Lake Michigan Tributaries Watershed Study
By Louise Wrege & David Johnson
Published: Wednesday, May 11, 2016 12:40 PM EDT
Excerpt
“The reason we went after this is because the (Berrien County) Health Department, when they were doing some beach testing a couple of years ago, was getting quite a few high E. coli counts along the beaches in the southern part of the county,” she said.
The health department reported there were between five and 12 beach closures due to high E. coli levels each summer between 2012 and 2015.
“Some work has been done with the Health Department and The Conservation Fund to fix the problem,” Hamilton said. “They’ve found some problem areas and got some things fixed, but there’s no real overall plan for this area. We need to figure out what’s going on.”
Hamilton said E. coli is a bacteria indicator of waste, which can come from manure, wildlife, farm animals, or failing septic or sanitary sewer systems.
She said human waste means the stream is probably being polluted by a failing septic system or a crack in sanitary sewer line.
Peg Kohring, midwest director of the The Conservation Fund, said the Lake Michigan Tributaries Watershed Management Plan will be focused on 12 creeks from the Michigan-Indiana line (“they call it the White Ditch”) to Grand Mere State Park near Stevensville. She noted that the Galien River itself is not part of the project.
www.harborcountrynews.com/articles/2016/05/11/features/doc573360458912e333442662.txt
The health department reported there were between five and 12 beach closures due to high E. coli levels each summer between 2012 and 2015.
“Some work has been done with the Health Department and The Conservation Fund to fix the problem,” Hamilton said. “They’ve found some problem areas and got some things fixed, but there’s no real overall plan for this area. We need to figure out what’s going on.”
Hamilton said E. coli is a bacteria indicator of waste, which can come from manure, wildlife, farm animals, or failing septic or sanitary sewer systems.
She said human waste means the stream is probably being polluted by a failing septic system or a crack in sanitary sewer line.
Peg Kohring, midwest director of the The Conservation Fund, said the Lake Michigan Tributaries Watershed Management Plan will be focused on 12 creeks from the Michigan-Indiana line (“they call it the White Ditch”) to Grand Mere State Park near Stevensville. She noted that the Galien River itself is not part of the project.
www.harborcountrynews.com/articles/2016/05/11/features/doc573360458912e333442662.txt
