WAUSAU, WI (WSAU) — Wausau’s Parks and Recreation Committee took no action Monday in regards to further city-sponsored soil testing in Riverside Park.
Committee Chair Pat Peckham says right now they are waiting on results of tests sponsored by the activist group Citizens for a Clean Wausau. “Their samples were taken about three weeks ago, and are being analyzed and submitted to the DNR. So we are going to wait for that before we jump.”
According to Peckham, the group chose three locations in the south end of the park at the base of the hill, locations he says are most likely to “move the needle,” but are also locations that don’t see much foot traffic from visitors. Testing for those areas would then be the responsibility of the city in his mind. “That would be along the trail, open grassy areas where people would play catch or frisbee or have a picnic.
“It would make the most sense to me. Then we would have resulted from the neighborhood (the recently completed Wauleco tests), results from the base of the hill (CCW tests), and testing from the portion of the park where visitors are likely to spend the most time,” he added.
Peckham also emphasized that at no time has the city ever determined the park is safe, the only thing that has been confirmed at this point is the dioxin levels in the soil in the neighborhood is similar to those found in other urbanized areas.
“People like yourself ask me if I can say it’s safe, and I can’t say it’s safe. We want to find out for sure if it is,” he said.
The Department of Health Services report on the Wauleco tests concluded that “exposure to dioxin in surface soil within the investigated area are unlikely to cause adverse health effects to the residents and trespasser,”
No timeline on when the Citizens for a Clean Wausau soil test results would be completed was given, but those on the committee and Mayor Robert Mielke said they would be checking with the city’s contact at the DNR this week to update the progress of their findings.
