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Sea Stachura
Winona, Minn.

Pollution agency may have cleanup solution for Winona Superfund site

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The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency may have found a way to completely clean-up a Superfund site in Winona.

The former location of a dry cleaning store in Winona has been a Superfund site since 1989. That's when tetrachloroethylene was discovered in the ground water. The dry cleaning solvent is thought to cause cancer.

The MPCA has hauled more than 1,000 tons of soil from the site and pumped out water from the area.

"Our goal is to convert that dry cleaning solvent into a non-harmful components by oxydizing it through a chemical reaction," said Cathy Rofshus, a spokesperson with the MPCA.

Rofshus said the MPCA is testing the application of a chemical compound that has been used to clean up other polluted dry cleaning sites.