By TIM HAECK
KIRO Radio

Duwamish River pollution could take decades to clean up, at a cost of more than $1 billion.

The groups responsible for 100 years of pollution issued a report on Monday that offers options for cleanup, including dredging, capping the muck or letting flowing sediments bury it naturally.

B.J. Cummings, with the Duwamish River Cleanup Coalition says nature's covering could be exposed in many ways. "That could be something as simple as a tugboat scraping along the bottom, to something as dramatic as an earthquake in the Duwamish fault that runs right underneath the river."

Cummings says all cleanup options have a glaring shortcoming. "What is missing from every single one of these options is to have ongoing pollution sources controlled."

The city of Seattle, the Port of Seattle, King County and Boeing are asking for public input for how to cleanup a five mile stretch of the Duwamish.

Cleanup of the federal Superfund site could take 15 to 45 years. Cummings says even the smallest cleanup would cost at least $200 million.