Chicago's Department of Water Management says its sampling of Lake Michigan water near a wastewater spill at a U.S. Steel plant in Indiana has found a higher than expected level of a potentially carcinogenic chemical.
The agency says it found 2 parts per billion of hexavalent chromium in the lake about a mile north of the spill in Portage, Indiana, about 30 miles east of Chicago. It says that's a level higher than would be expected in raw lake water.
The Environmental Protection Agency has a drinking water standard of 100 parts per billion for all forms of chromium.
The EPA says it expects to receive results of its own water sampling Friday but that preliminary data suggests the chemical is not present near drinking water intakes.
