Clear Creek (Waterway)

(NOTE: This article is about the river named Clear Creek. For other uses of Clear Creek, go here.)

Clear Creek begins in Monroe County on the south side of Bloomington. It drains approximately 76 square miles and flows south approximately 15 miles to the confluence with Salt Creek.

Clear Creek is designated a Group 5 (no fish consumption) stream by the Indiana Department of Health (2004) because of PCB contamination from Westinghouse, which discharged approximately 200,000 pounds of PCBs to the Winston-Thomas Treatment Plant between 1958 and 1982 when the plant was permanently closed. Since 1974, numerous studies, including fish surveys, have been conducted by private contractors, US Fish and Wildlife Service, and Viacom, the new owner of Westinghouse. There is extensive documentation of the eventual clean-up and remediation of the site.