Chicago Tribune: Summary - Construction debris from the ongoing demolition of the former Chicago Tribune Freedom Center fell into the North Branch of the Chicago River last weekend. The work began in late August to pave the way for the $1.7 billion Bally’s Chicago Casino on the 30-acre River West site.

Videos shared on social media showed a crane bring down a wall, causing white granular material to spill into the river and bring protective netting down with it. As it hit the water’s surface, the debris produced a dusty cloud and then settled, floating on the river as cranes ground to a halt.

Operations were halted immediately Saturday afternoon and cleanup efforts started that evening. Bally’s identified the debris as non-hazardous perlite, a volcanic glass used in construction. Using row boats and skimmers, a cleanup crew collected the floating bits and removed the big chunks of debris by Sunday evening.

After reports of the wall collapse, the Industrial Waste Division of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago investigated the site, according to public affairs officer Allison Fore.

A multiphase cleanup by the construction company is underway, and MWRD said it will monitor the site until the cleanup is deemed satisfactory. The cleanup includes the installation of a barge that has been positioned at the site to prevent additional demolition material from entering the river.

“There is no timeline for completion yet, but we will continue to monitor the situation,” Fore said.

Weekend winds blowing in from the southeast transported smaller pieces of loose debris upstream and deposited them on parts of the Wild Mile, which is a series of floating gardens along the North Branch Canal and east of Goose Island that mimic wetland habitat and are managed by Urban Rivers.

“That kind of set off our alarm bells,” said Nick Wesley, executive editor at the nonprofit. “And we noticed there were just certain areas where it had really piled up.”

In the days following the incident, Urban Rivers staff and volunteers in kayaks and boats used pool skimmers to remove as much material as possible, particularly concerned that it could be old polystyrene insulation.

“If it’s really, purely perlite, that’s good news,” said Stephen Meyer, volunteer coordinator. “Yeah, perlite is just obsidian glass. It’s comforting that it’s not polystyrene.”

On Tuesday, white granules accumulated on a grassy nook where snapping turtles such as Chicago celebrity Chonkosaurus often bask and sleep, and another place near the river wall where they brumate, which is similar to hibernating but for amphibians and reptiles.

“The big worry is, the stuff’s very small. It’s everywhere. (Animals) might start eating it, it’ll cover up a lot of vegetation and just kind of sit there,” Wesley said. Then there are concerns about longer-term effects, especially if other materials were knocked down alongside the perlite and dissolve in the water, or are absorbed by plants or ingested by wildlife.

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