Justin Onwenu, environmental justice organizer for the Sierra Club, and other activists have called out the city and state for what they say was a delayed response to the spill at the historically significant Revere Copper and Brass Inc. site. Uranium and other dangerous chemicals were used there in the 1940s and 1950s for the Manhattan Project that produced the first nuclear weapons. The activists have also decried the city for allowing site owner Revere Dock LLC and tenant Detroit Bulk Storage to store limestone aggregate there without a permit.

"We want to protect the Great Lakes and drinking water. We want to make sure there's sufficient oversight for companies operating along the riverfront," Onwenu said. "We think this ordinance does that. We think it addresses a lot of the gaps that existed in city law for quite some time and made the collapse of that site even possible."

Once introduced, the proposal would need to go to committee and later be approved by City Council. It would also require city legal review, city spokesman John Roach noted in an email. He said city Corporation Counsel Lawrence Garcia was not familiar with the proposal.

"Too often we have to rely on (the state) and the (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency) to make sure that our communities are safe," Castañeda-López said Tuesday. "This piece of legislation ... will seek to standardize policy so every entity operating on the waterfront will have to get an annual permit from the city of Detroit, which has been a gap at the state and federal level ... And we know that is simply insufficient for us. This legislation would also make the process more transparent."

As written, the draft ordinance would:

require site owners or operators next to any body of water to obtain a waterfront operation certificate and pay a fee that would aim to cover the city's costs to enforce the ordinance.

require site owners or operators to submit a "risk assessment report" that explains what the property looks like and any potential contamination risks there. That would be made available online.

require site owners or operators to maintain and inspect seawalls and other shoreline barriers.

compel companies to repair water barriers that are not maintained adequately to prevent the release of pollutants. This would be ordered as deemed necessary by the city's Buildings, Safety Engineering and Environmental Department (BSEED). The city would also make companies stop operating until they make the required fixes, and if they fail to do so within 30 days, the city must do work deemed necessary and hold the companies liable for costs.

require companies to place storage piles farther from the shoreline: 150 feet, up from 25 feet.

require site owners or operators to immediately tell various city departments if they have "reason to believe that any waterbody barrier" has been breached.

require water quality testing and public notice after a spill.

The rules would be added to the Environment chapter of the Detroit City Code and the chapter on handling solid waster and preventing illegal dumping. Properties used only for single- or two-family homes would be exempt.