On a sunny Saturday morning a Rockford park’s spacious playground should be overrun with kids enjoying slides, climbing equipment and wide open spaces.

Instead, Ekberg-Pine Manor Park on Rockford’s southeast side is eerily silent, with not a kid or parent in sight.

The park remains shut down for the foreseeable future due to contaminated water and ongoing cleanup.

The “No Trespassing” signs mean business. An entry gate is padlocked and chain link fence surrounds the entire property.

“For the safety and security of our park patrons, it is best to continue to keep the park closed until further notice,” parks officials announced on the district web site. “We apologize for any inconvenience. As we receive any additional information about this project from the IEPA (Illinois Environmental Protection Agency) we will be sure to keep you informed.”

The only visible information on the property is a four-foot wide sign at a Balsam Lane entrance announcing the Southeast Rockford Groundwater Contamination Superfund Site, also adding that no entry is permitted.

Along with green space and a playground, the park contains basketball and tennis courts

The 7.5-acre site is a troubled one. Pollution from an earlier industrial era resulted in contaminated ground water, leading to designation as a federal Environmental Protection Agency SuperFund cleanup site.

In 2010, the website Daily Beast ranked the site as No. 23 on the nation’s 25 most polluted.

According to a federal EPA project summary, groundwater tests performed by the Illinois EPA in the 1980s found that water from private and municipal wells was contaminated at levels higher than permissible federal standards.

The contaminants leaked into soil and wells from storage tanks and “improper disposal practices,” the summary stated.

By 1991, the federal EPA oversaw connection of 547 homes to Rockford’s municipal water system.

The park was closed last fall to replace contaminated dirt.

The Illinois EPA recently sent a letter to area residents outlining installation of wells starting last week west of playground facilities along with plans for a treatment building set to start construction later this year.

“Additional projects are also likely to take place while the park is closed in order to improve and enhance the environment,” the Park District said on its web site.