Sludge Watch ==> Michigan - shocking test results - fecal waste in the water - sludge?

[maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca]

http://www.michigansthumb.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=17026823&BRD=2292&PAG=461&dept_id=571474&rfi=6

Water tests reveal shocking results
Kate Finneren, The Huron Daily Tribune
08/08/2006


HUME TOWNSHIP — Some of the muck-like algae lining local property owners’ 
beaches is proving to be less like algae and more like feces.



Huron Water Testing, LLC, 618 N. Port Crescent Ave. in Bad Axe, announced 
Monday that final test results from Hume Township residents’ beaches found 
6,000 fecal coliforms per 100 ml of water — nearly 20 times the maximum 
level a beach can have before it’s shut down.

“I thought that maybe it might be half that, or maybe five times higher, but 
not (more than) 10,” said Hume Township resident Jim Volk. “That’s like a 
sewage plant.”

Actually, it’s worse than a sewage plant, as Huron Water Testing 
Microbiologist Richard Painter said the samples — which had a heavy 
concentration of solid fecal waste — wouldn’t even qualify as treated 
sewage.

“If it was treated waste to be released in the environment, it would have to 
have an average of 200 (E. coli) or less (per 100 ml of water) and a peak 
value of no more than 400 E. coli per 100 ml of water),” said Painter, who 
has worked in microbiology for close to 30 years.

It’s not every day levels of E. coli are found to be as high as what was 
discovered over the weekend from those samples taken from private beaches 
near Oak Beach.

“The last time I had a result like that was actually from sludge on the 
bottom of a waste lagoon— not from dischargeable material,” Painter said. 
“It was something they were cleaning out of a lagoon.”

He said the standard level of E. coli for drinking water is zero, and 
according to the Huron County Health Department, the average level of 
beaches cannot exceed 300 E. coli per 100 ml. of water.

The health department is required by the Michigan Department of 
Environmental Quality to test waters that are at least 3 feet in depth, 
which Painter said could account for why no beaches have been closed so far 
this summer.

“This is maybe an area where the DEQ just wasn’t aware that it was this high 
on the shoreline,” he said.

Painter said the samples were tested by the most accurate procedures that 
exist. “It’s not a fast, easy or cheap methodology,” he said. “It’s the 
(Environmental Protection Agency’s) reference methodology used for fecal 
coliforms for maximum accuracy.”

Preliminary test results released Friday found more than 1,000 fecal 
coliforms per 100 ml of water, Painter said.

“Once we had a ball park figure, we could work to get a more precise 
number,” he said.

Painter said it takes a great deal of effort to test something like the 
algae-like sludge found on the shoreline residents’ beaches.

“It involves several dilutions of high precision to get concentrations this 
high and get them accurately,” he said.

Hume Township resident Jim Roland said the samples will be sent to Florida 
Tuesday morning to be tested by Infosource Molecular which will determine in 
about a week whether the waste material is human or animal.

“We want to solve this problem, we want to find the source of the pollution 
and try to stop it,” Painter said, “because we’re talking about a lot of 
contaminated shoreline.”

Multiple health problems can arise from contact with E. coli, he said. In 
particular, it’s one of the leading organisms in wound infections.

“Any contact with E. coli can cause wound infections. If it’s ingested, it 
can cause vomiting, diarrhea and dehydration,” Painter said. “Of course, the 
higher the level, the more probability of this.”

He said individuals who do swim in these areas should wash afterwards using 
soap and water.

Environmental Health Director Dale Lipar said it’s possible the health 
department could issue a warning to the public, however, he has yet to see 
any of the results, and samples tested every week from the county’s 12 
beaches have returned relatively low levels of E. coli.

“I really don’t know at this point what we’re going to do,” he said. “This 
has never come up before, so this is something new to us.”

Lipar said the health department probably will discuss the matter with the 
DEQ and Huron County Board of Commissioners once they see the results.

“And we’ll see what we should or can do, but at this point, I don’t know 
what we can do to correct the situation,” he said.

Alan Cole, of Huron Water Testing, LLC, said the company will continue to do 
water and sludge testing for other concerned individuals, and the cost of 
those tests is a minimum of around $100.

“It depends on whether they want sludge or water done, or both, and how many 
tests they want us to take,” he said.

Interested persons should call (989) 549-9212 for more information.