Munger Landing open after a long history of water contamination

DULUTH, Minn. (Northern News Now) - After decades of contamination from runoff and industrial work, a stretch along the St. Louis River is finally ready for the community to enjoy again.

The Munger Landing boat launch and river access in Duluth’s Smithville neighborhood was closed to the public for contamination removal in 2022, but that project finished up Tuesday.

Decades of contamination has made the water at Munger Landing not safe for the community to enjoy. Now 100,000 cubic yards have been dredged and cleaned, and the water is once again open for recreation.

Cliff Knettel with Parks and Recreation said for years the community has avoided using this area of the St. Louis River.

“There’s been decades of legacy contamination from municipal and industrial byproducts,” he said.

Now, $450,000 later, there’s an improved boat launch for anglers, a paddle launch and fishing dock.

But Kris Eilers with the St. Louis River Alliance said the hardest part of this clean-up mission is most of the work went unnoticed because it was underwater.

“It’s in areas where people don’t see, but because of the studies that were done and the data that was collected, it was clear that it was one of the most toxic sites,” says Eilers.

This underwater work being done is called dredging, which involves removing built-up sediment from the bottom of water bodies, which helps restore waterways and remove harmful pollutants.

“Those are conditions that are being improved; the contact of the water order has been lifted so people can now recreate in the Estuary like they did decades ago,” Knettel said.

Project leaders are still planning to add more trails, a picnic area and an adaptive paddle launch to the area.

“We see the health of the river improving, we’re also able to see that the community’s health will improve as well, there’s a direct correlation,” Eilers said.

But Eilers said the biggest thing to celebrate is how much collaboration happened for this to be successful; between the city, pollution control agencies and the DNR, this improvement project has been touched by many hands.

Leaders of the project say they are close to having all sediment remediation sites across the state of Minnesota cleaned and ready for recreational use.

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