Associated Press

SEATTLE — A six-mile stretch of the heavily polluted Duwamish River has been named to a national priority list for cleanup.

The Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday ordered the lower Duwamish River added to the Superfund list, which includes the nation’s most heavily polluted industrial sites — 48 of which are in Washington state.

The lower segment of the stream — a drainage system for a heavily industrialized part of Seattle for more than a century — will be studied to determine the extent and location of pollution, risks to humans and the environment, and possible cleanup methods.

The EPA hopes to identify sites that pose the greatest hazard and start cleanup there by early next year, said EPA Superfund program manager Lori Cohen.

Those responsible for the pollution — and the cleanup — have not yet been identified, though the listing followed failed negotiations between the EPA and two historic polluters, Boeing and the Port of Seattle.

The river carries chemicals such as PCBs, volatile organic compounds and heavy metals — some found more than 4 feet below the river bottom. Pockets of mercury hundreds of times higher than state limits have been reported in areas of the river, and tests of some fish show increased levels of carcinogens, said B.J. Cummings, coordinator for the Duwamish River Cleanup Coalition, an environmental group.

The river, which empties into Elliot Bay at Harbor Island, also is home to threatened Puget Sound chinook salmon and coho.

Public Health-Seattle &King County has warned residents not to eat fish in the river.

King County agreed several years ago to clean up some of the contamination in the river. Much of the pre-cleanup work has been focused on finding businesses that contributed to the damage.

"The river has been an industrial dumping ground for years and years for a lot of industries that are no longer in the valley," said Don Theiler, King County’s wastewater treatment division manager. "It is hard to sort this out."

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