Wausau installs sign in contaminated park, holds off on other state recommendations

By Shereen Siewert | Wausau Pilot & Review

City officials this week installed a caution sign at a Wausau park notifying residents of potential danger from contaminated soil, but have not acted on other state recommendations so far.

The most recent risk assessment for Riverside Park, detailed in a May 31, 2023 letter from the Wisconsin Department of Health Services, concluded that contaminated soil posed an unacceptable cancer risk. Health officials recommended posting the sign and covering the affected ground with landscaping fabric and wood chips to protect the public.

Public Works Director Eric Lindman has not responded to repeated questions about whether the city will follow all state health recommendations, but said soil remediation is set to begin in the coming weeks.

Dist. 3 Alder Tom Kilian, a founding member of the grassroots environmental group Citizens for a Clean Wausau, actively advocated for the sign, along with Dist. 4 Alder Doug Diny.

“After 15 years of citizen persistence, sign’s up in Riverside Park,” Kilian posted on social media.

In an email to Wausau Pilot & Review, Kilian said it was his “understanding from communications I have had that the Public Works Director thought ‘”‘it would not make sense to pay for landscaping fabric and woodchips and install them’ because remediation will be beginning in the near future.”

As Wausau Pilot & Review previously reported, residents and environmental groups have urged city officials for years to test the soil in the park, which resulted in significant controversy and resistance. Tests ultimately showed multiple exceedances of state Department of Natural Resources soil standards for dioxin, highly toxic organic pollutants that can interfere with hormones and damage the immune system.

Wisconsin DNR hydrogeologist Matt Thompson, in an email to Wausau Pilot & Review, said he agreed with the DHS recommendations to protect the public at the park.

Lindman said remediation is set to begin at the end of June. Mayor Katie Rosenberg did not respond to questions about the safety plan for Riverside Park, which is located on the west bank of the Wisconsin River.