White Ditch Creek contaminates lakeshore
Southwest Berrien County's White Ditch Creek dumps into Lake Michigan right at the lakeside villages of Grand Beach and Michiana, where currents keep its muck tight to the shore, trapped by sand bars. Michiana, Grand Beach, Michiana Shores - and Berrien County and LaPorte County, Ind. - the ditch dirties them all.
With E. coli counts wildly surpassing safe body contact levels and telltale toilet paper washing up at its mouth, White Ditch's sorry state can no longer be lightly dismissed.
"It's those darn deer ... the birds ... the ducks" doesn't work; high fecal coliform ratios clearly point to human waste, not animal.
"It's always made the children sick" is no excuse for placing at risk unwitting children who happily splash in its filthy waters.
Yes, it's our problem. Yes, we have the damning data. Yes, we have the wherewithal to fix it. What's missing is the will to do it.
Dogs can sniff out faulty septic systems, but jurisdictions have to allow it. A simple red dye test would show exactly whose systems leak - and grants are available to help individuals come into compliance. For an entire year Amtrak reputedly has refused to give permission to tunnel under its tracks so that an entire trailer park's waste can be treated by Michigan City - how long can this continue?
If you care about clean water, add your voice to ours. Implore your local leaders to take the simple actions necessary to clean up White Ditch.
Jacqueline and Blair Stewart
Southwest Berrien County's White Ditch Creek dumps into Lake Michigan right at the lakeside villages of Grand Beach and Michiana, where currents keep its muck tight to the shore, trapped by sand bars. Michiana, Grand Beach, Michiana Shores - and Berrien County and LaPorte County, Ind. - the ditch dirties them all.
With E. coli counts wildly surpassing safe body contact levels and telltale toilet paper washing up at its mouth, White Ditch's sorry state can no longer be lightly dismissed.
"It's those darn deer ... the birds ... the ducks" doesn't work; high fecal coliform ratios clearly point to human waste, not animal.
"It's always made the children sick" is no excuse for placing at risk unwitting children who happily splash in its filthy waters.
Yes, it's our problem. Yes, we have the damning data. Yes, we have the wherewithal to fix it. What's missing is the will to do it.
Dogs can sniff out faulty septic systems, but jurisdictions have to allow it. A simple red dye test would show exactly whose systems leak - and grants are available to help individuals come into compliance. For an entire year Amtrak reputedly has refused to give permission to tunnel under its tracks so that an entire trailer park's waste can be treated by Michigan City - how long can this continue?
If you care about clean water, add your voice to ours. Implore your local leaders to take the simple actions necessary to clean up White Ditch.
Jacqueline and Blair Stewart
