ISHPEMING -- Michigan Senator Carl Levin stopped by Ishpeming Friday afternoon to see the progress made in restoring Deer Lake.
Phase I to divert the flow of Partridge Creek under the city has been completed. For years, the creek has been contaminating the lake with mercury. In June, the Environmental Protection Agency awarded the city eight million dollars for the project as part of the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative. The city came in under budget and is planning to return around $20,000 to the EPA.
"It's important that our taxpayers know this is important to the environment," said Sen. Levin. "To have a cleaner environment, cleaning up messes, we're protecting our watersheds, we're getting rid of invasive species, we're doing a lot of important things with our Great Lakes Initiative money."
The second half of the project is scheduled to be complete by next summer when the creek is completely diverted and the lake begins to decontaminate.
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