Reclaim the Rivers initiative budgets $90 million for Detroit and Kalamazoo river cleanup

State and local leaders announced a $90 million cleanup package for two Michigan waterways, directing money from pollution settlements toward toxic sediment removal, fish habitat restoration and public works along the Detroit and Kalamazoo rivers.

The initiative, called Reclaim the Rivers, was announced Oct. 2 and could draw additional federal and private funding on top of the settlement money.

Detroit City Councilman Scott Benson said some of the cleanup has already started and that the added funding will open more of the river to public use.

"Now that we have our federal and state partners coming in with the resources to be able to help, you can see what the results are and how families are flocking," Benson said. "As we clean up and expose more spaces to recreational uses, it allows more families to come down and enjoy our riverfront."

The Detroit and Kalamazoo rivers are both listed as federal areas of concern in the Great Lakes region, a designation that identifies waterways with severe environmental damage. That status has long made them eligible for targeted restoration work, but funding has often limited how much could be done at once.

The $90 million comes from settlements with polluters. Using that money for cleanup links the funding to the parties responsible for the contamination instead of relying only on general taxpayer appropriations.

Benson said the new resources will expand work already underway, particularly in Detroit, where sections of the riverfront have reopened for recreation in recent years.

The initiative also includes public works projects, though the announcement did not detail specific construction plans or timelines. The Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy is listed as the state agency overseeing the Reclaim the Rivers program.

State and local officials said the goal is to make more of the rivers safe for fishing, recreation and wildlife habitat. The cleanup work is expected to address contamination that has limited public access and harmed aquatic ecosystems for decades.

Because the rivers carry federal area-of-concern status, restoration projects must meet standards set under Great Lakes cleanup programs. That often involves sediment dredging, habitat reconstruction and shoreline stabilization.

Benson said the effort will connect more families to the waterfront.

"As we clean up and expose more spaces to recreational uses, it allows more families to come down and enjoy our riverfront," he said.

The announcement did not include a detailed breakdown of how the $90 million will be divided between the Detroit and Kalamazoo rivers, or a schedule for when individual projects will begin. State officials said additional funding partnerships could expand the scope of work beyond the initial settlement dollars.

Reclaim the Rivers is one of the larger recent investments in Detroit-area waterway restoration, and it sets up the region to pursue matching federal grants and private contributions for future phases.

The next step is identifying specific project sites and coordinating with federal and state agencies on permits and engineering. Benson said the cleanup already visible along parts of the river shows how the effort is progressing.

"You can see what the results are," he said.