via [ Post Trib ] “Anti-pollution plan subject of hearing - Grace Davison wants to install diffuser to reduce the toxicity of salt discharges” By Gitte Laasby

EAST CHICAGO — Enough people were concerned about Grace Davison’s proposal to put a diffuser in the Grand Calumet River to dilute pollution that the Indiana Department of Environmental Management has decided to hold a hearing on it.

As the Post-Tribune reported on March 26, the chemical manufacturer in East Chicago has been allowed for the past four years to discharge enough acid salt into the Grand Calumet River to kill at least 85 percent of certain small water critters. To make the salt less toxic, the company wants to put in a diffuser to dilute the pollution.

If you go

What: Public hearing on Grace Davison request to put a diffuser in the Grand Calumet River.

Where: Indiana University Northwest, library conference center room LC 105 abc, 3400 Broadway, Gary.

When: 6 p.m. Wednesday, May 26.

For more information: You can view the application and draft documents at the Lake County Health Department, the Gary Health Department, the main branch of the Gary Public Library and at IDEM’s regional office at 8380 Louisiana St. in Merrillville.

How to comment

Questions can be directed to

Ms. Nahir Bacardi, Office of Water Quality/NPDES permits branch, Indiana Department of Environmental Management, 100 N. Senate Ave. (mail code: 65-42), Indianapolis, IN 46204-2251. Phone: (317) 234-4222 or e-mail nbacardi@idem.in.gov. Comments must be postmarked by June 11.

IDEM didn’t initially plan a public hearing but decided to hold one after five Post-Tribune readers requested it.

“The public meeting… is being held to address the concerns of all interested parties prior to a final determination on the proposal,” IDEM said in a public notice.

The hearing will be held on May 26 and is supposed to provide information about the application and allow public participation. IDEM has also made the company’s application available for public review at various local places including IDEM’s Merrillville branch.

In 2006, IDEM permitted Grace Davison to discharge an average 39,000 pounds of sulfates (salt) per day into the Grand Calumet River just east of Kennedy Avenue.

As a condition, the company had to conduct monthly lab tests for six months on how toxic the discharge was to two kinds of water fleas and the fish fathead minnow.

The company’s 2007 lab tests showed that at least 85 percent of the critters died when exposed to undiluted wastewater.

The wastewater had well below the concentration of salt that IDEM allowed.

Thomas The Water I Drink