed off to prevent the run off.
The chemical oozed from the basement of Madison Heights-based Electro-Plating Services and entered an I-696 storm sewer and sewer clean-out between the business and the freeway's service drive, according to the Associated Press.
Electro-Plating and services was shut down in December 2016 due to EPA violations, WXYZ reports.
Last month, the company was fined $1.5 million and its owner received one year in prison for illegally storing hazardous waste. WXYZ says crews have another sump pump at the place where a pit used to be filled with the toxic chemical.
The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration says the chemical is known to cause cancer and targets the respiratory system, liver, kidneys, skin and eyes. It is typically added to steel to increase hardenability and corrosion resistance, the administration says.
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