y2k problems may or may not be contibuting to this problem...

Flint River still roils with pollution

Tuesday, January 25, 2000

By David V. Graham JOURNAL OUTDOOR WRITER

Months of tests on the Flint River have led officials to conclude the waterway's problems are because of continuing, and likely multiple, sources of pollution, not last summer's huge sewage spill. E. coli bacteria levels in the river remain between 200 and 1,100 parts per 100 milliliters of water, well above the level considered acceptable for full body contact, said Brian McKenzie, environmental health supervisor for the Genesee County Health Department. A 100 milliliter sample is about a half-cup of water.

The kicker, McKenzie said, is that those bacteria counts have been persistently high despite the recent run of below-freezing temperatures. Cold water generally kills most bacteria. So, McKenzie said, his department has concluded the source of the continued pollution must be something other than the 22-million-gallon June sewage spill that sparked the testing.

Jim Helmstetter, the department's director of environmental health services, said he believes the source must be Flint's and Genesee County's storm and sanitary sewer systems. The systems must have some unauthorized co-mingling of storm and sewage waste somewhere. Helmstetter said because the health department has been doing daily or near-daily water quality testing only since June, he has no idea how long the pollution crisis has been going on.

"I wouldn't even guess," he said. "It is too hard to predict."

Some local schools and the City of Flint have done occasional water quality testing along the Flint River in recent years, but nothing regular enough to establish a reliable base line, Helmstetter said. Jeff Mansour, chairman of the Flint River Watershed Coalition, said while the sewage spill was a terrible thing, it has resulted in positive attention to the river's ongoing problems. "This (spill) has focused a lot of attention on the health of the river," Mansour said. "Maybe we will be able to find out the cause of the problem and seek some solutions." At the same time, Mansour said, it is important to remind residents that the river upstream from Flint is still remarkably clean and suitable for recreation.

The watershed coalition is involved in selecting one of the Flint River's tributaries for an intensive study designed to help improve the watershed's water quality. That effort, which will involve the use of state and federal funds, is expected to make a big jump forward this week when the coalition's board of directors select a tributary for the study.

In June raw sewage was diverted into the river after a fiber optic cable contractor cracked open a 72-inch city sewer line near I-75 in Flint Township. The cracked line forced the city to dump raw sewage into the river for three days, until the break could be fixed. County health officials began testing the water within days to monitor the damage. The tests have regularly revealed high levels of e. coli, the bacteria found in human and animal wastes.

McKenzie said the department continues to test water samples daily at four sites, starting with the Hamilton Dam near the University of Michigan-Flint. The other sites are at the Third Avenue bridge, the Mill Road bridge and the Main Street bridge in downtown Flushing. While some of the bacteria can be attributed to animal wastes washed into the river and its many tributaries, McKenzie said, it is more likely there are several storm drains with illegal sewer hookups that are continuing to pollute the river.

McKenzie also said the health department wanted to conduct a thorough search of the Flint River by canoe last fall, but was unable to do so because of low water levels. He said once there is enough water in the river, he will send his sanitarians up and down the waterway in an attempt to find the illegal sewage drains.

In addition, McKenzie said, the health department intends to start conducting six different water quality tests in an attempt to get a broader understanding of the river's long-standing pollution problems.

As a result of the spill, Flint paid a $70,000 fine to the state Department of Environmental Quality and signed a consent agreement outlining future monitoring of river pollution. The city called the fine a consulting fee.

Under the consent agreement, the city will hire an additional environmental analyst, who will carry out new testing on Flint River sites, and a consultant who will survey businesses near the river and the chemicals they use. City Administrator David H. Ready said the survey will cost the city about $150,000. He said the city is going above and beyond the requirements of the decree.

"We're trying this new monitoring program ... it'll help give us more clues," Ready said. "We're doing everything we can to monitor and identify problems in the city."

David V. Graham is The Journal's outdoor writer. He can be reached at (810) 766-6306.

Link to story:

http://fl.mlive.com/news/index.ssf?/news/stories/20000125f25flin$01.frm

-- Carl Jenkins (Somewherepress@aol.com), January 25, 2000

Answers

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