City: Dicks Creek is Ohio EPA’s problem
By The Journal
Staff
Middletown Mayor David Schiavone has been flooded with e-mails
about the water in Dicks Creek.
City Manager Ron Olson said the mayor has been contacted by
organized groups and individuals, mostly from the area of
Cincinnati, Dayton and Northern Ken tucky, about the hazards in the
water. The people asked what the city is doing about the situation.
The answer is simple, according to Olson, Schiavone and Health
Com missioner David Winfough. The existence of harmful PCBs in the
creek is a problem for the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency to
solve.
Winfough said that the city has no culpability nor authority to
clean up the creek and has taken the most steps possible to deter
people from swimming, fishing or wading in or drinking the water
from the waterway.
He also said that the city of Middletown, which does not own the
property surrounding the creek, has installed 48 signs warning
against such activities along the 3.6 mile stretch that lies within
the boundaries of the city.
“Nothing has changed in the last five years,” Winfough said,
adding that the source of the PCBs has been stopped and the levels
have not risen since.
“It’s not a city issue,” said Olson. “It’s really a state EPA
issue.”
Published 08.06.03
