History

Waukegan Harbor Citizens Advisory Group · Box 297 · Waukegan, Illinois 60079

 

· In 1850, the little community of Waukegan began negotiations with the State of Illinois and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to build a small commercial harbor off the shore of Waukegan.

· To the south, the city of Chicago was fast becoming the transport center of the nation sending manufactured goods and materials to the east coast, the southern sectors of the United States, and the newly opened west coast.

· As the population of Chicago expanded both commercially and residentially northward to support the growth, so did the need for manufacturing and distribution sites.

· By 1890 a vibrant, varied, and skilled labor force was producing a sound multifaceted economic base for the Waukegan area, which was connected to Chicago by both rail and lake shipping.

· Industries used the common manufacturing practices of their day to produce steel, barbed wire, leather, concrete light poles, refined sugar, motors, etc.

· The harbor was further developed and expanded to meet the growing demand for goods transport in the 1890’s.  The industrial site grew and expanded into the early 1960’s.

· Some of the common manufacturing practices in place during that time have had an adverse effect on the environment and personal life styles of today.

· The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is responsible for maintaining the Federal Channel in the harbor.  Due to one hundred years of accumulations of heavy metals, and later PCB’s, the Corps has not been able to carry out the maintenance dredging due to sediment contamination.  Waukegan Harbor was not alone in experiencing these problems, which occurred in harbors and riverways throughout the Great Lakes.

· In the 1980’s the International Joint Commission endeavored to identify the major sources of pollution affecting the Great Lakes.  Forty-three (43) major Areas of Concern were located within Great Lakes watershed.

· Waukegan Harbor was one of the 43 AOC’s.

· In 1990, under the guidelines set down by the International Joint Commission, the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency helped to form the Waukegan Harbor Citizens’ Advisory Group (Waukegan CAG).  It has to include corporate, governmental, shipping, environmental and public representatives.

· The CAG has 34 voting members, 17 associate members,  plus  private citizens and others who attend CAG meetings just to stay well informed on the various cleanup activities in progress within the Area of Concern.

· Under the guidance of the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency the Waukegan CAG has progressed through the three (3) required investigation and analysis study stages required by the International Joint Commission

· Today three Superfund sites and several brownfield sites are well on their way to final clean up. 

· Ninety percent of the PCB’s within the actual harbor have been removed.  We are in the final process of remediating the last 10% now.

· The harbor specific fish consumption advisory was lifted in February of 1997, however monitoring of the harbor fish continues on an annual basis.

Maintained by Illinois EPA—Last Updated 11/9/2007—For problems contact Webmaster