Chemical spill prompts beach closure near Lake Michigan in U.S.

Federal authorities say a U.S. steel plant in Portage, Indiana, leaked an unknown amount of a potentially carcinogenic chemical into Burns Waterway, a Lake Michigan tributary, forcing the closure of beaches in and around the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore.

A sample containing 2 parts per billion of hexavalent chromium was taken in the lake about a mile (1.6 km) north of the spill, and about 30 miles (48 km) east of Chicago, said the Chicago Department of Water Management.

That's "a level higher than would be expected to be found in raw lake water," the department said in a news release, but it's just a fraction of the Environmental Protection Agency's drinking water standard of 100 parts per billion for all forms of chromium.

In response, the National Park Service has closed four beaches in the area of the spill "as a precaution to protect the health of park visitors," warning that people and pets "should have no contact with the water of Lake Michigan."

Save the Dunes, an environmental protection group in Indiana, is also warning people from direct contact with the chemical, which is "the same carcinogenic chemical that appeared in the 2000 biographical film, 'Erin Brockovich.'"

"It is known for creating reversible and irreversible skin lesions if in direct contact," said the group in a statement.

Indiana American Water in Ogden Dunes, the nearest municipal water source, shut down its water intake from Lake Michigan.

"The plant will be closed until additional data and water testing results confirm there is no threat to the company's source water at this location," it said. Endi