The physical cleanup of one of Ohio’s most polluted waterways should be completed next year, more than 15 years after deadly contaminates were found in Dicks Creek.

But testing to ensure polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, and other deadly compounds aren’t seeping into Dicks Creek from nearby capped landfills will continue for years, if not decades, to come, Ohio EPA officials said Wednesday.

Dicks Creek, located along Middletown’s southern border, was once a popular spot where adults and kids fished and swam. But even with more than $17 million in remediation work done at the site by AK Steel, it’s doubtful the stream will ever be that place again, said Heather Lauer, spokeswoman for the Ohio EPA.

“I think it’s safe to say that literally tons of contaminated materials have been removed, and I think it’s safe to say that Dicks Creek is safer now than before they (AK Steel) started the cleanup,” Lauer said.

But as a fence blocking access to the stream and signs posted along its border indicate, the water remains “unsafe” for swimming, fishing, bathing or drinking.

In 1997, U.S. EPA inspectors found PCBs leaking into Dicks Creek from a holding pond at AK Steel’s Middletown Works. PCBs were used in products like hydraulic oils and were popular because they did not burn, conduct electricity or break down easily. They were banned in 1977 after medical studies linked them to cancer and health problems.

The state and federal government sued the steelmaker in 2000 to clean up the creek — a lawsuit AK settled in 2006. The company has been working to meet the clean up requirements ever since, recently completing the second of three phases, which included the planting of trees along the creekline.

“AK Steel takes its commitment to the environment very seriously,” said company spokesman Barry Racey. “During this process, AK Steel has participated in various public involvement activities to keep the community informed of the progress, including public meetings, periodic fact sheets, and an information repository at (MidPointe Public Library). We estimate that the project will be completed sometime in 2013. The total project cost has not yet been determined.”

Christa Gilbert, who has lived on Mohawk Street near the creek since 1981, said the area around the creek looks much better.

“I just hope that it will improve,” she said of the water and land. “That’s the main thing. It’s definitely starting to look better than what it looked like.”

In the 1990s, PCB levels in Dicks Creek were found to be thousands of times above federally-allowed levels. Lauer said the exact level of PCBs in the creek today are not known. Humans can absorb PCBs through the skin, by eating contaminated fish or breathing them in.

Ruby Spencer, who has lived for about 50 years on Washington Street near Dicks Creek, is glad the cleanup is happening — though she won’t see any cleanup work until next year. Even though she didn’t know the creek was polluted at the time, Spencer never let her children near the creek despite other area children fishing and swimming in the waters.

“I didn’t like them to go into that creek bottom to play,” she said. “I was afraid there might be germs there.”

In hindsight, Spencer’s extremely glad she didn’t let her kids play in or around the waterway.

In the first two phases of remediation, AK Steel collected and analyzed soil samples in according of its U.S. EPA-approved plan and disposed of soil with high levels of PCBs and restored the area with clean soil, gravel and native vegetation.

The second phase also calls for the inspection of the two closed solid waste landfills. The inspections, which started in August and will be ongoing for several years, will determine if any of the contaminants are seeping out.

The third phase, which will be about a third of a mile west of Yankee Road to just west of Main Street.

Work scheduled for next year, according to the Ohio EPA, includes excavation and disposal of any floodplain soils containing a significant amount of PCBs, and the removal and disposal of sediment and other material.

Lauer calls the Dicks Creek remediation a “work in progress” and is a “complex project” involving extensive sampling and testing, excavation, restoration, and waterway reconfiguration.

“It takes time to ensure that the work is conducted properly,” she said.

Lauer said AK Steel has “done a good job” on the remediation work, but monitoring will be needed to “ensure that the aquatic community is reestablished and the cleanup work has successfully protected human health and the environment. Our goal is to ensure the company is in compliance with its current permits.”

PCBs were man-made chemicals produced from the 1920s until they were banned in 1977. Lauer said the contaminants are contained just to the reclamation area, a two-mile stretch that spans a few hundred feet west of South Main Street to about three-fourths of a mile east of Yankee Road. It’s doubtful (outside of contaminating a short portion of the Monroe Ditch) other connected waterways, like the Great Miami River, would be contaminated.

“PCBs are not water soluble, and stick to sediments, so they don’t move readily unless they have a huge current,” she said.

The Great Miami River is in the midst of a scheduled testing and Lauer said the Ohio EPA is “confident” the contamination is not in the river.

The city receives regular updates from AK Steel about the progress of the reclamation project, but that’s about the extent of its involvement, said city Health Commissioner Jackie Phillips. She said at this point, the updates are adequate briefings of the project.

“If we would start to see disease X, Y or Z, then that would be the reason the health department would be involved,” said Phillips. “What I would look for is the EPA or other agency would be in contact if they have any other concerns, and they have not yet.”