07/25/2011 - E. coli pollution in Scio Township's Honey Creek

AnnArbor.com has an article on a DEQ funded study of E. coli in Honey Creek in Scio Township http://annarbor.com/news/huron-river-watershed-council-scio-townshi...

The DEQ grant to study bacteria in Honey Creek seems like a worthy effort, but the issue of bacteria in Honey Creek is not new.

In 1994, Chuck Gelman tried to use the issue to negotiate higher discharge levels of dioxane in Gelman Sciences' incipient groundwater cleanup... and to thwart passage of Scio Township's Environmental Millage. Chuck Gelman Letter to Scio Township Chuck Gelman letter to Scio Township residents

Honey Creek drains most of Scio Township and Scio Township encompasses most of Honey Creek. Scio Township has lots of farms, wildlife, parking lot / road runoff, and maybe even some leaking septic fields ... all of which may contribute to the high bacteria levels. But, unlike dioxane, the bacteria is destroyed at the water treatment plant in the case of municipal water and by natural processes while seeping through sand and gravel layers in the case of well water.

Runoff is a huge issue as shown by the difference between normal flow in Honey Creek (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3tZjKXRSys) and high flow (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESfKyJkpouo).

Septic field and illegal sewer hookup sources may be spotted by checking for caffeine along with the bacteria.

Body contact will always be an ongoing issue even with human sources of bacteria remediated... unless we also eliminate all wildlife, too.

like deer,