Onondaga Lake, described as one of the most polluted lakes in the country, used to be a thriving vacation spot. Over the course of its 200-year history of settlement the 4.6-mile lake gradually became a dumping site for municipal sewage and industrial wastes.

Onondaga LakeA cleanup has been ongoing since the 1970s and the site was given a Superfund designation in 1994. But now, for the first time, the Department of Environmental Conservation is planning to restore plant and animal habitats and promote recreation along the Southern shore, following a four-year dredging project, the Syracuse Post-Standard reports.

The DEC is soliciting public comments on a draft plan to dredge 2.6 million cubic yards of contaminated sediment and a draft habitat restoration plan. You can also submit your comments via email to Donald Hesler at djhesler@gw.dec.state.ny.us by February 16th. 

Onondaga Lake has a troubled past. For years, the city of Syracuse flushed sewage directly into the lake, finally building the Metro sewage treatment plant on the South Shore in 1960. From the 1880s to the 1940s, Salvay Process Company produced soda ash (calcium carbonate) on the Western Shore, depositing millions of gallons of salty wastes into the water each day according to the DEC.  Allied Chemical and Dye Company produced chlorine from 1946 to its closure in 1977, discharging a mercury byproduct into Onondaga. Mud overflows and PCBs have also been concerns.

Today, water quality and lake health are improving as a result of upgrades at the Metro plant and salinity has dropped four-fold since the closure of the Allied soda ash factory in 1986. Some fish species are considered suitable for consumption, but swimming is still banned. According to the non-profit Onondaga Lake Partnership, scientists estimate that 7 million cubic yards of lake sediments remain contaminated with mercury, and the metal is still found in fish.

The dredging and habitat restoration to take place are part of Honeywell International (formerly Allied Chemical)'s $451 million cleanup plan, the result of a 2006 settlement with the state. Participants at Thursday's meeting will be divided into four groups depending on their area of interest: the waste bed in Camillus where the sediment will be deposited; fishing and lake access; habitat to promote plants, wetlands and recreation, and habitat to promote wildlife and birds.