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Grand Calumet River Area of Concern

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Lake Michigan Beach Monitoring and Notification

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Lake Michigan Lake Action & Management Plan

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Indiana Clean Marinas

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Indiana Clean Boaters

The Grand Calumet River/Indiana Harbor Ship Canal is a heavily modified system of waterways located within largely industrialized and urbanized areas of northern Lake County, Indiana. These waterways have been severely impacted by sediment contamination, habitat degradation, and other factors. The changes have led to the impairment of many beneficial uses of the waterways, including restrictions on fish and wildlife consumption, restrictions on dredging activities, beach closings, and loss of fish and wildlife habitat.

Due to the loss of its beneficial uses, the United States and Canada designated the Grand Calumet River, Indiana Harbor Ship Canal, and Nearshore Lake Michigan as one of 43 Great Lakes “Areas of Concern” (AOCs) under the 1987 amendments to the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement. The Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM), working with stakeholders such as members of the Citizens Advisory for the Remediation of the Environment (CARE), have developed a Remedial Action Plan (RAP) describing the environmental problems leading the area to be designated as an AOC and providing a blueprint for restoring those uses.

Many federal, state, and local partners have engaged in work to restore the AOC, including by funding and implementing sediment remediation projects, protecting and restoring globally rare habitats, working to protect public health at Lake Michigan beaches, conducting community education and engagement, or providing technical advice on the AOC restoration. These partners include: The U.S. EPA; the U.S. Geological Survey; the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; the DNR's Division of Nature Preserves; the East Chicago Waterway Management District; the Lake County Parks and Recreation Department; the Hammond Port Authority; the cities of Hammond, Whiting, East Chicago, and Gary; The Nature Conservancy; the Shirley Heinze Land Trust; and the Save the Dunes Conservation Fund.

More background information about the Grand Calumet River AOC and work being conducted to restore it is available at the following websites:

Annual Reports

Beneficial Use Impairments (BUIs)

Remedial Action Plans (RAPs)

Other Reports

Grand Calumet River Area of Concern Habitat Report (2014) [PDF]

Beach Public Health

Great Lakes Legacy Act Remediation Projects

The Grand Calumet River, like all Great Lakes Areas of Concern (AOCs), is a specific region in which humans have severely damaged the ecosystem, impairing or restricting the ways in which people, plants, and animals can use the water or associated habitats.

While IDEM is not currently responsible for implementing Grand Calumet River AOC-related project work, the agency does play a vital role in tracking, coordinating, and facilitating that work. The agency has developed a Story Map with information about previous and planned projects within the Grand Calumet River AOC. That Story Map is available at: https://on.in.gov/grandcal.

IDEM understands that it is not always easy to identify or participate in opportunities to provide feedback on RAP-related projects that affect your community. That is why the agency has constructed this feedback prompt targeted at those who live or work in Hammond, Gary, East Chicago, or Whiting, or are otherwise directly impacted by the AOC restoration work.

If the feedback box below doesn't load immediately, please use the following link to access a feedback page.

General Contact Information

Indiana Department of Environmental Management
Northwest Regional Office
330 West US Highway 30, Suite F
Valparaiso, IN 46385

Subject-specific Contacts