U. S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, EDUCATION, AND WELFARE
PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE
JOINT FEDERAL-STATE OF MICHIGAN CONFERENCE
ON
POLLUTION OF NAVIGABLE WATERS OF THE
DETROIT RIVER, LAKE ERIE, AND THEIR
TRIBUTARIES WITHIN THE STATE OF MICHIGAN
First Session
Wednesday, March 28, 1962
Banquet Hall, Veterans Memorial Building
Detroit, Michigan
Volume II - Part 2 Pages 516 through 970
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
STATEMENT OF; PAGE;
JOHN CHASCSA, President, Lake Erie Clean-up
Committee, Newport, Michigan 516
G. M. STRETCHER, Vice President of Manufacturing
and Assistant to the President, Monroe Auto
Equipment Company, Monroe, Michigan
MAYOR LAWRENCE A. FROST, City of Monroe, Michigan 850
DR. C. D. BARRETT, SR., Director, Monroe County
Health Department, Monroe County Courthouse,
Monroe, Michigan 852
WILLIAM J. PHELAN, Publications Chairman,
Monroe County Rod and Gun Club, 6280
Lighthouse Road, P. 0. Box No. 1,
Monroe, Michigan 857
LAURENCE M. BRAUN, 12629 Manor Boulevard,
Detroit, Michigan, Chairman, Anti-
Pollution Committee, Wayne County
Sportsmen's Club 862
JAMES F. TOWNSEND, Supervisor, Bedford
Township, representing County of Monroe,
Michigan 865
DARWIN R. KORETH, Township Supervisor, Van
Buren Township, Wayne County, Michigan 869
THOMAS S. WELSH, Drain Commissioner, Macomb
County Drain Commission, Macomb County
Engineering Building, 115 Groesbeck
Highway, Mount Clemens, Michigan 8jk
OSCAR D. STRIKER, M.D., Director, and MERLIN
E. DAMON, Sanitary Engineer, Macomb County
Health Department 879
JOSEPH W. PRICE, Engineer, Washtenaw County
Health Department, State of Michigan 882
ROBERT E. TEIFER, Mayor, City of Trenton,
Michigan 926
ROBERT C. MCLAUGHLIN, Vice President-Public
Relations, McLouth Steel Corporation 935
ARTHUR S, GRISWOLD, Vice President, the
Detroit Edison Company 938
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II
l^BLE OF CONTENTS
(Continued)
STATEMENT OF; PAGE;
FRED NOYES, President, Michigan State Division,
The Izaak Walton League of America
MICHIGAN UNITED CONSERVATION CLUBS
ROBERT E. HANSEN, Superintendent, Water
Purification and Pumping, City of Mt.
Clemens Water Department, Mt. Clemens,
Michigan 91*9
FRED B. LIFTON, Director, Government Relations
Department, Outboard Boating Club of
America, 307 N. Michigan Avenue, Chicago 1,
Illinois 960
SUMMATION BY THE CHAIRMAN 961
TRANSCRIPT CERTIFICATION 970
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PROCEEDINGS
516
STATEMENT OF JOHN CHASCSA, PRESIDENT, LAKE ERIE
CLEAN-UP COMMITTEE, NEWPORT, MICHIGAN
MR. CHASCSA: Mr. Chairman, members of the Com-
mission, Mr. Poston, and distinguished gentlemen.
I am John Chascsa, representing Estral Beach and
people pinpointed on this map here. There are 49 commu-
nities.
THE CHAIRMAN: Are you going to let us have the
map?
MR. CHASCSA: Very well. The map can become a
part of the record.
THE CHAIRMAN: We can take a picture of that and
let you keep possession of the map.
MR. CHASCSA: Very well. You may do that.
THE CHAIRMAN: All right.
(The photograph of the map entitled, "Area
Representatives of Lake Erie Clean-up Committee," by L.
Liebold, with jars containing water samples in the foreground*
is as follows: -- Photo taken by Monroe Evening News)
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517
MR. CHASGSA: To show you little Estral Beach,lo-
cated at the lower left-hand corner on Lake Erie, is not
alone in this battle I am showing you this map. We are a
small community striving and trying to better ourselves.
When things are pointed out, as they have been in yesterday's
session and today's session, such as the Army Corps of En-
gineers mentioned yesterday, Colonel Pfeil, in the cleaning
up of the Rouge River and the River Raisin, all of the ef-
fluents and sludge and wastes created by the so-called outlet
of the Detroit sewage disposal plant in the Detroit River,
those of us who were here yesterday know how prominently it
was displayed in the film.
According to the good Colonel this was a matter of
record. The bottom is polluted and contaminated. Webster
defines pollution as something altogether different from
what most of us understand it to be. When we refer to
pollution we connect it with contamination, disease, and
so forth. That is not necessarily so. The definition, to
quote Webster is as follows: "Pollute. To make or render
unclean; to defile; desecrate; profane."
I don't know how we can do any more desecrating,
profaning or polluting than we are doing at the present time,
and, as Mr. Hazey stated, it is not only dangerous to wild
fowl and it is not only dangerous to marine life, but danger-
ous to human beings. We certainly do not want second-hand
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518
water without it at least being treated.
We in Estral Beach, in the Monroe area and through-
out the whole of Monroe County, feel that the closing of
Sterling State Park is not or has not been the cause of our
battle, or the cause of our petitioning this Commission for
this investigation that is being held today. The investi-
gation started quite a few years ago. We have people here,
or should have, from Gibraltar. When this thing was first
instituted I attended several meetings at which time Milton
P. Adams had the floor, and I think: Milton will remember
when he had the floor for about three hours explaining the
conditions of the Detroit River and the deplorable conditions
that the wild animals and wild fowl had to endure. After
he got through I had to ask him just what he meant or felt
that we should do. The outcome of it was the formation of
the Lake Erie Clean-up Committee.
None of us care to be associated with pollution,
I am sure. None of us care to associate ourselves with
being connected with something unclean, but somebody has
to do it. We realize that money has to be spent and that
millions of dollars will not rectify this thing totally,
but we do realize that something vail have to be done or the
Government will have to step in and declare our communities,
along about a 43 mile waterfront, to be absolutely unfit
for human habitation, or else we may be in the same condition
GPO 82O819-C—2
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as these poor ducks right here.
THE CHAIRMAN: Do you want to put those pictures
in, too?
MR. CHASCSA: Yes. These pictures will be in, too,
Whatever I have will be a matter of record, if you wish to
put it in, as I mentioned before, Mr. Stein.
(Three photographs entitled "Gibraltar Police
Chief with jar of oily river water," and "Gibraltar - oil
soaked ducks," and "Gibraltar - Oil soaked duck," by
Detroit News staff photographer Seiter, are as follows:)
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mum
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MR. CHASCSA: Secondly, I would like to bring up
the possible loss of water supply to Monroe. Nothing has
been mentioned about the water supply to about 43,000 people
in Monroe County. Not a thing. Sterling State Park - -
a money-making proposition, yes. That is very important to
bring people Into the state, but through the County and
City of Monroe, and then you let them enjoy these depolorable
conditions. It has been pointed out to you the tremendous
drop last year from about 100,000 and some visitors to
approximately 14,000.
I am sure we really have something to be proud of
there.
Referring to the cooperation and the clean-up
of the industries in the areas that have been mentioned
on the map here, we have a certain paper industry that has
threatened for the past three years to move out of the
state if something was done to stop them from polluting the
River Raisin. For my part, they can't move. If the Federal
Government feels they should move from place to place like
a person playing checkers and pollute every place they go
just as a blowfly would, then that is the thing to do. Let's/
let them move and when the people in another locality get
tired of them, after their resources are lost then I am sure
they will be satisfied to see them move, too.
The number of people they employ Is so insignifi-
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cant along with the rest of industry, it is so insignificant
that when you think an industry should be able to settle in
a community at the expense of your recreational facilities
and at the expense of your water supply, and then you have
to turn around and spend additional funds to provide the
things that God put; on this earth for you to enjoy — then
believe me, it is time for us to be concerned. And we are
concerned.
Now referring to the closing of the State Park,
there was a survey that was made there to determine whether
the waters were safe or were unsafe for the public. This
occurred four years previous to the posting. I don't know
whether it took that long to make the signs, or whether they
got lost in the process of being made, or what happened,
but evidently something must have come up because the
signs were not available.
Referring back to the sewage in our community as
one of the narratives up here today did, French Town has
absolutely no knowledge of any sewers being put into their
area. The reference that was made, as I have just within
the last half an hour found out, was made to Sterling State
Park. The people that are going to come into Sterling State
Park are going to bring in business and money and spend that
money. The people that live in the area shouldn't even be
considered. I am one of those who lives there but the
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facilities should be put there for the visitors, I am sure.
We all do that at home. One of you referred to the costs,
as Mr. Remus pointed out, the tremendous costs. We are well
aware of that and are well aware of what it is going to
cost us in our community. We would be tickled to death if
we were able to go out and borrow the money to rectify some
of the conditions that exist in our communities there.
I remember not too many years ago when Oakland
and Macomb counties were in the same predicament and the
good Dr. Heustis here will remember that, and many of you
people representing Detroit will remember that.
Every day these pictures were in the paper of
people living in deplorable conditions, and there was nothing
that could be done about it. The population outburst was
so great, and the need for sanitation was there, and all of
a sudden something happened. I'm tickled to death they got
it and I only hope we are able to do it before an outbreak
of hepatitis and other diseases occur again in Monroe County.
I understand from our health department that 6.2 per cent
of the hepatitis cases in the State of Michigan are centered
right in Monroe County. I don't know why that should be,
because we have no health problems there.
As pointed out on the map here, it is sparsely
settled. There are no desecraters of our streams there.
So the chromate that comes down the River Raisin occasion-
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ally is a figment of our imagination, apparently,, The pulp
paper that comes down the river occasionally, which the
Army Engineers have to clean up, is a figment of our imagi«
nation.
I would like for any one of these gentlemen on the
Commission to assure me that any one of these samples we
have displayed on this table is safe enough to drink or
swim in. I will keep my mouth shut then. If any of these
people represented by these pins on this map were to see or
to witness, or to be told that these gentlemen were willing
to partake of that water and use it for any facility that
they wished, I am sure that they would keep their mouths
shut and consider themselves very fortunate; but I am sure
that they won't do that.
I would like to read just one excerpt here and this
is also for the record. The purpose of our Committee —
and incidentally you know we have no funds. Most of us take
the money out of our own pockets to defray the cost of
these trips to Lansing and here, and for the transportation
provided for others of us who can sometimes gain the time
to be able to go to the proper authority to find out just
what in the dickens can be done. We take it out of our own
pockets and until recently no one was interested in our
expense account or whether we had stamps, or a telephone
to be able to conduct our business or anything.
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I am not up here looking for something. Believe
me, I am not. I am tickled to death to be able to be a part
of this and be able to be before you and explain our situ-
ation, and hope and pray you don't get into the same situ-
ation, and, if you are in that situation, that you will
eventually be able to extrioate yourself from that.
The purpose of our Committee is to eliminate human
suffering because of pollution, a national scourge; to
encourage further scientific research with regard to waste
disposal; to make available our lakes and streams once more
for fish, recreation, and consumption; to create, or to
have created an Authority with sufficient powers to enforce
all existing pollution laws as well as any that may be en-
acted in the future; to assist in any way possible to find
ways and means of financing and to encourage construction
of waste disposal plants for safe water facilities for home
consumption.
Those are some of the things we would like to have
accomplished through our efforts. People say that it can-
not be done. Well, fortunately, we have one industrialist
in our area, the Executive Vice-President of the Auto Equip-
ment Company of Monroe who is very much concerned not only
with the health of the people in the community but also with
the quality of water being used, and water that has to be
processed at tremendous expense after it leaves the shores
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or boundaries of Detroit.
DR. HEUSTIS: I have a statement that will be
entered into the record aftor you are finished with your
statement, from Mr, G. M. Streicher, dated March 20, 1962,
from the Monroe Auto Equipment Company.
MR. CHASCSA: Very well, but that is not in refer-
ence to that statement, Dr. Heustis. This is from the
Gerber Baby Poods in Fremont.
(The letter referred to is as follows:)
GERBER BABY POODS
GERBER PRODUCTS COMPANY -445 STATE STREET - FREMONT, MICHIGAN
DAN F. GERBER, PRESIDENT
March 2, 1962
Mr. William D. Mclntyre
Executive Vice President and General Manager
Monroe Auto Equipment Company
Monroe, Michigan
Dear Bill:
I apologize for giving you such short notice of the
meeting.
We did have an exceptionally good meeting and in
checking up, after the meeting was over, I couldn't think of
anyone who hadn't participated in the discussions, and I was
pleased to note that a number of people who had said that they
had to be out of the meeting at two o'clock were still there
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at ten minutes of three and really participating in the
subjects discussed.
While I aon*t know that Greater Michigan could get
actively involved in this pollution matter, it certainly is
one of the things that we do have a great interest in, inasmuch
as it affects one of the State's great assets. We, unquestion-
ably, can help — at least in shaping public attitude toward
the problem.
We, as an industry, had a real problem about ten
years ago. In the processing of fruits and vegetables it is
necessary to use great quantities of water and while I feel
that most of our turbid water with the solids removed was
beneficial to fish life, it did put a burden on our local
sewage disposal plant that it Just couldn't begin to handle.
We bought a real poor sand farm about ten miles from
the plant, put in a pipe line and started spraying this water/
on the land with suitable cover crops. It has worked fine in
every respect.
Now I'm working on a committee of the Fremont Lake
Improvement Association to make sure that we have adequate
control over the septic tanks of lakefront property owners.
We were wrong in our attitude toward this whole
sewage disposal problem for a great many years, until we
woke up to the fact that it was our responsibility and we
had to solve it. When we did get ourselves in this state of
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mind, it wasn't nearly as difficult as we had thought.
We will give you more advance notice of the next
meeting.
Very sincerely,
(Signed) Dan
President of the Greater Michigan
Foundation
Dan Gerber/Jar)
* # # # #
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It goes on into detail to explain how some of these
things can be done. One of the things we are proposing or
would like to propose and to see happen is some of the waste
that is disposed of into our streams by industry, such as
the paper companies, and such as the canneries, to use this
same system.
It was pointed out in the course of the conversations
or the reports being made today by one of the individuals
that monitoring systems are and can be installed on your
sewage disposal systems to determine the amount of sewage
that goes through there, and so on and so forth. I would
like to point out one industry which happened to be located,
and I am not saying this to embarrass Mayor Tefer, but it
is located in Trenton, which installed a rtonitoring system.
I believe it was done at the request of the Water P.ocources
Commission.
As Mr. Hazey pointed out, I do believe these gentle-
men are striving very hard, but sometimes they overlook things
too. There is no offense meant, but these people installed
a monitoring system and afterwards found out that for at
least two years they had been flushing at least five and
a half million dollars worth of raw materials down the drains
that was killing fish and ducks and in general raising
havoc with oup shoreline.
Below Trenton, approximately fifteen miles along
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the lakeshore, is the Intake for the Monroe water supply.
Monroe has been plagued, as has been Detroit and Flat Rock,
for a supply of raw water for that particular area. I am
sure that they would not want to give sewer water or sewage
to the people that ask them for water, and until teuch time
as they are able to guarantee good quality water I doubt
very much if they will want to expand.
In the case of Estral Beach, what we would have to
do for a small community such as we are is to run an intake
out approximately a mile or two into the lake and we would
have sufficient water, but we do not have today assurance
that the water will be of the quality needed, especially
since the good Colonel Pfeil pointed out that the sludge
which is sucked up out of the Detroit River and the Rouge
River was so contaminated that they have nothing they want
to do with it except to take it down to our doorstep and
dump it within a mile of our beach.
And if you know anything about sludge you know you
can't pile it up. It doesn't stay In a pile. It's Just
like a bowl of mush. You stir it up with a bunch of milk
and try to pour it Into a pile, and it's going to reach out
like that.
Also, the wave action of the water will eventually
wash It up on the shores, contaminating the shores, and you
have one heck of a time trying to clear your beach areas of
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your contamination once it gets imbedded into the sand. If
it gets into your water supply, as Mr. Hazey pointed out,
the cost of treating that water is so tremendous, and it gets
to be more and more difficult, that eventually you throw up
your hands in disgust and disappointment, and say what can we
do0
The only answer I can see is the efficient cooper-
ation, mutual cooperation, of our industrialists and our
municipalities, and health department. If they haven't the
strength or the power, or the authority to do the things they
should do to eliminate this, then I for one, and my Committee
will be more than glad to go out and devote any time necessary
to help them get that power. I think that about 40,000
people in all should have a little power, especially when it
comes to voting.
I am not; going to belabor you with a lot more of
this stuff except that I want to point out one other thing
here. You see, we do follow the Water Resources Commission.
I have your report here, and also a report of all the contam-
inated areas that have been notified of their actions and
their contaminating processes, and so OQ. As I said, I do
think that the people are trying to do a good job but some-
where, something is lacking, and I don't know what it is.
Here is an article from the Monroe News. It is
dated the 23rd of January 1962. It reads as follows:
(The article referred to reads as follows)
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"Foaming Action" Chokes Waters...Time To Find an Answer
Detergent Suds Threaten to Inundate Our Society
Sudsy creek: waters in Monroe County are not an un-
usual sight. Writer Maya Pines, writing in Harpers Magazine,
reports on the effects that the new detergents are having on
our complex civilization and some of the danger involved.
The following are excerpts from her articles, "Up to Our
Necks in Soft, White Suds."
By Maya Pines
All over the country people who use synthetic deter-
gents to keep clean are becoming a menace to their neighbors and
themselves. So many of us now prefer the stuff to old-fashioned
soap for dishes and laundry that we may well reach a point
when we drown in our own suds.
Unlike ordinary soap bubbles, the foam produced by
synthetic detergents defeats most efforts to destroy it.
Even when it loses a battle and disappears, the chemicals
involved have not lost the war — they may yet reappear in
someone else's drinking water, or cause foam in another
place.
This stubborn foam is only a striking example of
the troubles man is bringing upon himself with new insecticides,
herbicides, rodenticides, solvents, and other "exotic" chem-
icals. Then common characteristic is most unwelcome per-
sistence. Scientists are only starting to explore
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what the long-range effects to these chemicals — including
detergents — may be.
"This is a live and vexing problem," says Raymond
J. Faust, executive secretary of the American Water Works
Association. "We're concerned about it because the use of
detergents is increasing rapidly. They are only slightly
removed by sewage treatment * they get into the streams, and
we don't get rid of them in our water treatment, either."
Ironically, foam is not essential to cleaning, and
sometimes even detrimental to it. A few suds help, since
one of the factors in washing action is the reduction of
surface tension to the point where water can bubble easily,
but this happens even with the so-called "sudless" cleansers.
Manufacturers deliberately put in "foaming action"
merely because people like it. Most housewives refuse to
believe that anything is getting clean if they can't see the
suds; only when there is foam do they know they have enough
detergent to do the Job. Furthermore, "rich white suds" look
clean, inviting one to plunge ahead and do those dishes.
The people who have most cause for complaint about
suds are probably those who live near sewage plants. They
must accustom themselves to the sigh of monstrous blankets
of foam, some as much as 10 feet high, billowing over aeration
tanks, and to the wind wafting clumps of the stuff right
into their front lawns.
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Anything that cleans is, by definition, a detergent.
Soap is therefor a detergent, and so is sand although the
word is seldom used that way. When people speak of "deter-
gents," they usually mean the synthetic detergents —
"syndets" to the trade.
Most of these are based on petroleum derivatives,
which are cheap and plentiful, particularly one called ABS
(alkyl benzene sulfonate). ABS is so powerful that it will
produce foam at the low concentration of one part per million
parts of water. This makes it comparatively easy to identify;
many other exotic chemicals discharged into our streams cannot
/
even be detected by existing methods.
No such trouble arises with soap, which is based on
animal fats. These decompose rapidly in waste-treatment
plants and in streams; that is to say^ bacteria gobble
them up, until there is nothing left of the original waste.
Of all slippery substances, syndets are probably
the most efficient at covering a wide territory. When they
get into sewage systems that provide only primary treatment
a settling process to remove solids — the ABS passes through
unchanged.
In rivers and streams, where it is discharged with
other sewage effluents, only a fraction of the ABS is de«-
stroyed. Whatever remains and has not been washed out to sea
will ultimately go from one layer of water to the next until
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it reaches the cleanest ground waters used for drinking,
where it may last for decades.
So far, very few public water systems in this
county have had trouble with detergents in drinking water.
But people who depend on private wells cannot ignore the
problem. In a recent study of individual wells in six widely
separated areas, the U.S. Geological Survey found that 5 Per
cent of the samples had enough ABS to produce "unpleasant
characteristics of bad taste, odor, or foaming," while
another 15 per cent had "appreciable amounts" of it, though
not quite enough to repel.
In the short run at least, detergents are not toxic
in quantities which one can drink without gagging. But
their presence in drinking water means that the water is un-
questionably of sewage origin.
With all the problems raised by the synthetic de-
tergents, one begins to wonder why people use them.
Not long ago we were all content with soap, which
served man admirably for thousands of years. Syndets came
out after World War II and originally were meant only for
hard-water areas, where soap does not lather well.
Syndets now account for 80 per cent of all house-
hold cleaners. Hundreds of them with slightly varying comp-
ositions are on the market today, and new breeds appear reg-
ularly.
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At the same time, industry has taken to syndets.
It would be hard to find a piece of cloth in whose manufacture
detergents have not been used several times. Trains, planes,
dairies, and food plants are cleaned with them regularly.
Altogether, detergent sales hit a new peak last year, reaching
more than three billion pounds and $800 million, three-fourths
of it in household products.
From the housewife's point of view, synthetic deter-
gents undoubtedly perform better than soap in hard water
areas, which include more than half of the country. However,
"nobody has ever found anything more effective than soap in
soft water," according to E. Scott Pattison, divisional
manager of the Association of American Soap and Glycerine
Producers, which represents both soap and syndets. "Com-
mercial laundries still use soap, and install water-softening
equipment to make it work," he points out.
There is a solution to the problem, but it requires
considerable public pressure. In Great Britain, where the
population is denser and the situation is prophetic of what
we may expect here, the detergent nuisance recently reached
extraordinary proportions.
Alarmed, the Ministry of Housing and Local Government}
set up a Standing Technical Committee on Synthetic Detergents
to make regular reports. Soon, two new biologically "soft"
detergents were produced. One is made from sugar, and the
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other is based on a revolutionary type of ABS developed by
the Shell Chemioal Co.
While ordinary ABS consists of branched molecules
which intertwine and doggedly stick together, the straight -
chain molecules of the new ABS are easily destroyed; yet
they retain the stuff's superlative wetting, cleaning, and
even foaming qualities. All detergents sold in and around the
city of Luton, England, now contain the new, "soft" ABS as
part of a large-scale experiment being conducted with the
cooperation of leading manufacturers.
Nothing resembling these "soft" detergents is avail-
able in the United States today.
The laboratories of American refineries and chemical
companies are full of similar products in various stages of
development, but nobody is willing to come out with a deter-
gent that costs a little more to manufacture, as the British
type does, while competitors continue flooding the country
with cheaper products undisturbed.
Unless the detergent manufacturers do something
drastic about this voluntarily, however, the situation in
some states may reach a point where legal action will be
necessary.
Meanwhile, we can always go back to soapc
Now I would like to read a letter to the editor
here in the same paper, the Monroe News, January 23, 1962-
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PEARS SUDS THREAT
Editor, Evening News:
Apropos of the article in Saturday's (Jan. 13)
paper entitled "Gardyloo," culled from the Christian, Science
Monitor, I would respectfully refer you to the November,
1961, edition of Harper's Magazine.
In an article headed "Soft White Suds," Maya Pines,
the author, discusses the problem of detergents — particu-
ularly the inability of sewage systems to remove the syndets
from the water.
The article discloses that in Britain, where the
density of the population rendered the situation acute,
the saturation of detergents was so wide-spread that rivers
and canals were unable to treat ordinary sewage effluents.
The detergents foamed on these rivers and canals to such an
extent that boats found it necessary to carry anti-foaming
equipment.
But experiments there produced two biologically
"soft" detergents with a molecule structure which is easily
destroyed by sewage treatment — yet which is just as effic-
ient as the "hard" detergents now used.
One is made from sugar and the other was developed
by the Shell Chemical Co.
The article states that no such detergents are
available in the United States today.
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Doesn't it seem more sensible to attack the problem
at its source rather than wait till the detergents reach our
drinking water — via the sewage plant?
Isn't it time now for the public to generate pressure
on the detergent manufacturer's to produce "soft" detergents
before we get foaming drinking water?
(Mrs.) Elizabeth Punk
321 W. Fifth St.
EDITORS NOTE: Elsewhere on this page is a condensation
of the article from Harper's magazine to which Mrs. Funk
refers.)
As you can see the Editor's note refers Mr§.
Elizabeth Funk to the article which appears elsewhere in
the paper, which I referred to before.
Mr. Remus mentioned in his discussion about drink-
ing water — and I remember not too long ago there was an
article and I have the article right here —
DR. HEUSTIS: Do you think about five minutes more
might do it, Mr. Chascsa.
MR. CHASCSA: I will hurry up with it, Doctor.
It reads as follows: This is from the Detroit Free Press
of December 15, 1961.
"Sa.rnia Absolved
Sarnia, Ont. — Sarnia has been absolved of blame
in polluting the St. Glair River.
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L. F. Oeming, of Flint, Mich., chairman of the
technical advisory committee of the International Joint Com~
mission Waterways, said a statement made a week ago by Mich-
igan Gov. John Swainson which named Sarnia was in error. The
governor said his state was applying for federal American
aid to clean up pollution in the Detroit River.
Mayor Iven Walker said the pollution referred to by
the governor was confined to the Detroit River and comes from
Detroit and Wayne County."
I am sure this didn't come from Wayne County and
didn't come from Detroit, but came from Sarnia, I -am quite
sure, and I am at least almost positive because if it had
come from Wayne County or the City of Detroit action would
have been taken a lot sooner,
I think at this point Governor Swainson should be
commended for his interest in calling in Federal agencies
to assist us in trying to rectify a mistake which is so great
in magnitude and so large in scope that I doubt very much
if any of us will be able to settle the situation overnight.
We have reports here by the Water Pollution Committee
of the state and reports by the Michigan Department of Health
which I am not going to bother to read except that I want
to refer to an article by the County Health Department of
Monroe.
DR. HEUSTIS: Dr. Barrett is here, too.
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538
MR. CHASGSA: I realize that. Dr. Barrett stated
our conditions there were in pretty good shape but then on
February 25, 1962 in the Toledo Blade there is an article
entitled, "2,050-Mile Network. Raw Sewage Fouls Half of
Monroe County Drains. Waste Disposal System Called Answer to
Health Menace But It's Far In Future." It is quite a
lengthy article and I am sure any of you who get the minutes
of this proceeding will find it quite interesting.
(The article referred to is as follows:)
"There are 1,800 miles of open and 250 miles of
closed drainage ditches in Monroe County, Michigan, one-half
of which receive deposits of raw sewage, according to Donald
Burton, county drain commissioner.
Some of the raw waste flows directly into the net-
work from homes without benefit of septic tanks of leech
beds.
Bedford Township, Mr, Burton said, has conditions
"as bad as you can find anywhere in the county.1
Since Bedford residents generally oppose drainage
assessments, many of the ditches have not been improved 'in
about 60 years,1 the drain commissioner continued. This
coupled with the township building boom lessening drainage
space is contributing to an Increasing health problem.
Some Overgrown
Some of the ditches are overgrown with trees u—
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539
and brush; pieces of tile may be found sunken in mud, Mr.
Burtam said. Farm equipment and household articles may be
thrown In them to lay for months. Undersized drainage tile
installed in subdivisions prior to the formation of a county
plat board to guard against such practices has contributed
to the problem.
Last year truokloads of mud were hauled away from
one Bedford project. The odor, said Mr. Burton, was sicken-
ing.
This is not to say that the county or the township
is becoming a cesspool, but the growing problem Is one recog-
nized by the county health department.
On the heels of Mr. Burton's complaints, the health
department three months ago appointed its first sanitary
engineer, John C. Hancock, to augment a staff of three sani-
tarians.
Sewage System Held Answer
Mr. Hancock agrees with Dr. C. D. Barrett, county
health director, that a sewage system is the answer, but ad-
mits Initial steps to that end are still in the offing.
For the time being, said Mr. Hancock, his department
is supporting a move requiring package sewage plants or* sim-
ilar systems In all new subdivisions, with the aim of even-*-
tjually tieing them all together in one large county system.
But, because of his newness on the scene and because
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540
his time already is devoted to the pollution problem in
Lake Erie as it affects Monroe County, a concrete plan has not
been yet formalized, Mr. Hancock said.
'There are ways and laws to overcome this situation,
he said. 'Perhaps we could get federal aid.'
Financing Problem
One of the recognized problems is financing. Mr.
Burton pointed out that many miles of ditches may out through
one farmer's land, making him liable to larger assessment on
an area basis than several pertons living on smaller proper-
ties in the same vicinity.
A common complaint, the drain commissioner continued
comes from a young, married couple with most of their cash
tied up in a new home. When they learn of the health menace
from improper drainage they often "live with the situation"
rather than pay the cost of overcoming it.
Although a 1954 law prohibits raw sewage from en-
tering drainage ditches, the practice was accepted before then
and such installations made prior to that date cannot be
removed, legally.
Mr. Burton said he had requested several persons,
including some whose sewage enter the Temperance King Street
tile directly from their homes, to at least Install septic
tanks. He learned that many of the lots were too small for
even this improvement, and residents were not inclined to
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541
adopt his idea unless assured their neighbors would follow
suit. As a result, he said, the installations, for the
most part, have not been made.
Undertaking Survey
Bragdon Run, Flat Creek and Indian Creek Drain (a
project on the latter was turned down this week in light of
property owners' opposition) are included in the list of
Bedford ditches needing improvements, Mr. Burton said.
Independent of other county interests, Bedford is,
however, undertaking a survey to determine cost, kind and
need of a township-wide sewerage system.
It is being prepared by Angelo Marion, who is
township engineer by appointment and county surveyor by
election. He also serves as adviser to the drain commission-
er by reason of sitting in on county plat board meetings
(the county register of deeds and county auditor comprise
the other two-thirds of the three-man board).
Formed since Mr. Burton took office Jan. 1, 1959,
the plat board is concerned especially with proper facilities
in new subdivisions. One developer had to deepen and clean
two miles of drainage ditches recently before his subdiv-
ision was approved.
Doesn't Mop Up Blight
This activity takes care of the present, but still
does not mop up the blight from the past. Many people, sat-
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542
isfied with their individual drainage, object to an assess-
ment to benefit property owners with lower land levels and
receiving excess runoff from their higher-grounded neighbors.
Mr. Hancock early next week will survey Bay Creek,
which wends its way across Bedford into Erie Township, as a
possible pollution source and to determine what effect Bed-
ford drainage is having on Erie, if any.
A Bay Creek project could be added to Mr. Burton's
list, now being prepared for spring. In 1961, some $121,558
was spent for cleaning, widening, deepening and repairing
ditches — just a drop in the bucket, the drain commissioner
said, in comparison to larger counties.
Most of Monroe County's ditches are short, he ex-
plained, accounting for the relatively low expenditure.
Projects are started after public hearings by a three-man
board of determination, which may or may not heed a property
owners' vote at the hearings.
Different Boards
A different board presides at each hearing, and
members must reside in a neutral township. They serve at
the rate of $8 a day at county expense.
Hearings are set by the drain commissioner after
receipt of a petition signed by at least five property
owners or by request of a township board. The assessment
shows up on tax duplicates, could be as littte as 50 cents
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543
or as much as $75 and could be payable in one year or seven
years, Mr. Burton said.
One possible major project would be the three-mile
deepening of Swan Creek from Newport to Lake Erie, north of
Monroe. Mr. Burton met this week with the U.S. Army Corps
of Engineers, which has indicated it would spend up to
$400,000 to prevent future village flooding, providing the
drain commissioner's office assumes maintenance after com-
pletion of work. The outcome still is pending.
Contracts let so far this year are for Draper Outlet
in Ottawa Lake and Stoney Creek in London and Exeter Town-
ships. Board of determination hearings are scheduled for
Stony Creek and Sandy Creek and the Townsend-Wheaton Drain,
London; Big Sandy Creek, Raisinville, Prenchtown, London and
Exeter Townships; French Creek, Raisinville; Heck drain,
LaSalle; Ottawa River, Whiteford, and Loss-Marine-Grundman
drain, Dundee and Raisinville Townships."
Then I have &n article by Pat McNamara on pollution.
He is quite certain it exists.
(The article of Senator Pat McNamara is as follows:)
"WATER POLLUTION CONTROL; The importance of pure,
fresh water is an increasingly valuable asset for industrial
expansion. We in Michigan with the greatest supply of fresh
water in the world know this very well. We also realize that
polluted water does not confine itself to state boundaries.
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544
The Congress this year was able to express its
responsibility in this area by enaoting a greatly strengthened
water pollution control program that will benefit 42 million
people living in 5*000 American communities. President
Kennedy took great pride in signing this bill into law.
This is a refreshing contrast from last year, when
then-President Eisenhower vetoed similar legislation on the
grounds that water pollution was a 'local problem1.
This program authorizes an additional $270 million
to help communities build sewage treatment plants through 1967.
It increases from $3 million to $5 million the Federal matching
funds available to States to administer water pollution
control programs.
Further, it authorizes the Secretary of Interior to
Invest $5 million a year in demonstration programs to treat
sewage, measure pollutants, etc.
This law is a smashing victory for organizations
that have been fighting for It for many years."
A week ago last Sunday an incident happened on the
borders of Michigan and Ohio, in the Warren, Ohio, area. I
was called at work. I was working Sundays so they called me
at work and told me about the situation and I advised they
get in touch with Mr. Hoffman of the Monroe Rod and Gun Club,
and Mrs. Irene Flnck, the secretary of our organization, and
Mr. Lawrence Leibold, the treasurer of the organization
which I represent, to see what could be done.
OfO 8208I9-C-4
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544-A
They came up with samples of the water on the
river in their neighborhood. If it had not been for the
fact that curiosity got the best of one of the residents
545 folsd
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545
of Halfway Creek, we would probably never have heard about
it. Fortunately the length of pollution existing at that
particular time didn't burst into flames. Oil scum on the
creek ranged anywhere from one inch to three inches in depth
and if it had caught fire it probably would have created
such havoc that people would have been well aware of the
situation a long time before this.
I don't know why the health department and the
commissioner didn't institute action and before I sit down
I certainly hope I am given permission by the Chairman to
have this Commission go on record as opposing the action by
the Chevrolet Transmission Company who created this situation,
You see, in this paper --
THE CHAIRMAN: Mr. Chascsa, I hate to interrupt
and not give you an opportunity, but if you could present
material that was not in clippings, I think it would be
helpful, sir.
MR. CHASCSA: Very well, sir. I realize that this
is boring. I have sat through a very boring day yesterday
and I am sure a lot of these other people have. As you
pointed out and as the people here pointed out I am not
trying to make sport of this. Don't misunderstand me. I
don't think this thing can be accomplished overnight and
I don't think anybody who has anything to say should be
told that we want to hurry up, because I think that the
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546
condition that exists at the present time was created by
such hurry. I am sure that you want to do this job very
well, just as much as I do and I am sure you are doing a
good job and I want to see you continue to do it. I want you
to bear with me as I have done with the rest of these people.
I will be through here as soon as I read this letter.
THE CHAIRMAN: Fine.
MR. CHASCSA: It is addressed to the Department of
Health, Education, and Welfare, and it will more or less
summarize what I have to say and in probably fewer words
that I would take if I go on rambling, because there are
some many things to be talked about. All of you present
I am sure are aware of it or you would not be here.
And then I would like to offer my material for
inclusion in the record.
THE CHAIRMAN: Fine.
(The letter addressed to Mr. Stein, dated March
27, 1962, together with accompanying material is as follows?)
-------
LAKE ERIE CLEANUP COMMITTEE
NEWPORT, MICHIGAN
March 27, 1962
Department of Health Education and V/elfare
Washington, D. C.
c/o Mr. Murray Stein
Enforcement Department
Gentlemen:
I have been delegated to represent the people of
Monroe County who are affiliated with our group, known
officially as the "Lake Erie Cleanup Committee".
Our purpose is not to castigate, criticize, malign
or in plain words, put anyone on the well known spot, but; to
enlist the assistance of those who might know the answers to
our problems thereby creating a better and more healthful
atmosphere between the residents of Monroe County bordering
on the Lake iirie shores and the Detroit River. To achieve
this aim, we are prepared to use every resource at our command.
Pollution and contamination of our streams and lakes must and
will cease. If we can enlist the cooperation of those who
are polluting our waters, as well as interested governmental
agencies? In order to achieve our purpose, on the western
Lake Erie shoreline, where most of us live, work and play,
and which area we are mostly familiar with, we must go
further up stream, to get to the source of our irritation.
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548
Inasmuch as we have prepared considerable data to
substantiate our position, we would prefer to have the material
speak for itself, rather than belabour you with an extensive
naration of the fact that pollution does exist. We are aware
of its source and know that it is increasing rapidly. What
we are principally concerned with is the fact that apparently
little is being done about the situation by our constituted
authorities.
It is the aim of our committee to get action. This
is the purpose in our presence here. This is the purpose of
making this presentation.
Lest you have fears, let me quickly add, this is no-
an action conclave but; a sounding board so to speak.
Our committee is but an infant organized in the
month of September of nineteen hundred and sixty one. We
merely picked up where other groups left off. Our appeals
for relief have been far reaching and have included local and
federal authorities as well as neighboring Ohio and Canada.
We have extended an invitation to the Army Corps of
Engineers, the public, the press. In fact to any agency,
group or organization whom we felt could contribute to or
Sain from our efforts, and it is our opinion that in spite
of the authority vested in some of our agencies with whom
we have come in contact, their hands seem to be tied by red
tape, by disinterest, by lack of conviction, by fear of
-------
infringemeat oa other authorities or agencies-or you name it-
and where there should be unity and coordination and effective-
ness as regards to regulations, laws and penalties governing
water pollution, there is little if any action transmitted
from department to department and no end results.
Permit me to cite a few examples. In our data,
we are submitting a list of complaints among them a bill of
complaint for an injunction by the Township Of Van Buren
against the city of Ann Arbor, city of Ypsilanti, and
Ypsilanti Township 8-23-61. Complaint by Estral Beach,
Gibraltar city, River View, Luna Pier, Monroe, Detroit Beach,
Stony Point, Erie, Lost Peninsula, North Shores, Bay Crest,
and many others. The sources mentioned are Detroit River,
Huron River, Lake Erie, River Raisin, Swan Creek, Maumee
Paver, Plum Creek, Ecorse Creek, and Fdver iiouge, and many
minor sources too numerous to mention. Viz: Article in
Detroit Times, August 28, ±960.
We submit these letters, news articles and
physical samples as proof, that a serious problem exists
and it is getting worse. If we are to protect our property
values, our health, the health of our children and the welfare
of our great state, some one is just going to have to face
up to their responsibility.
The Izaak Walton League has been fighting the
pollution problem for many years. As have the Michigan
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550
Botanical SOciety, Michigan Nature League, the Michigan
United Conservation Clubs and many other groups, such as the
Monroe Rod and Gun Club, the City of Gibraltar, the village
of Estral Beach and others, too many to mention. The ravages
of man are evident all around us and man alone can rectify
his errors, before they become worse.
You certainly wouldn't sweep the litter of your home
under the rug? You would pick it up and dispose of it by
burning it or putting it in a receptical to be properly dis-
posed of. You would not just carelessly jettison it so that
it might find its way back into your home or your neighbors?
All our talk of sanitation, hygiene, good house-
keeping and the like should show us the fallicies of our ways.
The following is proof of what is happening to our fishing,
our drinking water and water recreation.
It has been called to my attention that the City of
Detroit burns their rubbish and garbage and what isn't used
for fertilizer is flushed into the Detroit River where it
piles up till navigation is hampered. Then the aid of the
Corps of Army Engineers is enlisted to dredge and free the
channel for normal navigation.
Butj Gentlemen, what becomes of the sludge? You
guessed itl It is carted to Lake Erie to be disposed of.
There are at least twelve dumping grounds in the area from
Cleveland to Detroit that I am aware of. These dumping
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551
grounds are displayed on navigation maps of Lake Erie. This
is not all, there are many barge loads from Toledo plague-
ing the western shores of Lake Erie also.
This condition is not new in the United States.
Many of our citizens all over the United States are plagued
with like problems and there is no excuse whatever for such
conditions to exist nor should they be condoned by any
red blooded Americans.
As one Detroit city engineer put in (what should
we do with our waste). I presume, the natural thing to do
is to dump it on your neighbors doorstep? After all, big
cities are immune to retribution by small suburban communities.
Let us not (as the Indian would say) talk with a
forked tongue when we preach goodwill, let us live it also.
Unless, of course it may be more profitable or lucrative to
fool the public?
I am certain, that one could not neglect his home
and have it go unnoticed by the Health Department or some
such authority.
We speak of depressed areas, slums and under
developed sections of our county. The incident of sewer
extension in Wayne County and Detroit is an example of
proper planning. Detroit is not prepared to handle their
own sewage and instead of trying to eliminate the possibility
i
of further creating a nuisance to the people below the Detroit
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552
-Liver they add to their treatment plants by diverting the
sewage of the surrounding communities into their systems.
If funds are not available to divert storm sewers so that
sewage would flow uninterupted by storms into the proper
channels (and I do not mean the Detroit ^iver or Trenton
Channel) for treatment, then surely funds could be diverted
from some other source? If, as the President stated recently,
there are funds in the amount of eight hundred million to
one billion dollars for additional Federal Parks. Then
there are funds to preserve the existing park and lake shore
lines so they may be safe for those who can't fly to Europe
or some safe foreign spa to enjoy their leisure time. I am
certain, the redevelopment of the Lake Erie shores would
be money well spent.
Monroe County needn't be a depressed area over
which, tourists have to gingerly step or clamp their nostrils
shut to get to the north country or Detroit. Our beach
residents need not be depressed because the funds for improve-
ments are denied them on account of the location of their
property (shores of Lake Erie). Even the lending companies
are aware of the situation belaboring us. Why can't the
same consideration be shown the tax payer as is shown to
his foreign neighbor? Surely our property is as valuable
to the economic structure of our country as that of
Europeans? Or are we Pilidas1 little helpers who are able to
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553
turn every thing we touch to gold? If so, why didn't someone
tell us sooner?
If, (as the writer in the Michigan Health publica-
tion stated,) we shouldn't be unnecessarily alarmed* then
v/hy has so much emphasis been put on the many cases of
diseases traced to the polluted waters of our water wonder-
land? The Health Department denies any pollution in Monroe
County and yet, several weeks ago the Toledo Blade published
a statement that the drain commissioner of Monroe County
deplored the open sewers all over Monroe County and the
potential health hazard. Isn't it sickening? .ill the data
put out by the Y/ater Resources Commission must be, at least
partially correct, or they would not print it. I am certain
they are making a good try at locating the sources of
pollution. Why then do they have such difficulty in penalizing
the offenders? The "Water ^esources Commission should be
the last resort in the pollution control layout and not
just an authority in name only. Surely, even the state
government should be recognizing this fact? ;is I have pre-
viously stated, there is so much to say and the time is of
the essence (although this matter should be resolved regard-
less of time) I shall let the information submitted to the
Honorable Senator Phillip Hart and to the committee investi-
gating these charges today and in the past, speak for
themselves. With one exception, "That in any event, if
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554
funds are available to foreign countries with no collateral
at low interest rates", that they be made available to those
of us who need them for public improvements on the same terms.
This area is as depressed as any I have seen in my travels
around the country. Just a week ago, a large car manu-
facturer located in Toledo let a large amount of oil leak
out into the Morin Point area thereby polluting the Silver
Creek area in Toledo and Halfway Creek in Monroe County
and we were advised by the Health Department of Monroe that
they had no jurisdiction in that area. If it had not been
for the curiosity of one of the residents of Halfway Creek
and the resultant fire of that curiosity, the oil probably
would never have been noticed. Why were the possibilities
of an overflow not considered before this incident occurred9
Do not all states have uniform regulation in this respect?
Why were they permitted to install such a tank so close to
a public stream? Why wasn't a retaining wall placed around
the tank? Then the following day a pipe line was found to
be disgorging into the ^civer Raisin near icaisinville. This
has happened on several occasions to the same line, ^gain,
I repeat, put our up and coming research scientists to work,
to find more and better means of disposing of our wastes.
Let us employ people to reclaim these wastes and thereby
create work and eliminate the need for tempers to flare
unnecessarily. Here, I cite the courageous action by
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555
the Y.'ater .resources Commission in denying a pickling firm
the right to operate until they had installed the proper
disposal facilities for the wastes they would create. Un-
fortunately, this company had created havoc with the disposal
system of Imlay City, in the meantime. Need more be said?
Let each community erect their own disposal system and every
manufacturer reprocess his own waste before replacing the
waters he has used as provided by state and federal law. A
large sewage monopoly is not practical and becomes a monster
hard to control when things start to go wrong. Let us
remember that diverting sewage is not the same as treating
it to make it safe.
Gentlemen, this about sums up our plight and the
answer seems to rest with you. If you are powerless to act,
and the Ctate Health Department is powerless and the
V.'ater Resources has no power, then it seems a waste of the
tax payers money to maintain such an agency, and perhaps the
elimination of it (or them) is the answer. "Look at the
money we could save". We certainly wouldn't employ a
policeman and then refuse to give him the necessary tools to
perform his duty?
In closing I wish to thank you personally and the
Lake Erie Cleanup Committee. Also thank you for the oppor-
tunity to come before you to be heard and I certainly hope
the solution to our problems is born here today. To quote
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556
Webster: Pollute — to make or render unclean, to defile,
desecrate, profane.
Respectfully submitted
For the "Lake Erie Cleanup Committee"
(Signed) John Chascsa, Chairman
*• •* -X-
Mar. 20, ±962
Subject: Water Pollution
From: The President of the Stony Pointe Bch. Association
To: The Lake Erie Clean up Committee
The Board of Directors of Stony Pointe Bch. have
discussed water pollution at length and we feel that drastic
action has to be taken in the near future. Since a meeting-
has been called for Mar. 27, to discuss water pollution, we
feel that our immediate condition along our Lake front should
be presented to the proper authorities of our great State.
The necessary improvements that we urgently need for
the Health and Welfare of our residents we cannot afford
because of the loss of approximately 700 feet of Lake front
property, formerly used for recreational purposes, which no
longer has any value if the present condition exist. Due to
the pollution in the water we could not use our Lake front
during the swimming season of 1961.
In this area, where we have no proper drainage and
contaminated water, the health of the people is in jeopardy.
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557
The cases of Hepatitis and other infections are known to be
high in all the area r.long the Lake Erie shore line.
Vie have contacted the proper authorities many times
about the debris and silt along our shore line. In July of
1961, the Army Corp of Engineers were contacted and picked
up four samples from our Lake front to be analyzed. They
reported back that this debris was paper pulp presumably
washed back from Monroe paper mills. Also in July ±961,
representatives from the State Water Resources Commission
came to look at our water and no report was ever received from
them. . letter complaining of the deplorable conditions of
our Beaches, dated July 17, 1961, was sent to all our Local
and State officials concerned. No reply was ever received
from any of them.
The Lake Erie Clean up Committee can expect our full
cooperation pertaining to this letter.
Sincerely,
(Gigned) B. C. Pierce, Pres.
Stony Pointe Bch. Ass'n
•x- # #
March 22, ±962
TO: The Lake Erie Clean-up Committee
FilOLI: Brest Bay Grove Beach Association
SUBJECT: Water Pollution
The Board of Directors of Brest Bay Grove Beach
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558
Association, French-town Township, Newport, Michigan; have
discussed the water pollution problem along our shoreline of
Lake Erie at great length. We feel that drastic action must
be taken in the near future.
Since your Committee has set up a meeting for
March 27th to discuss this problem, we feel that our
immediate water pollution problem should be presented to the
proper authorities of Michigan.
In this area, where we have no proper drainage for
the contaminated water, the health of the people is in
jeopardy. The cases of hepatitis and other infections are
very high along the Lake Erie shoreline.
We have contacted the proper authorities many times
about the debris along the shoreline:
In July, 1961, the Army Corp of Engineers
were contacted. They picked up four samples from
the Ctoney Pointe Beach lake front to be analyzed.
They reported back from their office that this
debris was paper pulp presumably washed back from
the Monroe Paper Mills.
In July, ±961, representatives from the
State Water Resources Commission examined the water.
No report was ever received from them.
A letter, complaining of the deplorable
conditions of our Beaches, dated July ±7, ±961,
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559
was sent to all of our local and state officials
concerned. No reply was received from them.
As a result of this condition, our property is
losing its value. We cannot attract any new residents, let
alone bring back our regular summer trade. (We could not use
our lake front during the swimming season of ±961.)
We trust you will give this problem your utmost
attention. Thank you.
BREST BAY GROVE BEACH ASSOCIATION
(Signed) Erich Young, President
* * *
ROUGE RECREATION BOAT CLUB
±74 Burke Street River Rouge 18, Michigan
Vinewood 2-J640
March 22, ±962
To Whom It May Concern:
The Rouge Recreation Boat Club fully endorses the
stand the Lake Erie Clean-Up Committee has taken in the
fight to eliminate pollution of Michigan waters. We, in
River Rouge, have much in common with the Clean-Up Committee.
We, too, are fighting to eliminate the pollution of our waters
The Detroit River and Rouge River are part of the
boundaries of our city and are great contributors to our
pollution problem. Industries along these two rivers have
been operating outside the pollution laws for years unchecked.
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560
Due to the unchecked industries and municipalities, our waters
aro a cesspool for the collection of corruption of our State.
IVildlife is not abundant in our area as it was in
years past. Breeding grounds have been destroyed by polluted
water. Dead waterfowl are found in abundance along our
shores.
Vi'e were once able to stand with our head high when
fishing was talked about because we knew there was no better
area than ours, but no more. The river now produces second
rate fish, and when one is caught, it is not edible because
of oil or chemical traces in the meat.
Boating is a hazardous sport today due to objects
thrown in the water. Logs as large as telephone poles are
not an uncommon sight when out for a boat ride.
Swimming is something of the past. Ear infection
is very common to those who do venture into our waters for
a sv/im.
The greatest of all the evils brought upon by
pollution is the threat of disease. In the past hepatitis
was almost unknown in our area. Today it is an everyday
word. Typhoid, Skin Infection, Poliomyelitis and Meningitis
aro only a few of the diseases that are found to be lurking
in the waters of our area.
Is our beautiful Water Wonderland to be destroyed
by a few villainous individuals who have no respect for the
CPO 820819-C—5
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561
laws and rights of his fellow man? We, the members of our
club, will never willfully stand by while this takes place.
Y/e will continue to fight with every weapon at our disposal
to put a stop to the destruction of our State's water.
(Signed) Billie K. Payne
Water Pollution Committee
# # •*
STONY POINT PENINSULA ASSOCIATION
iioute Ho. 2 Newport, Michigan
March 21, 1962
Mrs . I re ne F i nek
3003 - llth Street
Detroit Beach Association
Monroe, Michigan
Dear Mrs. Find::
Relative to your work with the Lake Erie C.iean-Up
Committee, we should like to register a complaint from
residents of Stony Point Peninsula Association relative to
polution and unsightly conditions of our Lake 2rie beaches.
The fii-st is that raw sewage has been occasionally
reported by our residents. The source of this contaniination
is not readily recognized, but the pollution danger is clearly
e riUent and of the highest degree.
Another item which causes considerable concern to
all the residents is the scum or residue that continues to
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pile up on our beaches. This is recognizable as a compara-
tively large, but light, particle size that deposits on our
beaches, particularly on the beaches facing our prevailing
winds. This scum is not only unsightly but contributes to
the pollution of our waters and, furthermore, decreases con-
siderably from the valuation of the general property in our
area. As further evidence of this polution, we have seen
no walleyed pike in this area in the past five years and,
in fact, except for perch there is a lack of all species
that prefer to live and reproduce in relatively clean areas.
In view of these conditions, we would appreciate
your bringing this to the attention of your committee for
further action in cleaning up Lake Erie. Thank you for your
cooperation in this matter.
Very truly yours,
(Signed) C. F. Orloff
Secretary
Stony Point Peninsula Association
•*•*-*•
WOODLAND BEACH ASSOCIATION
3250 Parkwood
Monroe, Michigan
March ±7, ±962
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Lake Erie Cleanup Committee,
c/o Mrs. Irene Finck, Sec'y.
3003 Eleventh, Detroit Beach
Monroe, Michigan
Dear Mrs. Finck,
We have a definite problem on our Beach in the
summer time. The beach itself has to be cleaned every day of
dead fish and debris in large quantities. It takes a
tractor and truck to accomplish this plus manpower. The
pollution of the water is the cause of the dead fish.
The Board of Health declaring our waters unfit for
bathing is also hurting our Association as a summer resort.
The sale of property is at a stand still. The water is so
filthy that no one cares to go in swimming. The situation
as a whole is deplorable and anything that can be done to
alleviate this would be greatly appreciated.
The Board of Trustees of this beach is with the
Cleanup Committee all the way and anything we can do to help
win this fight please advise.
Thanking you, we remain
Yours very truly,
New Beach Association, Inc.
(Signed) Melvin Currey, Sec'y.
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,s a representative for the people in the Plum Creek
Bays and Schreiber's Bay area, I would like to inform you of
the trouble we have had in trying to keep our bays clean.
U'hen the port commission wanted to clean out the
turning basin, they got the permission from the army
engineers to dump their spoils into the marsh on their side
of the bay. There was never a public hearing, so the people
\vho own the property on the south side of the bay could
protest the dumping of the spoils into the marsh surrounding
the bay.
iftien we found out what was going on, we contacted
everyone we could think of to help us to keep our bay clean.
We even hired an attorney which cost us five hundred dollars.
We pleaded with the army engineers not to let them dump their
spoils into the marsh without a dike. They said the cat-
tails would hold it back. Anyone whose supposed to be an
engineer, and make a statement like that, doesn't make sense.
When the dredge was in operation, it uprooted cattails and
sent them flying as everyone knows who heard about it. All
the fish in our bay were killed; the water was covered with
oil and filth, and a lot of our bays were filled in.
How they are filling in the property with trash
brought in by carloads from out of town. They promised us
a dike around the port commission property so their filth
would stay on their own property. They dug about 900 feet
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and built what they called a dike on the southwest end of
their property. Most of the time it is under the water; and
it is not completely around their property. We have complain-
ed about it; but as yet, we have had no satisfaction. Last
summer large schools of bullheads and catfish were raised
behind my home. They were just starting to replenish, due to
the fact, some time had elapsed from the time the spoils
had been dumped from the turning basin and now the spoils
are being brought in by the car loads. They have been dump-
ing, and are still dumping into the marsh. When the water
was up last summer, a north wind blew the oil chemicals
and filth, that was on top of the water, over to our side of
the bay. This destroyed all the small bullheads and catfish
in the area.
The port property is owned by the city of Monroe,
and managed by the port commission. They know that the law
states that you cannot dump filth on your side of the bay,
and pollute the water for the people on the other side.
Y/c are not rich people; they know that we cannot afford to
fight them in court^ so they disobey any law they want to,
for their own convenience.
/is it is today we have dirty, filthy, stinking bays
and these waters go into the lake, from which we get our
drinking water and our recreation.
The port commission claims that they are filling
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the land with foundry fill. I can prove otherwise. I have
visited the dump many times and seen barrels of lacquer,
rubber tires, rags, clothing, plastics, debris soaked with
oil, and five gallon cans filled with assorted chemicals.
They burn rubber tires and a great deal of rubbish. Then
they get bulldozers and push it into the marsh and the water
is all covered with filth. With the proper wind the filth
is blown all over the bay.
I would also like to know just what is meant by
riparian rights. I had the understanding that you can hunt
and fish in the waters and bay. If you use the water, you
must return it in the same condition that you receive it, and
you are forbidden to pollute it; but you do not own it. Being
that their dikes extend into the bay, they have riparian
rights the same as we; which means they do not own it.
How can they claim this property? I thought all public land
should be kept in trust by the state for the good of all the
people and future generations.
The Monroe Townsite Subdivision does not have
adequate room for septic tanks. The lots are small and the
houses are close together. Still, they are issuing more
building permits and letting them build more homes there.
The city wanted to incorporate them and provide sewage, but
they refused because their taxes might be increased. A
great deal of this sewage goes into a county drain and empties
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into Plum Creek. Plum Creek flows into Plum Creek Bay and
Schrieber's Bay.
When the port commission filled in the land on the
north side of Plum Creek, they did not build a dike. As of
now, Plum Creek is practically all filled in. It is very
shallow and the water flow is not normal. In the spring when
the water is high, it backs the water up and floods the
Eighth Street, Winchester Area. We need this flow of water
in order to clean and keep it clean. Plum Creek is a main
county drain. After the port commission finished filling
in their property, they made no attempt to clean out Plum Creek,
after pushing their debris into the creek with bulldozers.
The people complained about being flooded out. Still the
drain commissioner has done nothing to compel the port
commission to clean it out. It is against the law to fill
up a county drain, but as usual they got away with it. In
the summer time Plum Creek is so polluted that it gives off
a very offensive odor.
Every time the filth is cleaned out of the turning
basin, which amounts to a year of accumulation, it is taken
out into the lake and dumped. I have been out on the lake
when this has taken place. The oil and scum rises to the top
and floats around. I have seen this operation done in the
summer when the park was full of swimmers, and a southeast
wind blew all this scum and filth over to where the swimmers
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were. I recommend that the spoils be dumped on the port
commission property behind a dike. All the filth that does
not reach the lake by the natural current is taken out there
by the dredge boat. If we intend to keep the lake clear and
clean, we will have to stop this immediately!
(Signed) Anthony V. Collino
-x-
Gibraltar, Mich.
March ±7, 1.962
Lake Erie Clean-up Committee
Gentlemen:
May we take this opportunity to advise your most
worthy committee oi a pollution condition existing here at
the lower reaches of the Detroit iliver on the mainland side
of this Gveat Y/ater-T/ayj where it empties into Lake Erie.
During the early spring and throughout the summer
months, marvelous catches of Walleyes and Yellow Pickerel can
be taken through the sports fishing methods of trolling,
chugging, and still fishing. Very often the catches in these
waters on the v/est side of Grosse lie will be as great as
6 to 1 in comparison with the other branch of the Detroit
Kiver namely the waters on the east side of Grosse lie,
[however, the fish are Tainted so badly that they can not be
eaten, the Taint seems to be of a combination of chemical and
oil, or phenol contamination. Can't something be done to
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remedy this situation? We all fully realize the value of our
industries relative to mans livelyhood and the economy of the
area in general.
We hope we are not absured in expressing the desire
of work and sports fishing also, with an end product of good
edible fish free of contamination.
Respectfully submitted,
(Signed) "lly" Dahlka
29291 Lowell
Gibraltar, Michigan
* * *
March ±7, ±962
Lake Erie Clean-up Committee
Dear Sirs:
We here at the mouth of the Detroit River have a
problem relative to Migratory Waterfowl that winter in this
area, in the open waters that is created by the industries
using the Detroit River water for colling purposes, in so
doing keeps its temperature above freezing all winter long.
However, with the greatly extended use of the auto-
matic washing machines in the home these days, all using a
cup of strong detergents per washer of clothes, or 6 or 7
cups of detergent per wash day, per family, which ends up
in our rivers and lakes, and which takes all the natural oil
out of the wintering ducks' feathers causing them to loose
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their floatability, from feather soaking, and wind up dying
of cold and exposure by the thousands.
This is a relatively new form of water pollution
and contamination, which we feel should merit serious con-
sideration.
Sincerely yours,
(Signed) "Hy" Dahlka
Gibraltar Duck Hunters Assn.
"Hy" Dahlka, President
-x-
Mrs. Irene Finck, Sec.
3003 Eleventh Street
Detroit Beach
Monroe, Michigan
Dear Mrs. Finclc:
In answer to your letter of February 21, I have
listed here the sources of pollution and the type we have
been combating for years.
First on the list is Adrian, from this city we are
continually getting clouds of cyanide from the two plating
companies there. Sometimes in such concentrated form as to
endanger our water supply.
From Tecumseh, Blissfield, Deerfield, and Peters-
burg we get the usual wastes. Blissfield, Deerfield, and
Petersburg having no sewage disposal plants makes it pretty
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rough, and now a new monster has reared its' ugly head to
plague us - from the laundromats come detergents, so con-
centrated as to raise billows of suds below our dam to a
height of 12 to IS inches. I have conferred with our water
department head, Mr. Austin, and he informed me that deter-
gents had reached such a high percentage in the raw river
water as to make filtering practically impossible with our
present equipment.
What can be done to leviate this condition is be-
yond my comprehension. It seems our only hope is State
intervention and subsequent legislature with power to put a
stop to making open sewers of our rivers, lakes, and streams
by industry and municipalities. Surely, if conditions are
allowed to continue unrestricted, they will get steadily
worse until all our water resources have passed from us.
Sincerely,
(Signed) Ivan D. LaVoy
* -X- -*
March ±7, ±962
Monroe, Michigan
Great Lakes Clean-Up Committee;
My name is Robert W. Peterson, partner of the
Peterson Fish Co. Mrs. Finck phoned me the other day con-
cerning the tainting of fish in the lake. We have received
complaints from our customers starting about two years ago.
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They claim the fish have a oily-kerosene taste and the meat
of the fish mushy and not firm, in the case of a Lake pick-
erel. I have had the occasion to have gone through the same
experience, and know their story was a true fact. This
happened a number of years ago on Sagenaw Bay making the
fish unmarketable.
I do believe that since the opening of the Sea-
way, ships entering the lake from the Detroit river have
caused a great deal of trouble. Ue fish commercially in that
area, and I have seen many a time the pumping out of oil
bilges covering the lake in a slick into about a block area.
They also empty all their garbage, refuse and anything
else into the Septic tank. This is much easier than taking
off at a Port. We have had many a times, a waste material
they use in wiping up their machinery entwine in our nets.
This stuff is a fluffy material grease and oil soaked and
practically impossible to get out of our fishing nets.
All this matter from the boats and the oil coming out of
the Detroit river on certain prevailing windy days, is a
matter and sight to behold. Just to hear me write about it
is of no concern. But to actually see it for one's self is
another matter. It is not only the northern end of the lake.
Toledo has a great deal of the same thing. We do know that
at the present time, commercial or sport fishing on Lake
Erie is in a critical stage. The Petersons have for nearly
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a century, made a livelihood from fishing, all our years and
investments will have gone down the sink. We are too old to
start anew. I do hope this will help. Thank you.
(Signed) Robert Peterson
* •* #
Monroe, Michigan
March ±7, ±962
Lake Erie Clean-up Committee
c/o Mrs. David Finck
Detroit Beach
Monroe, Michigan
Dear Mrs. Finck:
The members of the Jefferson Adult Boosters Club
wish to commend you and your committee for their efforts in
seeking a solution to the polution problem in Lake Erie.
It is a tremendous task and we hope this letter
will serve as a verbal "pat on the back" to you and your
committee.
Sincerely yours,
Jefferson Adult Boosters
(Signed) Carl Ainslie, Pres.
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March 2, ±962
Lake Erie Clean-up Committee
Mrs. David Finck, Sec.
3003 Eleventh St.
Detroit Beach
Monroe, Michigan
Dear Mrs. Finck:
Being an avid fisherman and thoroughly enjoying all
water sports I have forcibly become very dubious of our great
State's slogan: "MICHIGAN - the water wonderland".
No longer are our Lake Erie shores the haven for
water enthusiasts. No more can we boast of the great numbers
and species of fish to lure the out-of-doors-men and,
no longer can we say: "Relax and enjoy the clean white sands
of our beach areas"I
The reasons why are all too well known to those
among us who once enjoyed these exclusive privileges. It
is our hope and prayer that your committee will prevail upon
State and Federal Government Aid to help restore to south-
eastern Michigan its proper and fitting tribute . . . "The
Water Wonderland".
(Signed) Patrick J. Finn
834 Winston Drive
Monroe, Michigan
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March 2, ±962
Lake Erie Clean-up Committee
Mrs. David Finck, Sec.
5003 Eleventh St.
Detroit Beach
Monroe, Michigan
Dear Mrs. Finck:
As an owner-taxpayer of beach area property that
has depreciated in value over 40$ in a short 15 years con-
trasted with real estate in other general areas that have
enjoyed a two-fold appreciation, I feel that much is left to
be desired concerning our Lake Erie shore property values.
Please allow me to site just a few of the deter-
iorating facts involved:
(1) Condemned Drinking Water
(2) Swimming area water pollution
(3) Unsanitary sewerage disposal
(4) Improper Drainage
(5) Insufficient Recreational Facilities
I might add, these same points were covered in ray
conversation with Mr. Rademacher and Mr. Johnson, of the
Federal Water Pollution Commission. You, and your committee
have my whole-hearted support.
(Signed) Milton King
120 E. Grant, Monroe, Michigan
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Mrs. Irene Finck
3003 Eleventh St.
Detroit Beach
Monroe, Michigan
The Avalon Beach, Wahl's Grove Improvement Ass'n,
has arrived at this complaint in our immediate area.
Raw sewage from V/oodchuck Creek runs into Lake
Erie at Avalon Beach. This is the borderline for Monroe
and LaSalle Township line.
Cordially
(Signed) Miriam Wise, Sec'y.
* * *
MONROE COUNTY KOD AND GUN CLUB
Monroe, Michigan
Box No. 1 6280 Lighthouse Road Phone: Cherry 1-9705
February 23, ±962
Mrs. Irene Finck, Secretary
Lake Erie C.i.eanup Committee
30CP5 - Eleventh Street
Detroit Beach
Monroe, Michigan
Dear Mrs. Finck:
As you know, the Monroe County Rod and Gun Club has
been working on pollution for the past twenty years.
Mr. C. W. "Ted" Hoffman has been chairman of our pollution
GPO 8208 I9-C—6
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committee the greater part of this time. He has worked
diligently under difficult conditions and has spent many
hours, as well as personal expense, acquiring samples of
water and contacting the people who are responsible for
polluting our waters. Unfortunately, he has received very
little help from them. Our club has supported Mr. Hoffman
in every effort he has made regarding this cause. May I
add that we are extremely grateful to see our neighbors taking
an interest in this problem.
With the number of reports, from state and federal
agencies, forecasting the water shortage which will be ex-
perienced as early as ±980, we feel that it is each and every
person's duty to lend their support in helping to eliminate
the pollution now existing in the Great Lakes, rivers, and
streams. We have, at no time, had the desire to force any-
one, including industry, municipal groups, etc., who have
been polluting our waters, to spend large sums of money or
create undue hardship upon them. V.'e believe that anyone
using the excuse, or expression, "What do you want us to do?
Layoff our people, close our plants, or, pollute your
streams?", have not the community or state's interest at
heart.
It is obvious that the time has come when each and
every one of us, whether he be part of industry, municipal
groups, home-owner, etc., must take it upon himself to do
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whatever he can to eliminate pollution. This, for the follow-
ing reasons: (1) Increase in population; (2) Water shortage,
which is very apparent and will continue to increase; (5) Ill-
nesses which have been traced to improper control of sewerage.
This is a problem for each individual in the state, but we
also feel that the agencies responsible for this type of
control can no longer overlook any part of pollution.
Any one of our state agencies feeling that because
the federal government is working on this project, it is auto-
matically taken out of their hands should realize that the
situation has become serious enough to require their help as
well. They should be most willing to work with the federal
agencies, rather than feel they no longer have a responsi-
bility to the state.
It is our intention to continue to fight for the
correction of pollution, whether or not the present cleanup
committees are successful.
Yours very truly,
MONROE COUNTY ROD AND GUN CLUB
(Signed) V. F. Kane
President
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BAYCREST
INC.
Box 35 Monroe Michigan Shelby Brooks-Pres.
3574 Baycrest Dr.
Baycrest Beach
March ±7, ±962
V/S the people of Baycrest being property owners
on Lake 2rie in which we have invested a good deal of money
to purchase homes and cottages so we could enjoy the pleasures
of swimming, boating, fishing etc. Now it is a health hazard.
We came to the beach so our children could enjoy the sandy
beaches and grow healthy in this environment. What do we
have? Whenever thei"e's an east wind there are dead rotting
fish. Water so black with slime you cannot wade let alone
swim.
Due to lack of control and selfish Industrialists
we have one of the most degrading circumstances of water
pollution that has not only lowered our property value but
has brought about many infectious diseases. Hepatitus for one
and many skin disorders eye ear in particular.
It is quite alarming to think we have no protection
from these things and cannot raise money to help combat them.
We have now turned to Our Government which is
supposed to Of The People By The People And For The People.
Won't you please help?
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We support the Lake Erie Cleanup Committee
(Signed) Shelby Brooks
•Sf
OIL, CHEMICAL AND ATOMIC WOUKERS INTERNATIONAL UNION, AFL-CIO
TRENTON LOCAL NO. 7
,A RESOLUTION ON THE TRENTON CHANNEL AND ANTIPOLUTION:
WHEREAS: Congressman John Lesinski has a proposal before
Congress to deepen and extend the Trenton Channel
into Lake Erie, and
WHEREAS: Such proposal would provide facilities for indus-
trial expansion, thereby creating job opportuni-
ties and strengthening our national defense
efforts, and
WHEREAS: Such job opportunities are much needed in this
highly distressed employment area, and
WHEREAS: The use of the Detroit River and other existing
natural resources is a privilege which should not
be abused by industrial mismanagement, and
WHEREAS: Many industries located in the Detroit and Down-
river areas have shown dollar expediency and utter
contempt for the privilege of using these natural
resources by dumping industrial wastes into the
Detroit River, thereby destroying millions of
dollars worth of recreational facilities, destroy-
ing fish and game, and turning the Detroit River
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and Lake Erie into a cesspool of industrial garbage,
and
1VHEPJEAS: These same industries, through air polution, have
shown utter contempt for personal and community
properties by turning some of these properties into
industrial blights, and
WHEREAS: Existing controls have proven weak and ineffective
in eliminating these abuses; now therefore be it
RESOLVED: Local 7-4-56, OCAW, vigorously supports the proposal
to deepen and extend the Trenton Channel, and be it
further
KE30LVED: Local 7-456, OCAW, urges the adoption of enforceable
ordinances and legislation with penalties so severe
it will eliminate these industrial blights and the
needless destruction of our natural resources, and
be it further
RESOLVED: Local 7-456, OCAW, urges all organizations, governing
bodies, and interested citizens to support the
Trenton Channel proposal and also to support
appropriate Antipollution ordinances and legislation,
and be it further
RESOLVED: Copies of this resolution be sent to Congressman
John Losinski, Senators Hart and McNamara,
Governor John Swainson, Labor Organizations,
Newspapers, and other interested organizations
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and citizens.
LOCAL 7-^56, OCAW, AFL-CIO
(Signed) B. E. Henson, President
30478 Young Drive
Gibraltar, Michigan
The above resolution unanimously adopted by the
membership of Local 7-^56, OCAW, in a general membership
meeting held on February 1, ±962.
* * •*
\RTHUR SCHYLLANDEE
FOLDING BOXES
ADVERTISING
Box 6jO B Morin Point Erie, Michigan
3-26-62
Dear Mr. Minnick,
This extreme southeastern corner of Monroe County
used to be a swampy fringe, heavily wooded and brush covered.
Frequently, high water would wash over the land. The streams
which coverge into what is referred to as North Maumee Bay
were at one time world famous for Egyptian Lotus.
Over a period of time, people from nearby areas
built homes here, cleared the land of it's brush and weeds,
fortified the waterfront, established a good roadway and
built a fine fire department and community building. This
fire department was built and paid for entirely by the new
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residents, without any tax monies or financial help of any
kind from the township or county.
Many thousands of dollars have been spent to build
homes and to build up the land into fine lawns and gardens.
The residents are home owners .... They have actually
created taxable wealth out of what was once listed as swamp
land.
The people of the area have a common interest in
the water facility and every resident has his own dock and
ivatercraft. This water area is their chief field of recrea-
tion. It is the most precious residential asset. They fish
from their docks, their children play in the water. They
sail, outboard, water ski and canoe in the surrounding waters.
Now, all of this is ruined by a foul smelling layer
of dangerous and highly inflammable oil that covers the water
from shore to shore. No fish can survive in the water nor
can children play in it any more. Boating will be dirty
and dangerous and all of the homes and dockage face a fire
hazard.
Sunday afternoon, March 18th a resident tested the
inflammability of the oil covering and a fire developed that
destroyed his dock and sent a column of dense black smoke,
fully fifty feet in diameter up over his house and all of
the way across Shantee Creek before dispersing.
This has caused irreparable damage to property
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value and natural life in this southeastern corner of Monroe
County.
(Signed) Arthur Schyllander
* •* *
tlURON RIVER WATERSHED
'.INTERGOVERNMENTAL COMMITTEE . . .
iloom 306, Washtenaw County Building, Ann Arbor, Michigan
March ±6, ±962
tvl. . James McNary
M.U.C.C. Field Representative of District #2
loO^ C. University Street
»nn '.rbor, Michigan
Dear Mr. McHary:
I have received the notice of the District 2
meeting and the minutes of the previous meeting including
the motion to invite me to the next meeting.
Unfortunately, I will be out of town Tuesday and
Wednesday of next week and cannot attend the meeting:. I
did talk with Dan Bobbins about the invitation and agree
with him that mutual understanding and communication are
necessary. This committee is concerned about the Detroit
Paver and Lake Erie pollution problem, partly because we
are making an effort along the Huron to improve its condition,
but also because we realize that we are a small part of the
larger regional problem.
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There have been some fears too about the attempt
by Wayne County Communities to force Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti
to transport their wastes to the Wayne County disposal plant
where primary treatment only is done. Not only is such a
plan more costly, but a much better degree of treatment is
being provided within the Huron Valley. It would seem that
further questions could be raised in light of the existing
oollution problems in the Detroit River. We look to the
U.S. Public Health Service study, which has been requested
to provide the information for solutions and the legal basis
for enforcement.
Will you please express my regrets to the District
and indicate that this committee is also interested in im-
proving the condition of our water resources.
Perhaps the group is interested in the details of
the program for the Huron River. I am enclosing a copy of
the Water Use Policy and our annual report.
Yours truly,
(Signed) David W. Walker
Executive Secretary
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STONEY POINTE COUNCIL OF PRESIDENTS
DU. 2-4258 NEWPORT, MICHIGAN
July, ±961
Honorable Mayor and Council
City of Monroe
Mo n roe, Mi ch i ga n
Gentlemen:
Meeting Thursday, July ±J>th. the Stoney Pointe
Council of Presidents by resolution have directed that
you be advised of a deplorable condition existing at the
beaches along Brest Bay.
A deep silt has been deposited along the lake
shore destroying the swimming areas of Stoney Pointe Beach
Association and Brest Bay Grove Association.
It has been substantiated by governmental
investigators that this mucky debris is waste from paper
mills. Since the offending paper mills are located in
your city, we are requesting that you take such action as
will relieve our beach areas of this destructive polluting
material.
The U.S. Corps of Engineers and the Water Resource
Commission have been informed in this regard and have sampled
and tested the contaminating residue.
It is entirely probably that you were unaware of
the damage to the beaches on Brest Bay, especially since
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this area is to your north, but winds and possibly reverse
currents have caused Monroe's paper mill affluent to move
"upstream" to cause tne problem.
Please let us know what you can and will do in
this regard.
Yours truly,
(Signed) Walter McNally, President
Stoney Pointe Council of Presidents
* -X- *
February 6, ±962
(SUBJECT: Our Approach to Riverview's Officials
TO: Public Affairs Committee Co-Chairmen and Members
All Chamber of Commerce Members
All Allen Park Business and Commercial Establishments
All Allen Park Civic, Fraternal and Religious Groups
All Members Sanitary Sewer Task Force
All Affected Communities Officials
All Builders and Their Associations
All Realtors and Their Associations
All Press Services
jFROM: Walter McNally, President, Allen Park Chamber of
Commerce
Expecting after more than a year of delay that a
solution had been found which would provide sanitary sewer
facilities to the 14 Downriver communities affected by the
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Michigan State Department of Health's ban on building which
\vas imposed June 9, ±961, we, too, wore taken by surprise
when the officials of the City of Paverview decided to with-
draw from the D.P.W. Downriver Sanitary Sewer Program.
Riverview's officials decided to go it alone and
build their own system - which is certainly their prerogative
and by doing so will further postpone the eventual lifting of
the building ban.
The Mayor and Council of Riverview have the reputa-
tion of being intelligent and progressive persons, individually
and collectively. Were they correctly informed as to the
D.P.W. Program? If not why not?
The building industry here is in a state of almost
complete stagnation and v/ith these thoughts in mind, the
following letter was addressed to the Riverview officials:
ALLEN PAKK CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
ALLEN PARK, MICHIGAN
February 3, ±962
Honorable Mayor and Council
City of Riverview
Pdverview, Michigan
Gentlemen:
Please accept this letter as not that of an inter-
fering outsider but as from an organization very much
interested in the health and economic advancement of our
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whole Downriver area, including Pdverview.
It is needless, perhaps to recall our feeling when
you experienced that most unfortunate hepatitis outbreak a
few months back. You know we are not "Johnny-come-latelys"
in our concern for adequate sanitary sewer facilities through-
out this entire section of Michigan.
•
Also, please do not consider the members of this
organization or myself as persons motivated by dollar greed
who will exploit for selfish advantage the vacant lands in
your community or any community once the building ban is
lifted, We want you to feel toward us as we feel toward
you - friends with a common cause and purpose.
We have among our membership, as you unquestionably
have among your citizens, men being dealt a cruel blow by
the stagnation of building activity - some are contractors,
land owners or building material suppliers while others are
electricians, plumbers, painters, plasterers, roofers, car-
penters, etc. Getting these people into profitable production
is our common problem.
"As you know, we anticipated difficulties in
getting the D.P.W. Downriver Sewer Program accepted in two
riverfront cities but certainly not in Riverview. It
is our sincere desire that you will restudy the sanitary
sewer situation and then decide to expedite the D.P.W. pro-
gram. Riverview is every bit as important in this project
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as any other of the communities involved - they need you.
After reconsideration it is our hope that you will
announce: "WE ARE WITH YOU, TOO".
Cordially,
(Signed) Walter McNally, President
Allen Park Chamber of Commerce
Riverview is a proud new city perhaps very capable
of handling its own problems.
The city officials of Riverview are not going to be
impressed by bullying or pressure tactics.
By resubmitting the project it could very well be
that they will act favorably—out—make sure that all the
facts are presented. Certainly, they have the interests of
the citizens of Riverview in mind when they act. Their first
responsibility is to the residents of Riverview.
A lot is at stake now.
We urgently request that the officials who represent
the proposal use exceptional tact and diplomacy.
Courtesy begets courtesy.
Sincerely,
(Signed) Walter McNally, President
Allen Park Chamber of Commerce
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EXCERPTS FROM MINUTES - WATER RESOURCES COMMISSION
May ±8, 1961 meeting, page 3:
Sterling State Park beach: Mr. Eddy presented a letter to
him from Dr. Haustis, dated May ±5, ±961, stating
that following consideration of studies made jointly
by the staffs of the Water Resources Commission
and the Michigan Department of Health. It has been
demonstrated that the water quality at Sterling
State Park beach cannot be maintained sufficiently
free of contamination for protection of the public
health. Dr. Haustis, further stated that no
assurance could be given that the beacn is now, or
can be expected to be safe for swimming. Following
discussion, and in compliance with Mr. Eddy's
request, it was the consensus of Members that staff,
in collaboration with the Michigan Department of
Health, present a report at the June meeting for
Commission consideration on what can be done, in
addition to waste control programs and measures
presently in effect or planned, to improve the water
quality of Lake Erie at the beach.
June 22, 1961 meeting, page 5:
Lake Erie-Sterling State Park: Distribution was made of a 7
page report prepared by staff members of the Water
Resources Commission and the Michigan Department of
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Health on the sanitary quality of water in Lake
Erie at the Sterling State Park beach. Factors
having a bearing on present quality were reviewed:
the extent that these factors will be modified by
current waste control measures and programs was
discussed. The conditions under which a higher water
quality might be achieved were also described in the
report. The report concluded by stating that when
all of the measures described are in effect, no
assurance could be given that a uniform quality of
water consistently acceptable for recreational
bathing purposes could be maintained at the beach.
Arthur Elmer, Chief, Parks and Recreation Division,
Department of Conservation, stated that if the
water at the beach is considered unsafe for swimming
by the Michigan Department of Health, an official
statement to that effect should be forthcoming. He
further recommended that official Michigan Depart-
ment of Health signs declaring the beach unsafe for
public swimming be erected. Members concurred in
his request. Representative Sterling of Monroe
expressed his concern about the conditions at the
beach.
* * *
GPO 820819-C-7
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The Changing Ecology of Lake Erie
Erie is a rapidly changing lake and the progressive
changes are threatening gravely its value to the public for
all uses. The aging process of a lake is usually slow and
subtle, and frequently goes unnoticed in a lifetime of man.
When lakes are used for the disposal of industrial and human
wastes the aging process can be greatly accelerated as has
been thoroughly documented in Lake Zurich in Switzerland and
Lake Washington near Seattle over the past 50 years. Never
before, however, has such a dramatic process of premature
aging been detected in a lake the size of Lake Erie with its
10,000 square miles of surface area.
Any thought that Lake Erie, because of its size, is
an indestructible freshwater resource, has perished. Indeed
recent evidence has shown that the lake is rapidly becoming
useless for things and practices that once were traditional.
The urbanization and industrialization of the area surrounding
Lake Erie and the Detroit River created a pollution load
that has resulted in vast changes in the physical, chemical,
and biological characteristics of the lake. These changes
once noticeable only in the bays and shore areas have spread
throughout the lake, and now are a matter of grave concern to
all who have an interest in, or who depend on this freshwater
resource. Bathing beaches have become unusable; preferred
species of fish are no longer abundant; contamination of
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domestic water supplies offers an ever-increasing problem;
and shore and harbor areas are becoming more difficult to
keep clear for boat traffic.
Lakes age physically, chemically, and biologically.
Progress of physical and chemical changes may be inconspicu-
ous, but they are cumulative. Over 2.6 million tons of silt
enter Lake Erie in a year. Gradual filling makes the lake
shallower and warmer. The use of lake water as a coolant
in power plants can also contribute to warming. An estimated
1.9 trillion gallons of water from the Great Lakes was used
by steam-electric-generating plants in ±959- In addition,
several atomic-power stations are being built on the lakes
because of their great requirements for water to cool the
reactors. Practically nothing is known of the consequences
of increased temperatures on "thermal pollution." Some fish
are attracted to the warm waters and large numbers die, and
others are known to have very sensitive temperature require-
ments at critical life-history stages. Undoubtedly, as with
other types of pollution in the lakes, the immediate effects
of "thermal pollution" will be subtle, and difficult to measure,
Evidences of chemical pollution are clear-cut and
impressive. Untreated and inadequately treated domestic
waste of millions of people in communities bordering or near
Lake Erie is entering the tributaries and marginal waters of
the lake. In addition, the organic industrial waste load
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entering Lake Erie in 1953 was estimated to be equivalent to
a population of about 900,000 by the U. S. Public Health
Service. Inorganic industrial wastes, including toxic sub-
stances, have been reported in many analyses of tributary
streams and lake waters. The concentrations of most dis-
solved chemicals have increased during the last 50 years.
Calcium, magnesium, sodium, and sulfates show increases ranging
from 1 to 10 ppm. Chlorides showed an increase of from 10 ppm
in 1930 to 20 ppm in 1958, Total dissolved solids have
increased steadily at an average rate of 1 ppm per year.
Evidence exists that the concentrations of nitrogen and phos-
phorus compounds have doubled. Very low concentrations of
dissolved oxygen in the central basin of Lake Erie have
occurred during the summer in recent years—a positive indica-
tion of overenrichment resulting from the excessive intro-
duction of organic pollutants. This condition has previously
been unknown for a body of water the size of Lake Erie.
The biological consequences of increased physical
and chemical pollution of Lake Erie have been spectacular.
The mayfly nymph was once the most abundant fish-food
organism inhabiting the bottom of Lake Erie. These clean-
water organisms averaged about M-00 per square meter of lake
bottom for many years; today they average about 40 per square
meter. The adult mayflies that once piled up under street
lights and store windows are no longer evident. Pollution-
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tolerant worms have increased from 12 to 551 per square meter,
and midge larvae (the type that can withstand low-oxygen
iconditions) from 56 to 299 per square meter since 1929. The
bacterial load at the outlet of the Detroit River increased
threefold between 1915 and 1946-48. Major changes have also
occurred in the fish populations. The once abundant cisco,
whitefish, and blue pike that prefer clean water have all
but disappeared. The lake is no longer an ideal habitat for
the walleye and yellow perch. The less desired yet more tol-
jerant species such as white bass, sheepshead, smelt, and carp
|are more abundant. Reports of fish kills are becoming
increasingly common.
The status of Lake Erie as a useful freshwater
I
resource has become uncertain. As impressive as the con-
spicuous changes have been, there may still be more dire
consequences from slow and yet undetected accumulations of
the common detergents and toxic chemicals that continually
enter the lake. Lake Erie can be described accurately as a
dying lake, and because of the subtle cumulative effects of
sewage and industrial wastes, it may be dead even before we
are aware of it.
(Signed) W. F. Carbine
U. S. Bureau of Commercial Fisheries
Ann Arbor, Michigan
October 19, 1961
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TO: W. D. Mclntyre March 19, ±962
On this date (3-19-52) Lawrence Leibold of The Lake
Erie Cleanup Committee, submitted a sample of oil and water
collected at Half Way Creek, at Morin Point. This Creek is
located near the Michigan-Ohio line, near Lake Erie. It was
collected about 4:00 p.m., Sunday, March 18th during the time
that the above mentioned body of water was afire due to
a thick film of oil on the surface, which was inflammable.
The sample contained a large volume of a dark, some-
what viscous oil, which had a Flash Point of 330°F (Cleveland
Open Cup) and a Fire of 355°F (Cleveland Open Cup).
The source of this oil, it developed later, was
traced to the Chevrolet Plant on Alexis Road in Toledo, Ohio.
There were also other contaminations present in the
sample in question, but none of which would support combustion,
(Signed) F. T. Marx
Chief Chemist
* # #
March 19, 1962
POLLUTION TRACED TO OHIO FACTORY
HALF WAY CREEK COVERED BY OIL
Erie Township—The origin of oil that covered Half
Way Creek from Morin Point to a region between Lewis Ave.
and Jackman Rd. about five miles away was traced yesterday
to the Chevrolet transmission plant on Alexis Rd. in Lucas
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County, Ohio.
Morin Point Fire Chief Harry Barnes and several of
Ihis volunteer firemen traced the oil into Ohio before calling
sheriff's deputies to verify the origin of the liquid that
covered the creek.
Deputy Dan Bert said the oil came from the oil-waste
building of the factory. He was accompanied to the plant by
Lucas County sheriff's deputies and plant officials were noti-
fied of the pollution.
John Minicky state conservation officer in the county
said he investigated the situation and made a report to Lansing.
"if any action is taken, it will be taken from the Lansing
office," Officer Minick said.
Chief Barnes today said he found eight dead fish
in the creek which was covered with from one to three inches
of oil. "The creek is covered with barrels and barrels of
oil and it still is coming today," he added.
The fire chief is meeting today with representatives
of the Monroe County Health Department and the Erie Township
supervisor.
R. S. Fulton, chief chemist at the Chevrolet plant,
today said the oil in Half Way Creek apparently came from
liquid which overflowed from a tank at; the plant and worked
its way through the ground into Silver Creek which runs into
Half Way Creek. The official said he did not know how much
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had overflowed.
"The normal discharge of oil from the oil-waste
building goes into the city sanitary sewer line," Mr. Fulton
said.
Ted Ulmer of 293^ Morin Point suffered minor injuries
yesterday while conducting an experiment with Morin Point
volunteer firemen in the creek at the rear of his residence.
Mr. Ulmer ignited the oil on the creek waters with
a blow torch and was singed about the face while fighting the
fire. He refused hospital treatment.
Chief Barnes and his men took liquid from the creek
in buckets and ignited it to test the potency of the oil.
A wind shift will carry the oil into Lake Erie but
residue will remain in the mud and remain a menace to fish and
game, Chief Barnes said.
* * •*
MINUTES OF THE SECOND MEETING OF
LAKE ERIE CLEANUP COMMITTEE
The second meeting of the Lake Erie Clean Up
Committee was held on September 27, ±961, at the Newport Bank.
The meeting was called to order by Chairman John Chascsa at
8:00 P.M. Chairman Chascsa opened the meeting by introducing
the following people: Milton Adams of the Water Resources
Commission; Don Pierce, Engineer for the State Health Dept.;
Daniel Krawezyk, U. S. Public Health Service; Walter McNally,
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President of the Stony Pointe Council of Presidents;
William C. Sterling, State Representative; Norman Blanchett,
Berlin Township Supervisor; Cecil Bornstein, Mid Port Repre-
sentative; Ted Hoffman, representing the Monroe Rod and Gun
Club; Dr. Lawrence Frost, Mayor of the City of Monroe;
Fred Noyes, National Representative of the Isaac Walton
League; Leonard Chase, also representing the Isaac Walton
League; Floyd Pete, President of the North Dixie Business-
men's Association. After which self-introductions were
requested by Mr. Chascsa of the rest of the people in
attendance.
Mr. Adams, Secretary of the Water Resources
Commission, read a letter on Pollution of Sterling State Park
and the reasons for posting of signs.
Donald Pierce of the Sewage Treatment Division of
the Health Department spoke on conditions in surrounding
areas, stressing that the present existing conditions were
of vital concern to the Dept. of Health. He stated that the
City of Detroit was correcting some of their pollution prob-
lems. However, this improvement will not be noticeable to
any extent in this area. Other communities in the Down-
river area, as well as those bordering on the Huron River
as far as Ann Arbor, and those bordering on the River Raisin,
and in Toledo, Ohio on the Maumee River are contributing
factors to the problem we are faced with in Lake Erie.
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These communities are facing the same pollution problems as
we are.
With Detroit's cooperation, it is possible to still
have good fishing, but almost impossible to guarantee pollu-
tion free water for drinking or recreational purposes.
The quality of the water in Lake Erie may be determined in
the future by the U. S. Engineering Survey. As far as
Sterling State Park is concerned, the pollution prevalent
there is a hazard to public health and unfit for recreational
purposes. Tests taken by the State Health Dept. cannot be
depended on as the tides and currents in the lake vary to
such a degree that it is impossible to obtain the same
results from successive tests, as the quality of the water
varies daily. The State has a public trust to determine
whether these waters are fit for public use.
Chairman Chascsa asked the opinion of Mr. Adams
and Mr. Pierce regarding the lawsuit pending against
Van Buren Township. Mr. Pierce elaborated to some extent on
the case. Chairman Chascsa asked why offenders weren't
fined for dumping wastes into the streams. Mr, Adams said
he would welcome proof that any specific industries were guilty
of this offense, that the Water Resources Comm. would
investigate the complaint promptly. He also stated that,
before we get too critical about other conditions, make
sure your own house is clean. Chairman Chascsa explained that
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the only community in this area capable of properly taking
care of their sewage was the City of Monroe, and that the
other communities were being overlooked and had no means of
obtaining funds or other assistance to alleviate their plight.
How can we "clean our house" with pollution coming at us
from all directions.
Daniel Krawezyk, of the U. S. Public Health
Service, stated that he was attending this meeting by a
request from Philip Hart, and that he would report our problem
to his office in Chicago, and that he also requested a copy
of the resolution that was ready by Mayor Frost. He also
stated that the Federal Government might be persuaded to
enter the pollution controversy on Lake Erie if inter-
state pollution were involved, namely Ohio.
Mr. Bornstein, representing Mid Port, U.S.A.,
spoke on the possibility of installation of stabilization
ponds being approved by the Board of Health for the five
township areas. That the time element; and the assistance
of getting an opinion from the Board cf Health was of great
concern to their organization. He was assured by Donald
Pierce that the Board of Health would not hold them up if
the township boards would set a date, the Board of Health
would meet with them. Mr. Bornstein again asked, can you
give me a definite length of time it would take us to get
an answer from the State Health Dept.? Mr. Pierce stated
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it would be given within one weeks time.
Mayor Frost spoke on the water conditions causing
loss of valuations of properties in beach areas throughout
the County. That today is the time to act and not just talk
about this problem. He also stated that on Sept. 26, ±960,
a resolution was made by the Monroe County Board of Super-
visors, stating that the pollution of waters of Lake Erie
was becoming a serious problem and detrimental to wild life,
boating and swimming and it was the feeling of the Board
that the problem should be studied by competent authority.
Also that a copy of this resolution be sent to the U. S.
Public Health Service, State Water Resources Commission,
State Senators and Representatives. But it seems that these
authorities have not knowledge of such -a resolution.
Mr. McNally, asked Mayor Frost why the City of
Monroe showed no incentive to cooperate with their group on
this pollution problem, and asked if the City had any
authority over Industrial Pollution? Mayor Frost answered
that the Water Resources Commission has complete jurisdiction.
Mr. Adams spoke on the solution that the Water
Resources Commission had suggested in the past that an
engineer should be employed to study this problem but it had
not been followed through. Also that a legal advisor could
'give typo of project. The representative of the Isaac
Walton League stated that their organization was a defender
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of water, soil, and wild life. That the League has lobbyists
in Washington that are well aware of our problem. We are very
much interested in your problem and v/ish to assist. We do
not know at this moment, just how we can help your committee,
but I know that we will help. Perhaps you will have to send
a delegation to Washington as we did. This group should
always remember that man is bigger than any problem he may
encounter.
State Representative, Win Sterling, spoke on his
interest in this pollution campaign, and that action was
needed to change the picture, that he would welcome a
recommendation from the committee to be presented in Lansing.
Richard Mowers asked Mr. Pierce what steps had been
taken to take care of atomic fall»out contamination of public
waters? Mr. Pierce suggested that in order to obtain a
sound and factual answer to contact Mr. Vanderbelde.
Norman Blanchett, Berlin Township Supervisor,
offered the use of the Township Hall for the next meeting.
Chairman Chascsa asked that organization working with this
committee appoint a chairman to represent their members and
keep them informed of the progress of this committee.
It was also requested that the County Board of
Supervisors, and all other officials that could in any way
be of help in solving our problem, be invited to attend our
next meeting, as well as all interested groups and
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individuals. The next meeting will take place on Wednesday,
October 25, ±961, in the Berlin Township Hall. Mr. Chascsa
thanked all workers of this committee on obtaining the many
signatures and to keep up the good work. They should be
mailed to Senator Hart or returned to us at the October 25th
meeting.
Meeting was adjourned at 10:30 P.M.
Respectfully submitted,
Irene Finck, Secretary
* * *
MINUTES OF THE THIRD MEETING OF
LAKE ERIE CLEANUP COMMITTEE
The third meeting was held at the Berlin Township
Hall, Newport, Michigan on October 25, ±961. Meeting was
called to order by Chairman John Chascsa. Secretary
Irene Finck read the minutes from the previous meeting.
Minutes were approved as read. Letters from Senators Hart
and McNamara and telegram from Fred Noyes was read.
John Chascsa then introduced the following people:
State Senator Porter
State Representative Copeland
State Representative Win Sterling
Chester Holly, Representing the U. S. Army Corps
of Engineers
Paul Findlay, Air and Water Pollution official
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from Ohio
Mr. Howard, Area Development Division of Detroit
Edison Company
Mr. Myers from the Regional Planning Commission
Doctor Barrett, Monroe County Board of Health
Wallace Benzie, State Board of Health
Wm. Braumlich, Monroe Chamber of Commerce
Geo. Hazey, Wyandotte Water Authority
J. D. Winjeart, Wayne County Road Commission
Reuben Orr, from the Isaac Walton League
Curtis Yoas, Frenchtown Township Supervisor
Norman Blanchett, Barlin Township Supervisor
Mr. Chascsa then spoke of his concern of the many
cases of hepatitis that exists in Monroe County and no one
seems to be doing anything to holp correct this condition.
Ho also stated that this Committee expected the officials of
authority and the people to get behind this Committee and sec
that something is done to solve this pollution problem.
We want everyone of you people here to feel that you are a
/part of this problem. That with our combined efforts we can
arrive at a solution.
Doctor Barrett was asked to explain to the group
present just what the various agencies were doing in regards
to this pollution problem.
Doctor Barrett stated that just what we have here
-------
tonight is what has been needed for a long time. Y/e need
interested groups to help us correct this pollution problem.
Y/e know that more sewage plants and pipes need to be laid.
Monroe County has a flatness of area. ™e have a good code.
\mendments have been made recently. Twelve hundred (1200)
Septic tanks are installed under this code a year. These
septic tanks are nothing to be proud of even though they are
installed under supervision. They are a poor second choice
to a sewage system. I do not know the answer except to keep
eternally active and keep looking for the Engineer we would
like to have. T,7e are trying to check sources of pollution.
Many homes are causing pollution and they cannot correct the
situation on the premises they own. I know of no way except
by Municipal Lev/age.
Art Ncidermeier, Chairman of the Monroe County
Board of Supervisors, stated that at any time the Board of
Supervisors could be of assistance to this C0mmittee -
moral support, passing of Resolutions - that would help this
problem the full cooperation of the Board would be given.
Senator Porter spoke oh immunity - that now any
municipality could be sued. He then stated the density of
population in the urban areas without any provisions made
for the needed water and sewage facilities is causing a
great problem, but dollars can settle all problems. The big-
question is to get all the people to agree on how to spend
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these dollars. Real estate is already taxed to the limit.
Pollution problem is facing us. Now, who is going to pay the
bill to correct this problem. On account of this pollution,
bath houses at Sterling State Park win not be built next
year. In my own home town, Blissfield, Michigan, the
residents are now learning, to their sorrow, of the mistake
the engineers made by not bringing in both water and sewers
at the same time.
Senator Copeland stated that due to his many
official positions he had served on over the past years, he
was well aware of our problem. He also stated that if the
Water Resources Commission would live up to their duties and
enforce the laws most of the problem would be solved. He
explained his Bill Ho. lj>0 on Water Use and Rights. That
this Bill would assign a specific group to make a compre-
hensive study of the situation caused by the rapid popula-
tion growth, industrial expansion and ways to improve muni-
cipal sewer and water facilities. In fact, all water uses and
rights. He spoke of costing Dow Chemical Company more money
to purify the water to put it back into the streams than
it did to pump it in from the river and bring it up again.
When they found this out they started to utilize efficiency.
Now this is what is going to have to be done here. Such
groups as you people that are gathered here tonight, is what
it takes to make these companies realize their responsibilities
OPO 820819-C—El
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to the communities. You have air pollution control and the
same is going to have to be enforced concerning water.
Paul Findlay, Air and Water Pollution Engineer
from Ohio, stated that this pollution problem concerns us all.
It will do no good for Michigan to clean up its water if
Ohio doesn't and vice-versa. We will endeavor to do our part
in helping this Committee achieve its purpose.
Mr. Chascsa asked if it was true that Michigan has
no appropriation of funds for facilities to test water.
Mr. Benzie answered that the Water Resources Commission has
complete equipment for water analysis and it is located in
Lansing. Also, a mobile unit travels throughout the State.
We started on water pollution control in 192?.
"Then why are we unable to get reports on water
pollution?" Mr. Chascsa asked.
Senator Porter answered that, "I will find out
tomorrow if the Health Department and Water Resources has
the needed facilities and if they haven't, you can rest
assured that I will find out why".
Attorney Win. Braunlich spoke on the concern of his
Committee about the situation that exists at Sterling State
Park and that their Committee would continue to study why
such an answer v/as given concerning the posting of Sterling
State Park. That perhaps this study would help determine
where the neglect of duty lies.
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Harold Rapson, also a member of this same Committee,
spoke of his concern on such a wasting of funds as what
has been spent at State Park and then to be told that Lake
Erie would never be safe for swimming. As Senator Copeland
stated the laws are adequate, but I fail to find very few
instances where .these laws are enforced.
Mr. Childs told of Monroe County having more miles
of open sewage drains than any other county in the State of
Michigan and until we can get a basic answer as to why
such pollution problems as have been mentioned here tonight
are not being taken care of by those in authority, or until
they will say why they refuse to do anything about these
problems, our battle should continue.
Erick Bergmann told the need for water and sewers
was not only throughout the beach areas, but was needed
throughout the entire county, and, in his opinion, the
establishing of a Department of Public Works by the Monroe
County Board of Supervisors would supply the tools that were
needed for small communities to correct their own troubles,
and through this Department the faith and credit of the
entire county would be given.
Mr. Neidermeier said that this Department does
furnish the tools to work with, but what would happen in
this county if we would create such a Department when at
the present time there is arguments about the advisability
-.*••'
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for us to appoint the County Road Commission. This Department
would require a lot of legal research. We have attorneys
here with us tonight, perhaps they could make a report on the
benefits of creating this D.P.W.
Mr. Hazey explained that his responsibility was to
supply safe water to all residents of Wyandotte. He also
suggested that this Committee proceed with caution and get
all the facts. We are well aware that this is going to cost
many dollars to correct a problem that should have been taken
care of ten years ago. He explained the cooperative effort
between U. S. and Canada under the International Joint
Treaty guarding boundary waters and that the Detroit River
is a boundary water. That Article IV of this Treaty
stipulated that boundary waters and waters flowing across
the boundary shall not be polluted on either side to the
injury of health or property on the other side. That any
party in one country may request the federal government of
that country to refer the matter to the Commission,, The
prime responsibility for the control of pollution of these
boundary waters rest with the State of Michigan, New York
State, and the Province of Ontario. We have in Detroit a
Public Health Service under this International Joint Treaty.
Why isn't the objective being followed in order to protect
these waters? Perhaps a fact finding committee is what is
needed to present facts to the right authority. Let's get
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together and have our Representative look into the law and
find out why the objective that was set up by this Internation-
al Treaty has not been enforced. Industry in the Detroit
area has done a good job in cleaning up this pollution. We
imust give credit where credit is due. Industry is learning
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industry, but without water and sewer facilities available
we have no inducement to industry. This area has many assets,
and that one day the whole down river and Monroe would be
one unit.
Chester Holly, U. S. Army Corp Engineer, explained
their authority only covered deposits harmful to navigation.
That our problem, as he saw it, was with the Water Resources
and the Board of Health.
Richard Mowers suggested that sub-committees be
set up in order to investigate various phases of our problem,
and also suggest remedies to the Clean-up Committee.
Representatives of the Rod and Gun Club offered
the use of their Club to the Committee for future meetings.
They also suggested the setting up of sub-committees.
Next meeting was scheduled to be held at the
Chinchilla Ranch on November 8.
Notices to be mailed out to all Chairmen of organi-
zations listed with this Committee of time and place of
next meeting.
Meeting adjourned at 11:15 P.M.
Respectfully submitted
Irene Finck, Secretary
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6l4
MINUTES OF THE FOURTH MEETING OF
LAKE ERIE CLEANUP COMMITTEE
The fourth meeting was held on December 5, ±961,
at Newport Bank. The meeting was called to order by
Chairman John Chascsa. Secretary Irene Finck read the
minutes of previous meeting. Minutes were approved as read.
Letters from Senator Hart, Senator McNamara, Boyd Benedict,
Water Resources Commission, Michigan Botanical Club, and
Paul Findlay of Ohio were read.
Thirty persons representing Lake Shore communities
from Estral Beach to Lost Peninsula were present. Also in
attendance was Alfred Ming of the Ohio Fishermens Associa-
tion, George Hasey, Supt. of Wyandotte Water Works,
Mr. and Mrs. Harold Dey, Anthony Collino and Ralph Gaynier.
Mr. Ming was then introduced. He spoke on their
interest in this pollution problem. He stated that an
organized group known as the Lake Erie Resources Council
of Ohio were having their annual meeting on January 8th
and 9th at the Secor Hotel in Toledo and that he would like
to see this Lake Erie Cleanup Committee well represented at
this meeting.
George Hazey stated that there was talk of
Michigan needing $50,000 to make a study of this pollution
problem, but he felt that there is no need to spend all
this money on a survey that will only tell us what we
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615
already know.
Mr. Chascsa stated that the purpose of this meeting
was to strengthen this committee by setting up an advisory
board composed of leaders throughout the whole Lake Erie
Shore Line. That this committee will continue to operate
until a solution to eliminate this pollution to our water
wonderland has been achieved.
B. C. Pierce of Stony Pointe told of the loss of
real estate values in his area and of how they had no success
in asking local officials to take action on their behalf.
Melvin Currey of Woodland Beach stated that per-
haps we needed more men in the State Capitol that would make
the laws and also see that they were enforced.
Bert Whitney of Stony Pointe stated that the Water
Resources Comm. is the office that holds the whip and
wondered were they really faced with the problem of not
having enough money and man power in order to do their duty.
The Federal Pollution Control Act on Boundary
Waters, 1961 Amendment, was read by Secretary Irene Finck.
Mr. Parish suggested that William Collins of the
Monroe News could help this group in finding a way to get
a wider newspaper coverage.
Mr. Collins suggested that this committee might
appoint a commission to go to Lansing and meet with the
Governor.
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616
Larry Liebold presented a map showing the complete
area of location of this committee's representatives.
It was also suggested that a meeting be called
with heads of industry and all interested officials in order
to try and work out a solution to this pollution problem.
A solution that would benefit industry, property owners and
officials. That perhaps through this gathering of brain-
power it could be determined where the neglect of duty lies.
John Chascsa stated that Mayor Frost of Monroe is
helping all he can in this situation and is very interested.
Also that industry needs clean water and does not want
polluted water any more than we do. We must try to work
together and not fight each other if we are ever to arrive
at a solution.
George Hazey suggested that we write for a 1951
Pollution report of boundary waters.
Shelby Brooks made a motion that this group be
authorized to adopt a resolution to send the Constitutional
Convention asking to have the word wilful removed from the
law, under (Act 117, Public Acts of 19^9, Sec. 9) which
now reads as follows:
"Any person who wilfully violates any provision of
this act or any restricted regulation or final order of
determination of the commission made thereunder shall be
subject to a penalty of not to exceed $500.00 per day for
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617
each and every day of such violation, such penalty to be
removed in a suit in the Circuit Court."
B. C. Pierce seconded the motion. Motion carried.
Frank Scott made a motion that an advisory board
and committee heads be named or appointed. Motion seconded
by Bert Whitney. Motion carried.
Ted Hoffman was appointed Vice Chairman.
Lawrence Liebold appointed Finance Chairman.
Irene Finck, Correspondence Chairman.
Erick Bergmann, Atty. William Braunlich, Atty.
Ralph Mensing were named to head a resolution and legal
committee.
Bert Whitney, Statistics and Miscellaneous Chair-
man.
Representatives of all localities to make up the
advisory board.
Bert Whitney was asked to head a committee that
would compose a list of all residence along the water front.
It was also suggested that Erick Bergmann be
asked to gather information on establishing a County Depart-
ment of Public Works.
John Chascsa suggested that the Secretary send
out information of this organized group, inviting each
community leader to appoint or elect the person they wish
to be their representative on the advisory board. Other
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618
appointments to be named at a later date. It was also
suggested that Larry Liebold contact groups who are interested
in helping this committee achieve its goal. Donations are
needed lor stamps, stationery and office supplies in order
to carry out the will of the people that have attended our
previous meetings.
Shelby Brooks of Baycrest suggested the name and
address of where to send these donations be given at this
meeting.
John Chascsa stated that checks be made to Lake
Erie Cleanup Committee and mailing address is
Mrs. Irene Finck, 5003 Eleventh Street, Detroit Beach,
Monroe, Michigan, or call CH 2-3579 or LU 6-3978.
Frank Scott asked that next meeting be held at
the Monroe County Rod and Gun Club.
Motion to adjourn by Melvin Currey. Seconded by
David Finck.
Respectfully submitted,
Irene Finck, Secretary
# * •*
MINUTES OF THE FIFTH MEETING OF
LAKE ERIE CLEANUP COMMITTEE
The fifth meeting was held at the Monroe County
Rod and Gun Club on January ±6, ±962. Victor Kane,
president of the Rod and Gun Club, welcomed the group
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6l9
present. Among the two hundred in attendance were:
22 Representatives of Industry
John M. h.ademacher, US chief enforcement of
US Health
Grover W. Cook, Biologist of U.S. Public Health
Service
Loring Oeming of Water Resources Commission
Dr. Barrett of Monroe County Health Dept.
Robert S. Howard of Area Development Division
P. E. Landback of Detroit Board of Water Com-
missioners
Lawrence E. Fiost, Mayor of Monroe
Chester Weber, Monroe County Health Dept.
Michael Haag, Riverview Pollution Commissioner
Robert E. Kemper, Industrial Waste Inspector of
Toledo
Paul Findlay, ^ir and Water Pollution Control
Engineer of Ohio
George Hazey, Superintendent of Water Division
of Wyandotte
Clyde L. Palmer, City Engineer of Detroit
Curtis Yoas, Frenchtown Township Supervisor and
Board Members
Daniel Buton, Monroe County Drain Commissioner
Lewis E. Fleuelling, Monroe Chamber of Commerce,
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620
Lake Erie Committee
W. F. Carbine of U.S. Bureau of Commercial Fisher-
ies of Ann Arbor
Carl J. Roth, President of Michigan Outdoors
34 Cities and Villages and various organizations
were represented
Many other interested citizens were also present.
Meeting was called to order by chairman John
Chascsa. Secretary Irene Finck read the minutes from the
previous meeting. Minutes were approved as read. Letters
from various State officials were read. A letter from
Senator Hart extending his greetings to the Lake Erie
Cleanup Committee which read as follows:
You were pleased I hope, that we were able to work
out plans for a joint federal-state action program to
attack this pollution problem. Certainly your group has
had a large part to play in calling attention to this need.
Larry Liebold, Treasurer, presented "Certificates
of Appreciation" to the Baycrest Association, Estral Beach
Village, Monroe County Rod and Gun Club for the donations
they had contributed to the Lake Erie Cleanup Committee.
John Chascsa then spoke on water qualities and
the needed efforts of industry and all people combined, in
order to eliminate this pollution.
Vice President Ted Hoffman told of his collection
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621
of information regarding pollution over the past twenty years.
His display included pictures and proof of various causes of
pollution. He also passed around photos showing the damage
caused by polluted waters to our ducks and wild life, also
17 samples on display showed excessive solids from various
industrial outlets.
Mr. John M. Rademacher of the Public Health Service,
stated that he was taking the place of Murray Stein of
Washington, B.C., who is the Chairman of the Public Health
Service, but was unable to attend this meeting. He told of
the two-man teams from the health agency who are here
investigating the Detroit river and the Lake Erie shore line.
That under the new provisions of the Federal Water
Pollution Control Act, which permits the Secretary to invoke
federal enforcement procedures in intrastate waters when
invited to do so by a State Governor. That on December 6,
±961, Governor Swainson requested action under Section 8,
of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, to assist the
State of Michigan in correcting sources of pollution coming
into the Detroit River and subsequently into Lake Erie.
When this investigation is completed a Conference
will be held between State officials and representatives of
our regional office at Chicago and Washington with Murray
Stein as Chairman.
Reports of our findings and investigations will be
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studied and further action will then be determined.
The hearing is the second step. If the third step
becomes necessary, it is the court action.
Our responsibility is to determine how much pollu-
tion exists. All available information is being taken in
order to determine what is here. The reports will cover
sources of pollution, Water Quality, Uses of Water, Recreation
on public, and semi-public beaches, boating, swimming, fish-
ing, and wild life.
As of now the date of the conference has not been
set. We of the U.S. Public Health Service, are very happy
to be of service to the people, and to be able to help out
in this pollution problem.
Loring Oeming of the Y/ater Resources Commission
stated that through the calling in of the Federal agents,
that his agency is being temporarily displaced. That it
is estimated that the Federal investigation process will take
about one to one and one-half years.
Mr. W. D. Mclntyre of Monroe Auto Equipment, stated
that we have problems but the Monroe Auto Equipment intends
to correct them. He pledged that his industry would clean
up its effluent into the river, no matter what it would
cost them. He read from a written report of pollution in
waters in and around Monroe. It was dated August 31, 1961.
It was a report to W. D. Mclntyre from Forrest T. Marx,
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625
chief chemist. Mr. Mclntyre offered to John M. Rademacher
the services of providing test of samples. We are pleased
that the Federal government is going to help out in this
problem. Let's make sure we stop this pollution. Industry
can improve their income by abating this pollution. But
eighteen months should not be needed to verify a fact that
has already been established.
Dr. Barrett stated that he was pleased to see the
interest that was being shown in trying to clean up areas
where there are no sewage facilities. There are big
problems in areas where homes had been built on small lots,
Are these homes to be condemned, or are we to build sewers
and plants. We are trying to find a way to do those things
that we know should be done. It is certainly good to see
that finally we are getting co-operation. Septic tanks are
a poor second choice. All of Monroe County needs sewage
systems. In beach areas especially, they are needed. I
can see no other answer, the Health Department will help all
we can. Immediate action should be taken. Plans should be
presented within ninety days.
Bob Morris of Consolidated Paper Co., stated that
his company has spent thousands of dollars in treating
facilities in their three Monroe plants. I feel that the
Water Resources Commission is a very dedicated group. We
welcome the Federal boys and we will give them any help that
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624
they will require.
Clarence Hanthorn of the River Raisin Paper Co.,
stated that their company had spent better than one an one-
half million dollars over the past ten years on this problem.
B. C. Pierce of Stony Pointe presented a copy of
a letter that had been mailed to local and state officials,
informing them of the pollution conditions existing along
the lake shore on their beach area. The letter was dated
July, 1961, from the Stony Pointe Council of Presidents.
Mr. Pierce stated that he presented the letter at this meeting
because he wondered if Mr. Oeming of the Water Resources
Commission could tell him why over a period of six months
there had been no reply to this letter, not even from the
agency which Mr. Oeming represents.
Mr. Howard of the Detroit Edison Co., stated that
it was quite evident that this group that is gathered here
is certainly interested in making progress in their
community. Now is the time to prepare for future growth.
George Hazey, Wyandotte water Superintendent
reported that industry has done a good job. Let's give credit
where credit is due. Every problem has its cest. That we
the people are the federal government, the group present
should be commended for the battle they are trying to solve.
C. W. Cook of the U.S. Health Service, stated
that the wagon wheel is squeaking and the grease is going
GPO 820819-C—9
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625
to be applied,
John Chases?- 'old the group present that this Lake
Erie Cleanup Committee intends to go all the way. It is you
people that gives this committee the strength to continue
on with this campaign. We are all guilty of pollution but
together we can solve this problem. We here, in Monroe,
must make provisions now, in order to protect our waters,
and the health of our people, along with plans for inducing
industry. Mr. Chascsa informed the attendance that copies
of the minutes of our third meeting and also a copy of the
letter that was sent to Secretary Ribicoff, would be given
to all who wanted one.
Mrs. Panza, presented a check of $20.00, from
the Stony Pointe Recreation Club, stating that this dona-
tion had been raised by a group of children through the
selling of papers and other projects.
Donations v~re slso presented from Stony Pointe
Council of Presidents and from Avalon Beach.
The Ladies Aiv/:iliary from the Rod and Gun Club,
served coffee and lunch which was enjoyed by all.
Respectfully submitted,
Irene Finck, Secretary
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626
MINUTES OF THE SIXTH MEETING OF
LAKE ERIE CLEANUP COMMITTEE
The sixth meeting of the Lake Erie Cleanup Committee
was held at the Donald M. Squier V.F.W. Hall on February 1,
19o2.
Present were John Chascsa, unairman; Ted Hoffman,
Vice President; Larry Liebold, Treasurer; and Irene Finck,
Secretary. Also present were representatives of various
cities, boat clubs, organizations, arid associations along
the Lake Erie shore line. Ralph Gaynier, Alfred Jacobs,
Chester Weber, and John Hancock, all of the Monroe County
Board of Health. Also present were Arthur Tillman, Vice
President of Local 7-456 O.C.A.W. and Clyde L. Palmer,
City Engineer of Detroit.
Minutes of previous meeting were read by Secretary.
Minutes approved as read. Treasurer reported that the bank
account showed $l60.00. Bills presented for the cost of
supplies were $30.50. B. C. Pierce of Stony Pointe made a
motion that the bills as presented to be paid. Seconded by
Shelby Brooks of Bay Crest. Motion carried.
A letter from J. M. Rademacher of U. S. Department
of Health, Education and Welfare, in which he stated that the
Honorable Abraham A. Ribicoff, Secretary of the Dept. of
Health and Welfare, has called a conference to be held at
Detroit, Michigan, in the banquet room in the Veteran's
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627
Memorial Building, ±51 W. Jefferson, on March 27, 1962.
That any group or organization wishing to present a state-
ment to the conference must secure an invitation from the
Michigan Water Resources Commission. A copy of the minutes
of our meetings were also requested by Mr. Rademacher.
Literature from the Michigan State University
Dept. of Resources Development at E. Lansing, gave infor-
mation regarding a conference of Lake Associations to be
held on March 7, ±962, was also read.
Mr. Bert Whitney of Stony Pointe reported that he
would appreciate volunteers to assist him with the list of
registered voters.
Ted Hoffman spoke about the map that was on display
and drawn up by many hours of work by Larry Liebold. The
map shows the locations of various organizations that are
representatives of this committee along the Lake Erie
shore line. Ted Hoffman stated that the Federal men will
give us all something to think about and surely something
to work with. He also presented a sample of effluent
taken from one of the Monroe mills. The representative
of this mill at the January l6th meeting stated that they
were doing a good job in eliminating pollution. But this
sample that was just taken today certainly proved otherwise.
He will obtain samples from outlets in the River Raisin
to present at the Conference.
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628
Mr. Jacobs of the Health Dept. spoke on. the disease
of hepatitis and how it has effected the health and welfare
of the community.
Mr. Billie K. Payne of the Rouge Kecreation Boat
Club stated that they were happy to be part of the Lake
Erie Cleanup Committee, and were glad to be able to join
in with the Committees efforts. That the Boat Club members
had obtained 800 signatures on petitions addressed to
Senator Hart which will be mailed at a later date. I am
sure my group will be pleased to hear that the date has been
set for the conference called by the Secretary of U. S. Health
and Welfare.
John Hancock of Monroe County Health Department
stated that there is a need for such groups as are gathered
here tonight. We need to think and plan for the future.
The Health Department's feeling is that most all sub-
divisions should have a central sewage disposal system.
The benefits of establishing a Monroe County
Department of Public Works were also discussed. It was also
suggested that Mr. Jewells of the Area Redevelopment Admin-
istration be contacted for information from his office
regarding the financial backing need for the projects facing
this area.
Mr. Diamond of North Shores Estates told of the
Custer School area problem. That townships should set up
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629
master plans to show where main sewers are going to be. Y/e
should do the right thing now and not keep repeating the same
wrong that has been going on over the last twenty years.
It was also discussed at the meeting the 1,800
miles of open and 250 miles of closed drainage ditches in
Monroe County, one-half of which received deposits of
raw sewage. That some of the raw waste flows directly into
the network from homes without benefit of septic tanks.
Mr. Hancock stated that a sewage system is the answer,
but that steps to that end are still in the offing.
The troubles existing at Sandy Creek Drain, Golf-
crest and Ida, Michigan, were also discussed. Mr. Chascsa
asked if the Monroe County Health Department would investigate
without a written complaint. Mr. Jacobs of the Health Dept.
answered that they must have a written complaint before an
investigation is made.
John Chascsa suggested that perhaps this committee
should propose a resolution to be sent the Legislatures.
Mr. Shelby Brooks of BayCrest made a motion that
the Lake Erie C eanup Committee adopt a resolution recommend-
ing the Water Resources Commission and the State Health
Department prohibit the operation of new industries and the
establishment of new subdivisions until they have met re-
quirements for proper treatment of sewage. B. C. Pierce
seconded the motion. Motion carried. John Chascsa suggested
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6^0
that this resolution be sent to National and State Legis-
lators, as well as the State agencies involved.
Milton King made a motion that this committee be
represented, at the Lake Association Conference on March 7,
±962, at E. Lansing, Seconded by David Finck. Motion
carried.
John Chascsa pointed out the need for all repre-
sentatives of this committee to compose written information
on their pollution problem in order to become part of a
report of this committee, that is to be presented at the
March 27th Conference. He also stated that this committee
was going to request from the Water Resources Commission,
an invitation to be heard at the Conference.
Mr. Diamond was asked to please send a letter to
the secretary, describing the source and location of pollution
of which he spoke earlier in the meeting. This information
should become part of our report to the conference in Detroit,
Michigan on March 27, ±962.
Donations presented at the meeting were made by
Milton King of Monroe, B. C. Pierce of Stony Pointe Association
•
and Billie K. Payne of Rouge Recreation Boat Club.
Mr. Diamond of North Shores delivered a Liberator
200 to the Committee which must be returned to the donator,
Mr. Goosman, when it is of no longer use to the Lake Erie
Cleanup Committee.
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631
Motion to adjourn by Willis Webster of Woodland
Beach. Seconded by Bert Whitney of Stony Pointe. Meeting
adjourned at 10:00 P.M.
Respectfully submitted,
Irene Finck, Secretary
* •* *
VILLAGE OF ESTRAL BEACH
Lake Erie Clean-Up Committee
P.O. Newport, Michigan
December 15, 1961
Mr. Ribicoff, Secretary
Health, Education and Welfare
Washington, D. C.
Dear Mr. Ribicoff:
Several years ago a group of irate citizens from
the City of Gibralter and the Village of Estral Beach became
concerned about the deplorable condition of the Detroit River
and Lake Erie, and under the guidance of Mr. Ily Dahlka and
Mrs. Jessie Marsh, organized a meeting of interested citizens
from the adjoining communities to make a formal protest to
the Michigan Water Resources Commission. This meeting
turned out to be a fizzle, as had many others.
Later, at a council meeting of the Council of
Estral Beach, I proposed a resolution to form a committee
to combat pollution at its place of origin. The resolution
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passed unanimously.
From this group the present "Lake Erie Clean-up
Committee" originated. I was elected to serve as Chairman
of the Committee till we had achieved our aim.
After many months of listening to alibis, excuses
and buck passing, the Committee decided to contact Senator
Hart, Senator McNamara, Congressman Meader and our state
officials, Representatives Sterling, Copeland, Petri and
State Senator Elmer Porter to take action in behalf of the
people.
Several meetings of public officials and state
agencies as well as federal agencies and the people who were
losing their agrarian rights in the affected area have
shown the great need for immediate concern and action on the
proper levels.
We have contacted many agencies in the course
of action taken by this group and they all assure us that
we are doing a tremendous job. We do realize this and do not
mind the work involved if a solution is developed. So far
assurances have come from all sources and all directions. Our
conclusion is that you alone have the answer.
When we speak of depressed areas, what is our think-
ing - no jobs? slums? health hazards? lack of education? Do
we consider what these conditions are created from''
Not too many years have pus>ed since I (as a boy)
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635
swam in the River Rouge, Ecorse Creek, Detroit River, Huron
River, River Raisin, Plum Creek, Lake Erie and Lake St. Clair.
But now, I cannot rest well if one of my children has been
in any of the streams I have mentioned. These are not the
only polluted streams in Michigan as you will see from the
information you v/ill receive in this letter later on.
You might as why the concern. If the outbreak of
hepatitis, typhoid, skin infections, gastroenteritis, con-
junctivitis, poliomyelitis, asceptic meningitis and many
other disease isn1t sufficient, our efforts are in vain.
Why then should we permit filth in our waters; the often
crippling disease and such, when it would be a sacrilege to
have these same conditions in our homes.
We pride ourselves on being a nation of intellectuals
capable of directing the destinies of the world, setting the
standards for others to follow, and right at our own door-
step is a problem that defies our advanced science, or per-
haps we choose to regard this threat as too im mature for our
advanced minds.
We talk about the Atom bomb, nuclear fallout and
the threat of Russia's Kruschev. We encourage, in a panic
way, the building of fallout shelters and such. These things
are not any more dangerous than our number one problem and
that is the pollution of our waters.
For years it has been called to the attention of
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various state and federal health agencies, Water Resources
Commissions, etc., with the resultant investigations, meeting
various agencies, both here and in Canada. The end result—
always the same—(something should be done about it). But—
What?
I have several articles clipped from the Detroit
News, Monroe News, Toledo Blade, Detroit Free Press and from
several magazines. Quote: Detroit News, December 6th--"Lake
Erie Nearer Death Than You Think". Earlier in the season—
Monroe Evening News--"Sterling State Park Closed, Water
Polluted". All papers heralded this—"City of Ann Arbor
being sued by Van Buren Township Officials", "City of
Ypsilanti and Township of Ypsilanti also involved in pollution
case", "Dumping of Raw Sewage into the Huron River laid to
Ann Arbor". Then, "Poison chemicals followed down the River
Raisin". "Unknown fish kill plagues Leamington, Ontario".
"Beaches Polluted". "Sarnia accused of dumping Raw Sewage
and Chemicals into Detroit River". "Lake Erie Fishermen
deplore loss of commercial fishing grounds, due to pollution".
It is sickening to quote laws and regulations that
are being disregarded every day and no seeming authority to
enforce them.
We point to countries such as; China, South America,
Viot Nam, Korea and many others whom we offer to help
eliminate the same conditions that we tolerate right here at
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635
home. Certainly, we should help others to help themselves;
but we should be willing to lend a hand to those of our own
country men who need help. It is no more right to tax the
American citizen to help outsiders than it is to let our own
people shift for themselves when they need help to eliminate
pollution problems and other deplorable conditions right here
at home.
If steps are not taken to eliminate this unwholesome
condition soon the whole Lake Erie shore line will have to be
condemned as a contaminated area.
We offer as a solution:
I. Creation of a coordinating Board or authority
with powers to assit or compel the Water
Resources Commission to work with the Health
Department in behalf of the public, whom they
do presumably serve.
II. To coordinate the water resources of all
states bordering on public waters to work
together with the federal agencies and
Canada to maintain a steady flow of sanitary
and safe water into our streams.
III. Discourage industries and municipalities from
dumping their untreated or raw sewage into
any public streams or bodies of water.
IV. To discourage lobbying by Corporations and
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636
individuals to change and/or alter any laws
pertaining to the health or welfare of the
public without a public hearing and referendum
vote.
V. To insist that proper sewage treatment plants
and w ate IT facilities be installed in even
the remotest village and assist all communi-
ties to obtain funds to do the work to the
government specifications required.
VI. Insist that industries and larger cities
install reclamation plants which in time will
pay for themselves.
VII. To encourage the use of our chemists,, biolo-
gists, engineers and technicians in the
advanced study of improved technics involving
industrial wastes and sewage treatment.
/'III. In reclaiming industrial wastes and sewage,
the project could be sponsored jointly by
government and industry. It would create new
fields and still serve a dual purpose while
paying for itself.
IX. To provide proper disposal depots along the
rivers to unload their sewage and garbage
accumulated aboard ships.
X. By making our population conscious of their
-------
responsibility to their neighbors.
Not only'would we eliminate a common problem but we
would also stimulate employment as well and we could continue
to enjoy the God given waters once more.
As I have pointed out, many organizations, conser-
vation, recreational, civic and health groups have complained
and met with various authorities. Many hours have been given
to this problem and our public enemy '1 is still with us.
I am enclosing a six months report prepared for
the Macomb Nature G oup by Miss Daubendiek of Mount Clemens.
In it you will find the methods and speed with which this
vital problem is dealt with. It will also point out the
laxity with which industry is permitted to operate. You
will also find that the report by the Izaak Walton League
has developed a very precise report. Mr. Fred Noyes, who
is the State President of the Izaak Y/alton League, states
that their organization is continually in Washington combat-
ting the pollution problem. I am also enclosing several
clippings. Senator Hart is in receipt of many sent him by
myself and others.
With the pollution problem so bad here, the cities
of Y/yandotte, Monroe, Flat i ock as well as all the beach
areas and even Detroit is in danger of losing their water
supply.
The Ohio Commercial Fishermen's Association and the
-------
City of Toledo is fighting the same problem and has been for
some time.
laere will be a meeting at the Secor Hotel in
Toledo, Ohio on the eighth of January, Nineteen sixty-two at
eight, sponsored by the Ohio Commercial Fishermen's Associa-
tion. It would be nice for you to be represented there.
Doctor Danville will be the guest of honor. A report on the
condition of the waters and bottom of Lake Erie will be given.
The Lake Erie Clean-Up Committee is scheduling a
meeting for the middle of January and we would like for you
to be present or to try to have a representative there. We
are planning to invite all the industries who are involved
to send a representative as well as the Health Department
and Water Resources Commission.
If you should find that the suggestion of a
coordinating authority meets with your approval, I. feel that
this group could be of further service by becoming a part
of such an authority.
Our purpose:
I. To eliminate human suffering because of
pollution; lessen the needless scourge of
hepatitis and other diseases.
II. To encourage further scientific research of
waste disposal.
III. To make available our lakes and streams,
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639
once more, for safe recreation and consumption,
IV. To create, or have created, an authority
with sufficient powers to enforce all existing
pollution laws as well as any that be enacted
in the future.
V. To assist in any way possible to find ways
and means of financing and to encourage the
construction of waste disposal plants and
safe water facilities for home consumption.
With hopes for a mutually acceptable conclusion of
this problem, I remain
TLespectfully,
(Signed) John Chascsa, Chairman
* * *
Honorable: Philip A. Hart, United States Senator,
l6l Did Senate Office Building
Washington, D. C.
Dear Senator:
We, the residents and property owners of Estral
Beach. Gibraltar, Monroe and Monroe County and all of the
Beach areas from Toledo to Gibraltar, implore you, who are
our Governmental Representatives to hear us and to take
proper steps to eliminate the conditions described in
this petition.
We hear of the laws covering pollution, Why aren1t
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6LQ
they complied with? How can we, "The Little Guys" protect
our properties, our health and our children from the effects
of the pollution in our waters?
Yes, we know there are laws controlling the pollu-
tion dating back many years, laws that give communities the
right to control sewage and industrial wastes. Of what con-
sequence are these laws? They are so many words written in
the dust.
Why are the powers of the Water Resources Commission
and the State and Federal Health agencies so limited? Are
they Commissions in name only?
Such agencies as I have named were born of the need
for such controls, have they deteriorated to the point of
merely giving someone a plush government job? Are they
used merely to promote political careers?
We in Monroe County are contaminated by this
pollution from all sides. We get it from Detroit, River
Tlouge, Wyandotte, Ecorse, Riverview and Trenton, arid if the
wind is right from Canada and Toledo, Ohio as well.
Why are we concerned? With the water supply of
the City of Monroe threatened, the possibility of drinking
water for the rest of the Beach areas and inland as well
threatened, development stymied, loss of wild fowl and marien
life for the sportsman, the use of Lake Erie for swimming
and recreation threatened, HEPATITIS caused by contaminated
GF'O 820819-C-IO
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641
water on the increase, these are only some of the reasons
for our concern.
We permit all sorts of debris and filth to be dumped
into our waters. It is always an accident when a car load
of oil, acid or other noxious material is disposed of into
the river and this must be proven to have been a "WILFUL"
act. But, if you litter the highways of our fair state
(mostly the "Little Guy") is punishable by a $100.00 fine.
.>.>ry commendable to keep our highways clean to say the least,
but, is it not true that our drinking water and recreational
facilities are just as important?
In the past week or so Sterling State Park was
posted with POLLUTED WATER signs. Hundred of thousand of
dollars spent to improve a recreation area with unsafe and
filthy waters.
.Also within the past week, Mary Margaret :leveil
attempting to swim from Detroit to Toledo had to give up.
Why? Polluted water. She may be fortunate if there are
no after effects.
Hoping for favorable action in the elimination of
the word "wilful" from the laws covering the dumping of
materials of unsanitary content into our waters and for the
enforcement of the laws now on the books, I remain,
ospactfully,
(Signed) John Chascsa, Chairman
-------
YtfTE:; POLLUTION COMMITTEE',
Fen EGT:;..L BE..CH
-X-
TO: W. D. Mclntyre February 8, 1962
On this date I talked to Professor C. J. Velz,
who is the head of Departmental Health at the University of
Michigan. We talked at great length regarding the pollu-
tion problem in Monroe and he was well aware of the magnitude
of the situation. The question of the University doing water
samples was discussed and he felt that the University was
reluctant to become involved. Ha mentioned that their
function was to teach and do research and that as such
there would be little or no time to take on additional work.
He mentioned that the staff is limited.
Professor Yelz went on to say that the U. >J. Public
Health Service is spending $200,000 a year for the next 5
years to correct the pollution situation in this area and
strongly urged that we get in touch with this agency, who
are working with the State Public Health Service. This
program is to begin within the next two weeks.
Professor Velz suggested that by contacting
Gordon McCollura, Director of Division of Water Supply and
Pollution, Washington 25, D. C. , we could no doubt work
with this agency to advantage. He also mentioned that, if
samples were conducted at the University, the University's
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643
name would not be used in reporting the findings, but only
the individual's name who conducted the tests. In this
manner the University would not be competing with consulting
or engineering firms. Several members of his staff do outside
laboratory work for industry, for a fee and that if we were
interested, he would direct us to the proper people.
(Signed) Forrest T. Marx - Chief Chemist
* * *
REPORT ON EFFLUENT POLLUTION
FROM PAPER MILLS
On January 30th, I collected samples of effluent
discharge waters from the 5 paper mills noted below. They
all use the River Raisin as a disposal. The wind was from
the West. The temperature was 4-12 F and it was fair.
Several samples indicated excessive amounts of solids.
Sample No. 101 2nd Cut
Consolidated Paper Company — South Side Plant
Total Solids 51.0 Grains per Gallon
872.0 Parts per Million
Sample was extremely turbid and high in solids. It
contained a gray material which probably was a result of
titanium, which causes copious amount of precipitate. This
chemical is used in the processing of paper, and no doubt
caused the high solids content.
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644
Sample No. 102
Consolidated Paper Company -- West Side Plant
Total Solids 8.5 Grains per Gallon
145.0 Parts per Million
Sample was extremely dark in color, indicating the
use of carbon black pigment. There also was an oil deposit.
Solids content was not extremely high but yet too high to be
emptied into the river.
Sample No. 103
Monroe Paper Products Company
Total Solids 5-8 Grains per Gallon
109.0 Parts per Million
Samples showed a dark fibrous material, which is
from paper stock and there was also a slight oily deposit,
however, the solids were unusually low, but too high for
disposal into the river.
Sample No. 104
Consolidated Paper Company --North Side Plant
Total Solids 20.8 Grains per Gallon
556.0 Parts per Million
Sample indicated the use of straw in the manu-
facturing of paper, because of the typical orange color.
The solids content was extremely high. There was a small
amount of oil present.
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645
Sample No. 105
River Raisin Paper Company
Total Solids ±5.0 Grains per Gallon
256.0 Parts per Million
Sample was reasonably free of coloring indicating
the absence of straw. The solids did contain a fibrous
material and there was a slight oil deposit.
The findings of the above samples, is in character,
a duplication of the samples collected in August of ±961.
There appeared to be a larger amount of oil present in this
series than in the August samples, but generally, the results
were about the same. I believe this is the information you
requested January 30, 1962.
(Signed) F. T. Marx
Chief Chemist
February 6, 1962
* * •*•
STATE OF MICHIGAN 6/61-10
WATER RESOURCES COMMISSION
Report to the Water Resources Commission on Sterling State
Park Beach.
This report is presented pursuant to the directive
of the Commission as entered in the minutes of the May 18,
1961 meeting. The subject of the report is the sanitary
quality of water in Lake Erie at the Sterling State Park
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646
beach. The factors having a bearing on present quality are
reviewed, the extent that these factors will be modified by
current waste control measures and programs is discussed,
and additional measures that can be applied to achieve higher
quality are described.
A. Factors bearing upon present sanitary quality.
1. Detroit Sewage Treatment Plant effluents
to Detroit River. Sewage from the central
city and 48 adjoining governmental units
is given plain settling treatment in a
primary type plant. Gradually increasing
volumes of sewage have been received at
the plant since its completion in 19^-0.
Sewage flows have increased from 400 million
gallons daily (m.g.d.) to 600 m.g.d. in
the past 10 years. Settling facilities
have been expanded at intervals to keep
pace with the increasing load with the
result that solids removals have been main-
tained at levels expected oi this degree
of treatment. Chlorination of the treated
effluents for reduction of sewage organisms
is practiced on a marginal basis and
bacteriological control is poor. The index
of coliform group organisms in the chlorinated
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647
effluents is in the range of 1,000,000
M.P.N. per 100 milliliters, a reduction
from a 5 to 10 million index in the
settled sewage.
2. Detroit discharges of mixtures of raw
sewage and storm water to Detroit and
Rouge Rivers from overflow outlets on
combined sewer system. The city's sewer
system carries both sewage and storm water.
There are 50 overflow outlets from this
system, 44 to Detroit River and 6 to
Rouge River. The overflow control struc-
tures, sanitary interceptors and treatment
plant are designed to spill at one or more
of these outlets when there is .OJ-.05
inches per hour or more of rainfall. Over-
flows can be expected to occur 80 times
per year, about half of which will fall
during the State P:i,rk recreational bathing
season, Memorial Day to Labor Day. Con-
centration of sewage organisms in these
spills will range from that of raw sewage
downward depending upon the duration and
intensity of runoff from storms.
3- Dearborn West Side Sewage Treatment Plant
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648
effluents to Rouge River. The plant
receives sewage from a portion of the city
and 3 adjoining units of government. The
process is designed to accomplish an inter-
mediate degree of treatment using chemicals
as an aid in settling of the sewage.
Sewage flows received at the plant now
average 10 m.g.d. which exceed the capacity
of the process. Varying portions are by-
passed directly to Rouge iliver and the
remainder is given chemical precipitation.
Treatment efficiencies based on total
sewage flows are subnormal and no chlorine
is applied for bacterial control.
4. Wyandotte Sewage Treatment Plant effluents
to Detroit River. The plant serves 9 units
of government including the City of
Wyandotte. Sewage is given plain settling
treatment with chlorine being fed for
bacterial control. Facilities have capaci-
ty to treat 10 m.g.d. as compared with
present flows of 1? m.g.d. Overload im-
pairs settling efficiency and results in
unreliable bacterial control.
5. Wayne County drain discharges of raw
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649
sewage - storm water mixtures to Ecorse
Creek and Detroit River. Two county drain
systems, serving substantial sections of
the downriver metropolitan area outside of
Detroit, function as combined sewers car-
rying b oth surface runoff and domestic
sewage. During storm periods, when the
flow in the drains reaches a predetermined
quantity, spills of mixtures of domestic
sewage and storm water occur. The LeBlanc
Drain overflows reach the Detroit River
from an outlet located on the tributary
Ecorse C.eek. Overflows from the No. 5
Drain discharge directly to Detroit River
from a pumping station located in Wyandotte.
The frequency of overflows and the concen-
trations of sewage organisms will approxi-
mate those which occur from the Detroit
combined sewer system.
6. Trenton Sewage Treatment Plant effluents
to Detroit River. Sewage from the City
of Trenton and Village of Gibraltar is
given plain settling treatment and effluents
are chlorinated. Overloading impairs per-
formance of solids removal and causes
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650
bacterial quality to fluctuate between
wide ranges.
7. Watercourses tributary to Lake Erie.
Handy Creek enters Lake Erie at the north
limits of the park. Stony and Swan Creeks
enter at 2 miles and b miles respectively,
north of the park. The sanitary quality
of these waters is depreciated below that
of natural waters reflecting the dis-
charges of septic tank effluents and raw
sewage from individual homes and commer-
cial establishments. Discharges of un-
treated sewage originate from the sewers
and drains of the Villages of Maybee,
Carleton and Newport. The latter two
communities discharge to Swan Creek, the
former to Sandy Creek. The magnitude of
these sources is numerically less than
those described in the preceding para-
graphs but, because of their proximity to
the beaches, they are of material conse-
quence.
8. Monroe Sewage Treatment Plant effluents to
ilaisin River. Treatment of sewage from
the City of Monroe consists of plain
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651
settling with chlorination of the efflu-
ents. Capacity is adequate and perfor-
mance is within the range expected of this
type of plant. Effective disinfection of
the effluents is maintained on treated
flo\vs of ^>.!4 m.g.d.
9. Paper mill wastes discharged to Raisin
fiver from Consolidated Paper Company and
River Raisin Paper Division, Union Bag-
Camp Corporation. Both companies are
situated in the City of Monroe. Their
sanitary sev/age is given treatment in
the city's plant. Industrial process
wastes combined total 21.8 m.g.d. and
are given plain settling treatment in
separate company owned and operated
facilities. The settled wastes enter the
L.aisin .^ivor approximately 1.5 miles above
the river mouth. The degree of treatment
provided is not sufficient to prevent con-
ditions of oxygen exhaustion seasonally
in the lower reach of the river. Disin-
fection of the wastes is not practiced.
T^sts of the discharges by methods used
for determining the presence of coliform
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652
group organisms in sewage and polluted
waters yield results ranging from 23,000
to 240 million M.P.N. per 100 ml. The
bacterial quality of the river reflects
these values, with concentrations common
to streams polluted by raw sewage,. These
findingscannot be accounted for by the
human sewage disposal practices in the
mills. \ study project was initiated
jointly by the Water Resources Commission
and the State Health Department labora-
tories in ±957 in an attempt to establish
the pathological significance of the
organisms found in the wastes and lower
river. The results did not exclude the
wastes from consideration in appraising
the public health significance of the
bacteriological findings on the lake waters
at Sterling State Park beach.
B. Extent that factors having a bearing upon sani-
tary quality will be modified by current waste
control measures and programs.
1. A program of improvement and expansion of
the Detroit Uov/age Treatment Plant has
been approved by the Common Council.
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653
"mong the items in this program are:
(a) Treatment to a degree higher than
primai^y to be accomplished over a 2-
year period ending in ±967. Decision
has not been made on whether this will
be intermediate or secondary treatment.
(b) Plant to be expanded beyond ±967 as
required to accommodate increasing
loads.
(c) All facilities required for treatment
of the ultimate ±980 average sewage
flow estimated at 850 m.g.d. to be com-
pleted in 1975.
2. Detroit is completing a pumping station
project designed to improve the control
of combined sewage overflows to Detroit
River via Conner Creek. Construction is
also under way on interceptors and control
structures to provide similar improvement
in control of major overflows to Rouge
River from the Northwest Area sewer system.
These projects are expected to be completed
within the next year. No specific plans
are being made and no program has been
developed which would produce greater
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654
control of overflows than will be ac-
complished by the above items.
3. Dearborn West Side Plant is to be aban-
doned and sewage connected to the Detroit
system for treatment. Agreement for treat-
ment has been consummated between Dear-
born and Detroit but project is held up
until the Wayne County Department of Public
Works can conclude agreements with Detroit
for treatment of sewage from units of
government using Dearborn treatment
facilities.
4. The Wyandotte Sewage Treatment Plant is to
be improved under a county-wide program
of relief interceptors and expanded treat-
ment which the Wayne County Department of
Public Works is currently endeavoring to
finance. Construction is contingent upon
agreements being entered betv/een the Depart-
ment of Public Works and the constituent
units of government. If the agreements
can be concluded promptly, it is estimated
that construction can be started before the
end of 1961 and completed within less than
2 years thereafter. The planned
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655
improvements will be for correction of
capacity deficiencies and do not propose
a change in the type of treatment to one
of a higher degree. Bacterial quality of
the effluent will be strengthened consid-
erably above present levels with the com-
pletion of the expansion.
5. The Trenton Sewage Treatment Plant is
scheduled for expansion under the county-
v/ide program. Project has the same status
as the Wyandotte Treatment Plant expansion.
Completion will enable production of
effluents containing coliform densities
at acceptable levels.
C. Measures to achieve a higher quality.
From the foregoing it is apparent that
measures in addition to those included in
current projects and programs can be applied
by which the bacterial loading on the waters
along the Michigan shores of Detroit River
and Lake Erie can be reduced with accompanying
benefit to the sanitary quality of waters at
Sterling State Park beach. Much of the de-
preciation in this quality is attributable to
continuing daily discharges of wastes bearing
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656
organisms that respond to the test for coliforn
group bacteria. Superimposed on these daily
loadings are the intermittent overflows from
combined sewers of Detroit and drains of Wayne
County.
The measures deserving of primary atten-
tion in any endeavor to secure an improved
quality are:
(a) Disinfection of Monroe paper mill discharges
with chlorine to maintain bacterial densi-
ties at a level of 5000 1,1. P.N. coliforms
per 100 ml. This would be warranted in
the light of knowledge available to date
on the characteristics of these wastes.
(b) ostoration of the bacterial quality of
the tributary stream waters of Sandy,
Stony and jjwan Creeks to levels approaching
natural background by elimination of un-
treated or inadequately treated domestic
and commercial sewage discharges.
(c)Chlorination of the effluents from the
Detroit Sewage Treatment Plant to the
extent that the coliform index after
initial dilution in Detroit iliver will not
exceed a median value of 2^100 M.P.N. as
OPO S208I9-C—I I
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657
the result of these discharges.
(d). With the above measures in effect, there
will continue to bo occasions when the
beacli waters will be subject to impairment
of quality duo to combined sewer overflows.
The impact of these overflows on the beach
waters when all other discharges are con-
trolled cannot be accurately predicted,
but their potential to create undesirable
fluctuations in quality have been demon-
strated elsewhere. Ho feasible methods of
completely controlling these sources are
known. However, the problem can be modera-
ted by taking measures to treat greater
increments of combined sewage flows and
thereby reduce the amount and frequency of
untreated spills. The engineering and
financial problems associated with this
approach are of major proportions, particu-
larly in the City of Detroit.
In conclusion, it must be recognized that, even
when all of the measures are in effect as described herein,
no assurance can be given that a uniform quality of water
consistently acceptable for recreational bathing purposes
can be maintained at the beach. The state of knowledge
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658
concerning the resistance to chlorine disinfection of viruses
associated with diseases and infections raises serious doubt
that present day sewage treatment methods available are
sufficiently effective to provide the requisite protection.
Further, questions are being raised about the public health
significance of the substances remaining in the treated-
chlorinated effluents which have not been resolved.
L. F. Oeming, Chief Engineer
Water resources Commission
D. M. Pierce, Chief, Section of
Sewerage and Sewage Treatment
Division of Engineering
Michigan Department of Health
* * #•
Article from the Atlantic Monthly
AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL--AND ITS DESECRATERS
By Vance Packard Vance Packard
regards his work as social criticism,
although, he adds, "others would use other
labels." However controversial they have
been, his books have been immensely success-
ful; foremost among them are THE HIDDEN
PERSUADERS, THE STATUS SEEKERS, 4ND THE
WASTE MAKERS.
A friend relates that while he was driving through
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659
a lovely stretch of forest in Maine recently, he saw the car
ahead, full of people, slow down and a half-open cardboard
box sail out its right rear window. Eggshells, beer cans,
and scraps of sandwiches and paper were spewed out along the
roadside.
Another friend, a minister, became offended by the
sight of discarded liquor bottles while he was driving along
the otherwise beautiful beach road leading into Edgartown,
Massachusetts. He began to pick up the bottles nearest the
road. By the time he had reached the edge of town he had
piled so many bottles into the back of his sedan that they
rose above the level of the seat. People in this area who
own homes along the seashore report they must, as a fairly
frequent chore, scoop up and bury the oil-soaked remains of
sea gulls drowned and immobilized by waste oil dumped just
offshore by commercial boats.
These evidences of rampant slobbism, I must confess,
do not surprise me. I live near a stretch of lonely road in
Connecticut that edges the Silvermine River. A 200-year-old
waterfall attracts many motorcars bearing romance-minded
couples. Every few weeks I, or one of my children, as a
regular task, go along this road with a bushel basket picking
up the sacks of beer cans and other refuse that have been
tossed into the bushes.
Last summer, to cite another case, I went strolling
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660
barefoot ou a magnificent beach on Martha's Vineyard and
found myself watching a father and his ten-year-old son amuse
themselves. Father was photographing the terns; the son was
hurling stones at bottles which he had set up in the sand.
Mien I protested the bottle smashing, the father seemed sur-
prised by my vehemence but suggested that his son find other
amusement. I cleaned up the broken glass as best I could.
These instances are thoughtless manifestations of a
spreading desecration of the American landscape today which
threatens to make a cruel jest of the phrase "America the
Beautiful." Refuse, even broken glass, can be cleaned up.
And I suppose that the careless boobs who toss it about are
so fixed in their habit patterns that we can do little to
reform them. But some of the more serious man-made desecra-
tion being committed upon the U.S. landscape, often for
profit, is beyond retrieval.
I have just completed a journey which took me into
seventeen states. In the West my wife, Virginia, an artist,
accompanied me, and we traveled by car because we were eager
to get our first close look at many areas which have in
years past been acclaimed for their spectacular natural
beauty. Most of our excursions left us feeling frustrated
and depressed. It was evident that, just in the past decade,
many of these places had become so scarified by man that
the natural beauty of the landscape, once breath-taking,
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66l
was largely lost.
Our drive up the California coastline from Los
Angeles to San Francisco was a case in point. Some of the
stretches are still delightful. The lovely rolling country-
side north of Buellton gives one a sense of the original
West at its best. Then you approach Santa Maria. The setting
is spectacular, with wildly upheaved mountains in the back-
ground. But they are difficult to see through the maze of
billboards. The first mile or so of danta Maria--the new
part--is a jungle of neon signs, trailer parks, used-car
lots, and look-alike development houses packed tightly to-
gether. Farther north, the once-famed El Camino iieal
approaching San Francisco has now become just another aisle
through a gaudy, seemingly endless mart. It is lined with
vendors of seat covers, ice cream, gasoline, and gifts. To
the visitor, it is indistinguishable from New Jersey's Route
17, Florida's i:oute 1 above Fort Lauderdale, or Southern
California's Long Beach Boulevard. There is one short
stretch of this once-royal road north of P^lo Alto where
beautiful eucalyptus trees line an uncommercialized section.
A friend who pointed this out to me said wistfully: "This
will give you an idea of how it used to be."
Each perceptive American probably has his favorite
candidates for the worst desecraters of our landscape. I
would like to advance here five of my own. I will cite
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662
first those whose desecrations could be most readily corrected
by an aroused citizenry, since the scars they have created are
temporary or removable.
"U"- JUNK YAFJDS
First I would nominate those who clutter up the
areas along scenic voutes with the remains of castoff motor-
cars or bloc!;ocl-up trailers or parking lots. The state of
New York spent many millions of dollars on a scenic through-
way up into the Catskills. A visitor there now sees three
motorcar junk yards while traveling one five-mile stretch of
the road. If you take an excursion to the world-famed falls of
V/atkins Glen at the foot of Lake Seneca, Hew York, you cannot
avoid seeing an auto junk yard within a few dozen yards of
one of the falls. Or if you motor up the Penobscot River
into rural Maine, you will find a titanic auto graveyard,
covering many acres, near Old Town.
Perhaps the worst squalor created by motorcars that
I have ever seen is along the supposedly scenic Route 10
crossing Northern Idaho. There, near a lovely lake outside
Coeur d'Alene, one passes within a few hundred feet of a
junk yard containing at least a thousand carcasses of motor-
cars, piled four and five high. -s you continue east into
the mountainous mining communities, the junked motorcars are
no longer gathered together systematically into yards. They
simply lie abandoned, often upside down, beside the road.
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663
The gaudy blocked-up metallic trailers, which are
starting to appear in the United States in phenomenal numbers,
qualify as desecrations, I believe, when they are mass-packed
in scenic areas, as they are along the shore of Lake Keuka,
New York, or when they are installed singly in shocking
juxtaposition on empty lots beside fine Early American homes,
as is happening in a number of otherwise delightful New
England communities. Some trailer owners who decide to ex-
pand their homes create startling appendages. The owner
of a blocked-up trailer near New Bedford, Massachusetts, has
added a two-car garage.
BILLBOARD ADVERTISING
Outdoor advertisers who shrewdly decide that their
billboards will have maximum impact in lovely rustic settings
are the second group of desecraters I would nominate.
Thousands of miles of rural scenery in the United States have
been ruined by the jarring presence of commercial signs.
The signs, of course, can be taken down if enough citizens
make their anger felt.
A few of the nation's great scenic highways have
been preserved from the billboard desecraters. The Merritt
Parkway in Connecticut is an excellent example. On the
other hand, some types of billboards have started appearing
in open country along the costly Massachusetts Turnpike.
In New York, the new throughway into the Catskill Mountains
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664
is in some sections virtually lined with billboards. I
counted fifty-one billboards in one seven-mile stretch above
Middletown. New York's advertising lobbyists were even able
to prevail upon the borough of Manhattan to trim the tops
off trees planted in Duffy Square so that, as author
Edward Higbee put it, the "towering billboards could be seen
in their four-story splendor." In Louisiana a beer advertiser
employing billboards sought to ease the hostility of local
drys by adding to the sign a message urging viewers to attend
the church of their choice.
The new 41,000-mile interstate highway network which
the federal government is helping the states construct
threatens to become a billboard slum unless many more state
legislatures act to prevent it. This past spring, legislators
in many states found themselves caught between the pressures
of the massive and affluent billboard lobby and a moderately
tempting offer of free booty from the federal government.
The U. S. Congress, after it was advised of a general tendency
for new and expensive scenic highways to become quickly
lined with commercial billboards, offered states a one half
percent bonus in federal funds for highway building if the
states would agree to control billboards on the highways to
be built. For New York state, for example, the bonus would
amount to $2 million. It is a grim commentary on our politi-
cal life that state governments must be offered cash bounties
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665
to protect their own historic and scenic attractions from
desecration.
As the deadline for qualifying approached, a hand-
ful of state legislatures—in Maryland, Connecticut, Kentucky,
New York, North Dakota, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wash-
ington, among others—managed to enact presumably acceptable
legislation.
One advertising firm has developed a titanic new
kind of billboard for use in states that do enact restrictive
legislation. Called the Land-Mark Hi-Sign, it is twenty-four
times as big as a conventional twenty-four-sheet billboard.
The sign itself, a hundred feet wide by eighty feet high,
hangs from a suspension bridge built between two great
aluminum towers and can be read by motorists a third of a mile
away. One such sign structure is standing at Romulus, Michi-
gan, outside Detroit.
Roadside desecration takes forms other than bill-
boards. In the attractive rolling country near Vacaville,
California, motorists are confronted with the question
"WHERE'S HARVEY'S?" spelled out in thirty-foot-high letters
on a grassy hillside. Cows graze among the letters. A few
hundred yards further down the road you learn the answer
from another great sign blocked out on a verdant hillside:
Harvey's is on Highway 50, near Lake Tahoe. It apparently has
not dawned upon those responsible that these signs are
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666
atrocities in an otherwise beautiful region. Or to cite
another example, a factory outside the pleasant rustic village
of Monson, Massachusetts, is crowned by a vastly enlarged
toilet seat. The display features this slogan: "Best Seat
in the House."
It is becoming difficult to escape commercial
placards in one form or another. If you journey for vacation
purposes to the great public beach in Fort Lauderdale, Florida,
you find that hundreds of the benches facing the ocean have
small billboards attached to their backs. And just offshore
you will frequently see an old airplane soar by, flying low,
towing a fluttering advertisement.
Meanwhile, the Unexcelled Chemical Corporation has
been demonstrating to interested marketers in various parts
of the country a marvelous magic lantern called the Skyjector
that can project messages hundreds of yards long against
mountaintops and clouds. ind, worse, two advertising
journals have headlined the news that Lockheed engineers
are now reasonably confident that a space-writing satellite
can be developed which can spoil out messages hundreds of
miles long in orange letters against the evening sky.
Since the U. S. outdoor advertising industry seems
incapable of more than token restraint, legislation appears
to be the only hope. The federal government should flatly
ban all billboards from new scenic highways built with the
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66?
help of federal funds. And the states that hope to save
themselves from being overwhelmed by billboards everywhere
should start requiring that all persons seeking to erect bill-
boards, in nonurban areas at least, be required to present
a convincing justification to a citizens' commission attached
to the state highway commissioner's office or to a special
outdoor advertising board.
ELECTRONIC ACCESSORIES
Another group of desecraters I want to cite are
the people who plant utility towers or television towers or
a jungle of lai-ge television aerials in settings that have
been cherished for their beauty or charm. Such mechanical
obstacles intruding upon scenic panoramas wei-e a fairly
constant source of frustration during our drive up the
California coastline. Usually there was a utility line--
and often two of them—between the highway and the nearby
ocean. If the utility lines had to follow the highway, why
couldn1t they at least be placed on the interior side?
Let us grant that our modern way of life demands
the existence of such technological accessories. But
usually a little thought, and little, if any, extra cost,
could produce a disposition of such accessories that would
make them a less dominant part of the landscape. One fre-
quently gets the impression that the officials locating their
poles and towers are totally oblivious to, if not hostile to,
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aesthetic considerations.
f.s we approached Lake Mead from Nevada, our first
sight of the lake midst brilliantly colored, starkly barren
mountains was through the wires of a giant power line. This
line and its towers, in fact, blacked the view for more than
a raile. The pylons supporting cross-country power lines
scarify an otherwise lovely landscape. They are massive.
And they slash straight across the countryside, instead of
following natural contours. At this writing, a power company
is pressing a proposal to erect a series of high towers across
the lovely countryside in the Sudbury-Wayland area of
Massachusetts, once dear to Thoreau.
In Santa Barbara, California, one of the historic
landmarks is the Santa Barbara Mission, located high up on
the hillside behind the town. Monks work about the grounds.
Their view of the bay and the Santa Cruz Island beyond was
once av/e-inspiring. Now monks and visitors alike must see
this vista through a maze of four-tiered television aerials--
many of them twenty-five feet high, and each with at least
half a dozen guy wires—which jut up from recently built
houses on the hillside just below the mission. Santa Barbara
has its own television station (which would require only a
very small aerial), but most of the residents build tremendous
aerials upon their rooftops in order to try to coax in tele-
casts from Los Angeles, nearly a hundred miles away. These
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669
thousands of aerials give a harsh look to what has long been
considered to be one of the nation's loveliest cities. Let
us hope that soon our electronic wonder-workers will apply
some of their vaunted ingenuity to finding less intrusive
ways of bringing in television signals.
PLANNED EYESORES
Community planners surely must be held responsible
for much of the ugliness being created in our towns and
cities. They have been dodging their responsibility to guide
growth in a way that will make a community fully satisfying
and stimulating, rather than merely habitable. These planners
often seem more interested in any scheme that will give the
town treasury or the town's business community quick added
revenue.
The planners, in approving subdivision plans of the
big developers, allow them to impose their hardly objective
views on the shape the new mass-produced community is to take.
The result has usually been a layout containing the maximum
number of housing units that the zoning laws permit, grouped
around a shopping center (which the developer leases out on
stiff terms, since he can offer merchants a virtually captive
clientele). The amenities of good living that ordinarily
have gone with a community in times past, such as parks,
playgrounds, libraries, schools, churches, and museums, are
included, if at all, only grudgingly and in spots that will
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interfere least with the revenue-producing objectives of the
developer.
In recent decades, planners have rarely given much
thought to creating a psychologically satisfying focal point
or heart for their city, town, or neighborhood. One night
recently, I thought back over eighteen European towns and
cities I visited three years ago. In every instance, the
European metropolis remained vivid in my mind, because it
was built around a square or a monument or a fine boulevard
or a pa;."k, v/ith public buildings usually prominent in the
concept.
Americans in earlier centuries built their com-
munities around a focal point. Witness Boston, with its
Common and its Public Garden. Most New England towns and
cities still have a clearly perceived heart, and many of the
smaller, older-fashioned Midwestern towns such as Woodstock,
Illinois, still do, too (and so do a few larger cities,
such as Indianapolis). But in the majority of American
cities, the heart of downtown typically is the street inter-
section where the largest bank faces the largest department
store. Downtown Dallas, Oklahoma City, Los Angeles, Sioux
City, Des Lloines, Milwaukee, Birmingham, and Y/inston-Salem
seem a blur of almost indistinguishable commercial buildings.
One also misses in the typical U. S. city a sense
of graciousness or greenness, .cquisition of new parkland
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has not kept pace with population growth, and in many cities
the planners have been stealing land from existing parks fox-
projects with higher priority, such as superhighways and
parking lots. The newer the metropolitan area, the more
likely it is to be short of a decent minimum, of greenery.
I suppose Los Angeles has a park somewhere, but I have never
seen it.
Much of Denver's beauty conies from trees that were
planted and parks that were established more than forty years
ago. I would say, on the basis of having very recently
viewed some of the jampacked, look-alike houses now spring-
ing up on the north side of Denver, that not much is being
done to make the city beautiful forty years hence.
Y/A.TEI1 POLLUTION
The most damaging desecrater of all is the polluter
. aw sewage floats in the Potomac right past the monuments to
Lincoln, Washington, and Jefferson. More than five thousand
U. 3. communities dump raw or inadequately treated wastes
into the nation's waterways and are utterly indifferent to
the needs and sensibilities of their downstream neighbors.
Thousands of industrial plants, with equal indifference,
dump their foul-smelling and often poisonous wastes into
rivers. Oil is dumped into the Great Lakes, and radio-
active material has been discharged into the Tennessee
iliver. iiivers in the Idaho mining country often have a
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milkish appearance from pollution.
Perhaps, the most befouled of all U. S. rivers is
the mighty Missouri, which has aptly been called a thousand-
mile-long sewer. Cities and packing houses alike have been
discharging their untreated wastes into the river,, According
to one report, Public Hoalth Service engineers have told
of seeing floating excrement and other sewage solids. And
they noted that the juncture of the Floyd and Missouri rivers
"appeared almost clogged with untreated packing plant wastes.
Where the water was not red with bloody wastes, it was gray
with decomposing organic wastes."
The nation's aquatic wildlife has been finding
our inland waters increasingly unbearable. Some months ago,
ten thousand scarce canvanback and redhead ducks were
destroyed on the Detroit River by the release of untreated
sewage. Thousands of dead fish have turned up in the
Passaic Paver, from which several Northern New Jersey com-
munities had been drawing their drinking water. Fish can
no longer survive in parts of New Hampshire's Merrimack,
once famed for its fishing. Many of the salmon runs of the
Northwest are being disrupted by the fact that the fish,
in their relentless migrations up to the headwaters of
streams, perish in badly polluted stretches of these streams.
The Public Health Service reports finding in many parts of
the country that fish taken alive from waters downstream
GPO 820819-c—12
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from sewer outfalls have been sickly or dwarfed. And it
reports finding hundreds of cases of complete fish kills.
By "complete," it means that every fish, in stretches of
water up to nineteen miles long, has perished.
Drinking water in many areas is not escaping the
impact of all the waste in rivers, despite massive chlorina-
tion. Oklahoma Senator Robert Kerr states that U.S. cities
now tolerate twice as much sewage in their drinking water
as was considered safe only a half-dozen years ago. One
specific problem which is causing concern is the widespread
appearance in drinking water of a sewage-borne microscopic
worm called the nematode. It appears often to be able to
survive ordinary chlorination and gives tap water an earthy,
musty odor. U.S. health officials found in one sampling
that nematodes turned up in drinking water drawn from thirteen
out of fourteen rivers.
Many cities have been indifferent to pleas from
downstream neighbors to clean up water before they discharge
it back into the river. Selfishly, many have seen no gain
to themselves in building expensive sewage treatment plants
that only benefit downstream neighbors. When Saint Joseph,
Missouri, residents turned down a bond issue referendum for
a proposed sewage treatment, plant, a newspaper hailed the
voters for their "pioneering independence" of Washington
"bureaucrats" who had been demanding that Saint Joseph stop
-------
befouling the Missouri. 'The U.S. government has since brought
suit against the city.
Industrial pollution discharged into the nation's
waterways has increased 1000 per cent in this century. Many
industrialists maintain that use of rivers for dumping waste
is a part of their American heritage and that they should be
expected to clean up their discharged water only when it
is "economically feasible." The National Association of
Manufacturers has often opposed proposals that would permit
the federal government to act against pollution of the nation's
waterways. It wants decisions left to state and local
governments, which tend to be far more responsive to the
wishes of local industries.
With the great growth in leisure-time activities,
millions of Americans are turning to water sports, fishing,
swimming, water skiing, and skin diving. Clean water exhil-
arates and relaxes. The relentless disappearance of safe
beaches and inviting water may well bring about a greatly
increased demand for pollution control.
For one thing, there is urgent need to develop
more effective treatment techniques, especially in view of
the many new, persistent chemicals draining into our water-
ways. Experts insist we actually have not progressed very
much from the water purification methods used by the ancient
Romans.
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With the fantastic increase in demand for water
that is projected for the future, v/e must keep pollution in
check. It seems obvious that all users of public water--
municipal and industrial users alike—should be required to
return the water they have borrowed in as clean a condition
as it was when they diverted it, or at least as clean as
technically possible.
A society as prosperous and ambitious as ours should
certainly act against the desecraters. Let us start in the
schools, if not the homes, to bring up youngsters who will
have a decent respect for this land of ours. Let us look
to the eyesores in our communities, states, and nation, and
by our protests to elected officials make a start toward
reducing the desecration.
Certainly we can get the junk yards off our scenic
highways, especially along the new highways being built.
We can oppose the outdoor-billboard lobbyists in the many
state capitals which must still take action to protect the
new interstate highways from desecration by billboard. The
Mexican government, in a burst of political courage, has
flatly outlawed billboards as distractions from the
picturesque countryside.
Let us also act firmly to protect our beauty
spots from the building developers and parking lot entre-
preneurs. And lot us demand that power lines through scenic
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areas go underground.
Lat us work to bring back a real love for our
neighborhoods by seeing that they have the variety of centers
for work, play, and contemplation that make them really in-
viting and distinctive.
And, finally, let us cherish and protect our few
remaining areas of unspoiled wilderness, if only as reminders
of how we are changing our land. Historian Frederick Jackson
Turner made an observation many years ago that might well be
pondered today. He said: "The Westei^n v/ilds, from the
Alleghenies to the Pacific, constituted the richest free gift
that was ever spread out before civilized man .... Never
again can such an opportunity come to the sons of men.,"
Let us not further abuse this opportunity.
•*•*•*-
From Pt. Huron Times Herald—December 1, ±961
STATE DELAYS DECISION ON MILL CHEEK
LANSING--The Michigan Water Resources Commission
Thursday granted the request of counsel for Yale Woolen Mills
for time to file an official statement and put off until
January 29 the issuance of a final order to abate pollution
of Mill Creek in St. Clair County.
Wilbur S. Davidson, Port Huron, Petitioned for time
to file the statement after he receives a transcript of
Thursday's hearing on the pollution abatement action of the
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commission.
The transcript is expected to be available early
next week.
Thirteen witnesses, most of them for the State,
presented testimony Thursday in the continuance of a hearing
which began in late August.
The witnesses included Dr. Robert S. Rowe, director
of the St. Clair County Health Department, and four farmers
of the Yale area who said the contaminated water in the creek
makes it useless for watering livestock and thus impairs
their livelihood.
The testifying farmers were Bruno Serkel, Wilson
Norris, Ralph Shannon and Louis Gerlach.
Howard J. Clyne, counsel for the City of Yale,
appeared for the City and presented its case.
The commission indicated at the hearing it would
issue a final decision soon after the Jan. 25 meeting on
an order of determination which it already has presented to
bring about abatement of the creek fouling by domestic and
industrial wastes.
The original order of the commission, finding the
City of Yale and the woolen mills responsible for pollution
of the stream, was issued early in July, ±961.
If and when the commission rules the order of
determination effective, the City of Pale will have until
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May 1, ±962 to submit plans for a sewage plant and until
July 1, ±963 to have the treatment plant in. operation.
* * *
From the Detroit Free Press, Friday, Dec. 15, ±961
HEPATITIS OUTBREAK SOARS IN WAYNE COUNTY
678 Cases Reported This Year
3 Times Higher than '60—Molner
Nineteen new cases of hepatitis were reported in
Detroit and Wayne County during the last week as the infection
soared at a record-breaking pace.
Dr. Joseph G. Molner, City and County health commis-
sioner, said the number of cases reported this year is three
times higher than in ±960.
To date, the highly-infectious liver disease has
caused three deaths in the City and four in the County.
The total number of cases in the County, outside of
Detroit, is 325 for this year, compared with 109 for all of
last year and 46 for ±959.
Detroit has had 353 cases this year, compared with
118 for all of last year and 65 in ±959.
Hardest-hit community in the area is the Downriver
city of Riverview, with 31 cases reported out of a population
of 7,800.
Twenty-nine of the City's cases have been dis-
covered since August. The last two were reported Dec. 3.
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The State Health Department now has a suit pending
in Wayne County Circuit Court to force Riverview to install
a sewage treatment system.
Dr. Molner said the problem is of national scope
and is part of a mysterious, but regular six-year cycle.
"The main cause seems to be polluted water or con-
taminated food," he said.
"One source of infection may lead to many cases as
the ailment is highly contagious.
"There is no cause for alarm. And there is little
that can be done to cut down the number of cases."
Dr. Molner said the typical victim is affected by
the disease for about four weeks.
"The deaths usually result when other complications
set in," he said.
"The disease is rarely fatal, but there is a strong
possibility of permanent liver damage."
Dr. Molner said persons who have been exposed to the
disease should ask their family physicians for gamma globulin
injections. This reduces the chances of infection and lowers
the effects of the ailment.
The hepatitis cycle seems to run in six-year waves.
The last major outbreak came in the 195^-55 period.
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From THE DETROIT NEWS—Sunday, January 7, ±962
PICKLE PUZZLE PACKS A PECK OF PROBLEMS FOR IMLAY CITY
By Jack Crellin of The Detroit News Staff
IMLAY CITY, Mich., Jan. 6--Pickles, millions of
them, offer a problem for this city of 2,000 persons in the
lower Thumb area.
They, along with the troubles of a woolen mill at
Yale some 20 miles northeast of here, point up one of the
many complex industrial problems that can confront small
communities.
PICKLERS MOVE IN
The story of the pickles was unfolded here yesterday
to members of the Joint Legislative Committee on Economic
Growth.
It has its beginning back in ±958, the year the
city built its $300,000 sewage disposal plant designed to
accommodate a community of at least 5> 000.
Shortly afterward the Vlasic Pickle Co., of Detroit,
moved in and made arrangements to tap into the city sewage
system.
P:,£3oU.,E JN FlilM
The company invested almost $2,000,000 in moderniza-
tion and expansion program of existing facilities and hired
a permanent work force of almost 100. Employment was tripled
in the summer months, when the pickle packing season is
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at its height.
The people of Imlay City were happy. Besides an
annual payroll in excess of $517,000, the company was paying
almost an equal amount to farmers in the area for produce.
But overlooked, at least temporarily, was the waste
problem.
At the peak of the season, factory waste sometimes
flowed into the sewage disposal plant at a rate that might
be expected from a city of at least 10,000.
WASTE OVERLOOKED
Taxed to capacity, the sewage plant spewed the
excess into nearby Bolle ;iver.
The Michigan Department of Health and the Water
Resources Commission stepped in. They ordered a solution
to the waste problem.
Pressure was put on the pickle company.
Men such as James D. Morrice, city attorney, and
Postmaster Earl Secor, both members of the Imlay City Develop-
ment Corp., were sympathetic but explained to Herman Blum,
manager of the pickle factory, that their hands were tied.
The company called in engineering experts for
advice for treating the waste before it went into the sewage
system.
JULY DEADLINE
It was advised that a study of the problem would
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take several months. The company told the engineering firm
to go ahead.
Then the Water i: 'sources Commission set a deadline
for July.
Blum told the legislators his company needed more
time.
Meanwhile, unless the state agencies relent, Vlasic
is holding in abeyance plans for expansion.
SOLUTION FIRST
Said Earl Butler, Manager of maintenance for the
pickle company:
"We are unwilling to invest money at this time
without first getting a solution to the problem."
Senator John Stahlin (R-Belding), vice chairman
of the legislative committee, promised he would see what
could be done in Lansing.
In Yale this morning, tne committee heard an
almost identical story concerning the Yale Woolen Mills, the
only manufacturing plant in the town of 1,600, and by far
its biggest employer with a ;500-person payroll.
NO SEWAGE PLANT
Mayor Howard Pelton said the water resources
commission has given the plant until Jan. 25 to stop dumping
polluting wastes into adjacent Mill Creek.
The order followed an investigation last year which
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685
came when a plant in the nearby town of Avoca accidentally
dumped poisonous wastes in the creek, Pelton said.
"Yet, without a disposal plant," Pelton said," the
Wollen mill might have to close."
Howard Clyne, chairman of the St. Clair County
board of supervisors, blamed the state's order against the
mill on "bird-watchers who are more interested in minnows
than in the economic problems of Yale."
Senator John Stahlin (R-Belding), vice chairman of
the legislative committee, told residents of both towns he
would see what could be done in Lansing.
# * •*
From Quarterly Bulletin, State of Michigan Water Resources
Commission, Number 52, Quarter Ending June 50, ±961
MICHICAN-ONTARIO WATER KESOUHCES
COMMISSIONS HOLD JOINT SESSION
International cooperation was the order of the
day when the men from Michigan and Ontario met in St. Clair
on May ±7. This joint session was scheduled to provide
members of both Commissions with an opportunity to exchange
ideas and information on program activity.
Although the Ontario and Michigan W.R.C. objectives
are basically the same, the methods of obtaining these objec-
tives differ vastly. This difference is found largely in
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the authority given the Commissions by their respective
legislatures.
* * *
STONEY POINTE
COUNCIL OF PRESIDENTS
5337 Dewey Road 9/15-61 Route 2., iNtewport, Mich,
Dear Mr. Chascsa
RE: Lake E Beach Pollution
I am the president of this group and also the
president of Allen Park's Chamber of Commerce.
In both groups we are greatly concerned by the
resultant contamination created by lack of adequate sanitary
and stormsewers throughout the Downriver district~-as well
as the Monroe area.
Expect very little cooperation from upstream
officials--they have assumed an attitude of "it's your pro-
blem" and continue dumping their sewage on top of you--with-
out regard to their neighbors welfare.
Monroe officials give lip service--and that is all.
I believe the worst source of contamination is
Ecorse Creek which dumps the raw sewage of River Rouge,
Ecorse, Lincoln Park, Allen Park and Taylor
directly into the Detroit Pdver after every heavy rain which
overloads the sewage treatment plant in Wyandotte causing
a shut off gate to close diverting the stuff from #5 Drain
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685
into the Creek.
There are many other sources of pollution of course,
industrial as well as residential, which must be eliminated—
if we are to save our "beach investments".
Personally, I have more faith in the State Health
Dept. than in politicians and would urge you folks to con-
sult Dr. Heustis and Don Pease, his deputy—you will find
them very knowledgeable—and—perhaps holding the strongest
weapon for enforcement of sanitary laws.
May I suggest that you also work closely with
Curtis Yoas, Frenchtown supervisor—he is 100$ and
Brandon Rogers the township jianning consultant has a broad
view of the situation.
In order to get wider participation it could be
advisable to hold your meetings on Sunday afternoons rather
than week days.
If I can not participate myself we can assign
many of our good workers to help you.
Just let me know and good luck.
Cordially
(Signed) Walter McHally
DU 2-4258
•x- # *
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PJSPOllT
of
FlilST SIX MONTHS
of
MACOMB N:'iTUP.E .iGSOCIATIOH13 Dili YE TO CL1C .N UP MILL CREEK
(in St. Clair County)
Index
Only official reply received by Macomb Nature
Association from Michigan Water Resources
Commission regarding action by Water Resources
Commission 1
Why Macomb Nature Association is interested in Mill Creek 2
Petitions and other efforts ~$
Answers to inquiries of conservation organizations
by Water Resources Commission 4-6
Earlier complaints 6-7
1951 "Conference" 8
Host decent Developments 9
Our Conclusions 10
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From The Detroit Free Press, February 12, ±961
WOODS AND WATERS By Jack Van Coevering
A "Grass Roots"" movement to clean up pollution
in Mill Creek in northern St., Clair County is shifting in
high gear Sunday.
At 1:^0 p.m. interested people are invited by the
Macomb Nature Association to join the first of a series of
eight hikes to see Mill Creek for themselves.
The creek will probably be snow-covered, and not
much pollution will be evident. But the hikers will see
the beauty of the streamside, the possibilities of recre-
ation in the area, and the type of ownership along the creek.
This afternoon's hikers will gather at Mill Creek
Bridge at Brockway (that's on M-19, five miles north of
Emmett). Cars may park on the southwest side of the bridge.
The hike will be led by Helea Shannon and Clarence Simasko.
The other seven hikes will be held on alternate Sundays
through May 21, with a different meeting place each
succeeding road mile to the east.
MILLCREEK IS POLLUTED BY untreated sewage coming
mostly from Yale, population 1,600. Yale is trying to
build itself into a modern city, but its sewage system
belongs to the dark ages.
Many times property ov/ners along Mill Creek have
asked for relief, but always, the State Water Resources
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688
Commission, while admitting the pollution is there, has said
it would be difficult to prove injury to public health, fish
life or lawful industrial use, as the law requires. Thus
pollution continues and gets worse.
Now Mill Creek is becoming a recreational area,
down as far as the Black River and the State Game Area. New
streamside owners are becoming more and more vocal. Among
them is Miss Bertha Daubendiek of Mt. Clemens, long a leader
in conservation affairs, who is spark-plugging the current
drive for a clean-up.
THERE IS A GROWING resentment against inches of
sludge, untreated sewage, and unsafe water. A cyanide
fish kill last August caused the Water Resources Commission
to advise farmers on Mill Creek to refrain from watering
their cattle in the creek.
That fish kill triggered ±6 petitions, signed by
hundreds of property owners along Mill Creek. They asked
the Water Resources Commission to "do something" about the
pollution.
The drive to end this pollution gained support
from the Blue Water Audubon Society, Ruby Lions Club, Ruby
Mothers Club, Michigan Botanical Society, Natural Areas
Council, Lapeer County Audubon Society, Huron Pointe
Sportsmen's Club, Izaak Walton League of American, Michigan
Division, Avoca Junior Audubon Club, Detroit Audubon Society
GPO 820819-C-I3
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689
and the Blue Water Sportsmen's Association.
Efforts to clean up Mill Creek point up two things:
Michigan pollution laws are in need of revision. There is
no protection in Michigan's laws for farm animals. There
is no protection for the streamside owner who is deprived
of stream use by pollution from upstream.
THERE IS NOT ENOUGH recognition of the recreational
and esthetic value of clean water. There is no law which
prohibits dumping raw sewage, per se, into a stream.
New types of uses and new industrial wastes con-
stantly threaten our waters. Soon, for instance, Higgins
Lake will be getting wastes from laundromats through Big
Creek.
The other point is that public interest in clean
streams must never flag. "Sleeping on their rights too
long" has caused the public to lose out many a time. Along
that line, the alertness of the folks along the lower
Detroit River is commendable.
Duck losses highlight that situation. Last Novem-
ber, the village of Gibraltar did not allow oil pollution
from the Chrysler engine plant to go without protest.
Protection of our waters requires continual and
widespread vigilance. Mill Creek is a small stream of direct
interest to a comparatively small number of people, but the
importance of keeping the creek's water clean is as big as
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690
Michigan itself.
March 20, ±961
To members of the Michigan Water Resources Commission
and other interested persons:
Macomb Nature Association's Board of Directors has
authorized me to prepare a progress report of the first
six months of its drive to clean up Mill Creek in St. Clair
County and send to those involved. The report follows. If
I use "I," it represents my personal experience or opinion,
and where "we" is used, it means a composite expression
resulting from numerous contacts with circulators of peti-
tions and talks with various other persons interested in
Mill Creek, including many who live on or near the creek.
This report is intended to show what efforts have
been made since the fish kill last August to bring the
pollution of Mill Creek to the attention of the Water
resources Commission, what response has been obtained,
and what has, in the process, come to light about the way
the matter has been handled by the WRC in the past.
In brief, throughout the six months, Macomb Nature
Association has received only one letter from the WRC which
gave any clue to what their attitude is in the matter. This
was a letter, October Jl, ±960, from Mr. L. F. Oeming,
Chief Engineer, which stated,
"The Commission's authority to proceed on any
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691
pollution problem is limited by state law to those situations
in which it can be established that the waste discharges
create injury to public health, to fish life, to industrial
enterprise or other lawful occupation. The fish killing in
August of this year was a specific violation of the statute
and legal action is being explored by the Attorney General's
office. The offender in this case was a toxic solution
disposed of from an industry, not the raw sewage discharges
of the City. Accordingly the incident does not of itself
provide sufficient grounds to proceed against the City for
abatement for sewage created pollution.
"The files and records of the Commission disclose
that the Mill Creek situation was considered at a meeting
in August, 1951. -;* conference with officials of the City
and the Yale Woolen Mills resulted in a decision to with-
hold any action in view of the very limited residential and
recreational development that exists along the creek and the
absence of any use of the stream for water supply. In the
intervening years conditions upon which this decision was
based may have changed sufficiently to justify abatement
action. Our staff is therefore being directed to review the
conditions and submit a report of their findings. It should
be recognized, however, that any action by the Commission
must be predicated upon a finding that one or more of the
specific public injuries set forth in the Water Resources
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Act is being created. If this is not the case the individual
riparians would have to seek a remedy for any injuries they
suffer through action taken on their own behalf.
"The petitions are being brought to the Commission's
attention at its meeting on November 1 with a recommendation
that further action await a report of the review to be made
by the Commission staff."
Suggestion of a lawsuit has been made to several
complainants, as will later be stated, and we wish to say
here and now that we do not consider this to be the right
remedy for Mill Creek. We do not feel the WRC should avoid
its responsibility by this type of suggestion. As far as
we are concerned, this matter is still in the court of public
opinion. As I wrote to the WRC on December ±3, I960, I
feel that if the individual riparians have to start their
own lawsuit, then Michigan's pollution laws are either not
strong enough, or they are not being enforced as they should
be. It may be more difficult to try to get public officials
to do what we think it is their duty to do than to start a
lav/suit, but we believe a greater good for the people of
Michigan will result. ^s we understand it, the public has
an interest in the streams of Michigan, and anything
affecting them is a public, not a private matter.
The following, then, presents what has transpired,
as it looks from our point of view. We have had no access
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693
to the files of the WRC. We have not made any personal
contacts or tried to pull any strings. We have not (as yet)
asked our legislators to "do something" about the Yale
situation. Everything done so far has been by private
citizens voluntarily seeking to correct a situation which
they believe should be corrected, working through proper
channels as far as is known to them. Now we wonder just
how far private citizens have to go. We judge the results
so far to be highly unsatisfactory. If citizens have to do
as much as we have done to get pollution corrected in
Michigan, then it is no wonder many of our streams are in
the disgraceful condition they are in today.
To digress for a moment, I would like to explain
the reason for the interest of Macorab Nature Association in
this matter.
Macorab Nature Association was organized in 1952 to
do conservation education and natural history study in Macomb
and St. Clair counties. I first heard of pollution at Yale
in ±953. While preparing an exhibit on water conservation
to go into a traveling museum of conservation and nature
study, I called to the Water Resources Commission at Lansing
and was told that the worst places for water pollution in
southeastern Michigan were Yale and one other town. These
two locations were spotlighted on a map that remained in
the trailer for two years as it traveled to schools (Yale
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694
school included) in the tv/o counties. The facts therein
presented were viewed by over 50,000 persons and never
challenged by any one of them. In ±950 I purchased property
below Yale near Mill Creek, and on December 10, ±960 Macomb
Nature Association negotiated for land on the north branch
of Mill Creek, above Yale, to be maintained as a nature
sanctuary. The latter had been under consideration for
over a year and purchase was completed March 2, ±961.
On August 30, ±960, a "letter to the editor"
appeared in the Port Euron Times-Herald lamenting the pollu-
tion of Mill Creek and referring to articles of August 11
and 12, 1960 about a fish kill in the creek.
Minutes of the meeting of the WRC of Sept 28, 1960
contain:
"Macomb Nature Association, Mt. Clemens: Letter
of September 24, 1960 from the Macomb Nature Association
was presented. The 'ssociation expressed particular
concern over the pollution of Mill Creek, St. Clair County
and at their September 12 meeting the directors approved
sponsorship of a drive to eliminate pollution of Mill Creek;
respectfully calling to the Commission's attention the
present unfavorable condition of this stream.
"A petition signed by 12 property owners and other
persons interested in recreational uses of Mill Creek, was
presented, which respectfully requested the Commission to
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695
act promptly to take corrective measures to eliminate the
wanton pollution of said creek."
Petitions were thereafter circulated by some 14
organizations and 40 individuals, resulting in signing o±
98$ of the property owners the entire length of Mill Creek
(JO miles to where it flows into Black River), by hundreds
of users of Mill Creek farther back on each side of the
creek, and by hundreds more of recreational users of the creek
from points as far distant as Avoca, Ruby, Port Huron, places
in Macomb County, and Detroit, said signatures being conveyed
to the Water Resources Commission in time to reach them
before their meetings of November 1, ±960, December 15, ±960,
January 26, ±961, February 23, ±961, and March 23, ±961,
and totaling over 1000 names.
The petitions bore reprints of the articles of
August 11 and 12, 1960, because (l) that fish kill was of
similar kind as other fish kills that had taken place in
Mill Creek over the years and (2) from the way the articles
were worded, the creek water would clear in a few days and
future waste pollution in the creek would stop, whereas it
was a matter of common knowledge that Yale has no sewage
treatment facilities and that the pollution by raw sewage
and industrial waste was continuing.
Circulation of the petitions resulted in
considerable publicity being given to the matter, namely,
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696
December 4, ±960, Port Huron Times-Herald, February 12, ±961,
Detroit Free Press, February 15, ±961 aud March 13, 1961,
Port Hui-on Times-Herald, also an ,\P dispatch from Lansing
on January 27, 1961, and radio dispatches over a Port Huron
station on January 28 and February 21, 1961. Copies of all
the newspaper articles have been sent to the Water Resources
Commission.
Several organizations also adopted resolutions and
forwarded them to the Water Resources Commission. I wrote
several voluminous letters. I understand that many
individuals likewise sent in complaints, that at least one
medical doctor has complained, and that fervent appeals
on behalf of a Boy Scout troop which has camped on Mill Creek
the last 4 years have been sent. It has been pointed out
to the \}"C that the last 4 miles of the creek go through the
Port Huron Game Area, a State fishing and hunting group.
Minutes of the November 1, 1960 meeting of the
Commission were sent me, January 6, 1961, and contain the
following:
"Hill Creek, Yale: Petitions have been received
requesting Commission action on the pollution of Mill Creek
at Yale. These have been acknowledged advising that the
Mill C.'eek situation had been brought to the attention of
the Commission in 1951 at which time no action was taken
in view of staff inability to locate conditions in
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697
violation of Commission statute. The current complaints
follow the fish killing which took place in the Creek,
August 8, 1960, due to the release of a plating solution
containing cyanide, through the City's sewer system. Follow-
ing discussion, Mr. Honk made a motion, supported by
Mr. Baldwin, that receipt of the petitions be acknowledged
and that the conditions be reviewed by the staff, a report
to be submitted for Commission consideration at a subsequent
meeting. Motion unanimously carried." (italics mine)
On January 24, ±961, I wrote to the WRC vigorously
protesting the above underlined statement in the November 1
minutes, pointing out the language of October 31, 19^0
which stated that the ±951 conference "resulted in a
decision to withhold any action in view of the very limited
residential and recreational development that exists along
the creek and the absence of any use of the stream for water
supply."
In that letter I asked that, "it is our opinion
that if your staff was unable to locate any conditions in
violation of the statute that it would have to be because
none of them ever went near Yale." I also asked if our
correspondence concerning this matter was being sent to the
right person or if we should be writing to some other person
on the WRC staff who might be in charge of the Yale investi-
gation, I also asked for the date of the next WRC meeting,
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698
and for copy of the minutes of the December ±5, 1960 meeting
(for the bulk of the petitions were sent in to be presented
at that particular meeting, and I had been told over the
phone on December 1 that they would be), "as well as the
minutes of any other meetings at which the Mill Creek matter
is touched upon."
Thereupon has followed a complete breakdown in
communication betv/een the Y/I>.C and myself; the above letter
was not answered, neither have the requested minutes been
sent.
i\e time wore on, several conservation organiza-
tions began making inquiries in behalf of Mill Creek. Since
we were receiving no information, we were grateful that they
took care to inform us of the replies they received from
the WRC about this matter.
Mr. Del A. Smith, member of the Common Council
of the City of Detroit, when he wrote on behalf of the
Izaak Walton League of America, Michigan Division, received
the following reply from Mi*. Milton P. Adams, Executive
Secretary of the WRC, on January 10, ±96!:
"it appears that the Stanley Plating Company, some
years ago, started in the plating business requiring the use
of cyanide. Since the Company was to use the City sewer,
the new use order adopted by the Commission under Section
8(b) of our statute, ran against the City of Yale, the owner
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699
of the outlet sewer to the creek, rather than against the
Company. In the few days prior to August 9, an Industrial
Development Committee was engaged within the premises for-
merly occupied by the Stanley Plating Company, in readying
the premises for occupancy by a new tenant. Unfortunately,
as part of their activity, they upset or dumped deliberately,
a relatively small vat of cyanide solution down the drain
into the sewer, thence to Mill Creek. The result was the fish
killing reported on August 9« Now this poisonous material
has been displaced by stream flow. While the river is small
it goes without saying that any test made at this time
for the presence of cyanide would be negative—probably
anywhere on from the middle of August, for that matter.
"Tne reason Mr. Meier ^froio. the ''ttorney General's
office/^ is asked to consider this was to ascertain whether
the Commission might have a violation to pursue, of the
new use order which was adopted against the City at the time
Stanley Plating Company went to \vork. ***
"The petitions which have been filed and which
have perhaps come to your attention, deal with an entirely
different subject, to wit: requesting the Commission to take
action to abate the City's sewage pollution. You will realize
that on a stream of this size and with a community of this
size, we must have summer stream flow conditions in order
to make significant tests and the finding. Mr. Oeming
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700
volunteers the April meeting date, still unscheduled, for a
report to the Commission on this matter. Until the staff
has completed its work and tests and can affirmatively state
that at least one of the four or five tests of unlawful
pollution, spelled out under Section 6 of our Act, is present,
the state in its qualified authority to protect against
pollution, would be powerless in the courts.
"This does not mean that pollution injurious to a
riparian owner may not be present. If you will read our
statute, you will note it particularly skips the protection
of domestic animals such as cows and horses, and does nothing
for a riparian who suffers injury to his property values
as the result of the presence of * polluted stream on his
premises. In other words, the Legislature has never come
to the point of ruling out or modifying the old court doc-
trine of reasonable use of the waters of a stream or lake.
If it did, there would be a lot more scrambling all around,
including the metropolitan area, to do a better job than is
now being done."
Whether we agree or disagree with the above state-
ment of the law, certainly if that is the way the WRC in-
terprets the law, then there might as well not be any.
We believe livestock raising is a lawful occupation, and
that the WRC which is charged with enforcing all Michigan's
laws with regard to pollution, should enforce the drain
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701
law, which mentions livestock and also, odor nuisance.
There is no hint in the above letter to Mr. Smith
that the attitude of the MliC currently toward Mill Creek
will be any different than in the past. What that has been
has just recently become more clear to us and is presented
a little further on in this report.
Mr. Smith replied to the WRC on January 20 as
follows:
"This is a situation which justifies the alertness
of many civic-minded people and property owners. If
measures are not taken to stop the pollution of Mill Creek,
there is going to be an expression of public opinion much
more intensified than it is at the present time, and right
now it is almost at a white heat.
"I cannot, for the life of me, understand why
public officials or people of good sound reasoning, would
ever feel that anyone has a right to pollute streams which
are here for the benefit of all mankind. Therefore, I would
suggest that since the responsibility and the public obli-
gation is plainly before us, there can be no hesitancy in
starting legal proceedings to bring about the correction of
the problem * * * complying with the request that emanates
from a strong public mandate."
Others who complained told us they received
replies as follows:
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702
January 19, Allan Schmid, Assistant Professor,
Department of Agricultural Economics, I.1SU, "Their staff has
a survey of the area underway and a report and recommendation
will be forthcoming."
February 15, Hoy Osmun, Michigan United Conserva-
tion Clubs Water Resources Committee, "WRC report is they
have too much territory to police for the size of their staff
and they have not been able to inspect Mill Creek at a time
when they could prove definite pollution injurious to public
interests."
February 23, March 3 and March 6, the WIG replied
as follows to various complainants, including one man who
had written to G:v. Swainson, HThe Commission has been kept
advised of the receipt of the complaints and has instructed
the staff to make surveys and collect data for a report at
its April meeting. Since the effect of pollution in a stream
is usually much less during the winter months, we have pur-
posely delayed the starting of the surveys until after the
ice has gone from the stream. The work is expected to start
within the next few weeks."
Early in January, ±961, I learned for the first
time that a Mr. Leonard Simasko, an attorney of Mt. Clemens,
who was raised on I.Iill Creek, had been complaining about the
pollution of the creek since 1952, and had been getting
nowhere.
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703
His first complaint, November 7, ±952, brought the
following reply from the W11C:
"You will note that after hearing presented at
the time ^/The conference in ±95^ the commission decided to
table the matter. The absence of any specific complaint of
a preceding ten-year period weighed heavily in this decision.
"in addition, since no public water supplies are
taken from the stream, nor are there any public recreational
areas affected and the stream is of minor importance as
fishing water, the damage caused by the pollution did not
seem sufficient to the commission to justify invoking the
statute.
"The few farmers who live along the stream are
apparently satisfied with conditions inasmuch as no objections
have been filed with the commission for several years. This
would seem to support the contention of the city and company
that conditions have improved. Your complaint is the only
one of recent date despite the fact that pollution has been
known to exist for at least fifteen years.
"Since it involves primarily the infringement of
your individual property rights as against public interests,
legal precedent indicates that private suit for abatement
is the proper course to follow at present."
Mr. Simasko also made formal written complaint
to the City of Yale Council in the same year, 1952. The
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704
complaint was published in the Council minutes in the Yale
Expositor, but no action ever taken.
He made a complaint in person to the WRC in Lansing
in the year 1954, but says he doubts a record was ever made
of it, as he says he was treated "as if I were trying to
steal the furniture."
He also made complaint again to the City of Yale
in 1955 but action on same was tabled.
Mr. Simasko is of the opinion that Michigan's
present pollution law, if enforced properly by the agency
given authority to enforce it, the WRC, is good and strong
enough to take care of the Yale situation. Working on
the theory that if the WRC is not enforcing the law, this
should be brought to the attention of the Executive branch
of government, which has charge of the enforcement of the
law, he has communicated with the Governor, the Attorney
General, and the Director of the Michigan Department of
Conservation, who is also a member of the WRC. He also
contacted the National Wildlife Federation which contacted
the Michigan United Conservation Clubs of Michigan, which
wrote the WRC and received the astonishing reply that
"According to our records, these conditions (domestic sewage
discharge and industrial wastes in Mill Creek) have existed
since the 1930's," and the "sudden expression of public
interest is in sharp contrast to the twenty years prior
GPO eaoei9-c—14
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705
to August, ±960, during which time not one complaint was
registered against the Mill Creek situation." (italics
supplied).
I had also been told in August, ±960, by the WRC
that they had never had anyone say they were damaged by the
situation.
It has recently come to our attention that a letter
was written to the WRC by a resident close to Yale,
September ±3, ±956, as follows:
"For the past 25 years my father before me, and
now myself, have been wondering when your commission was
going to do something about the terrible pollution that con-
tinues year after year from the City of Yale.
"It appears that town after town around us includ-
ing the St. Cjair Paver area have been forced to build
adequate sewage disposal plants but not Yale. Is there a
payoff or just what is wrong there is never any action?
"The Yale Woolen Mills are now working strong and
the same old dyes are rolling down the stream and our cattle
have to drink somewhere. Sewage is still rolling downward
also but nothing is done to stop it.
"if nothing is done to start action on this, I
propose to contact the Governor as 25 years is long enough
for anyone."
The reply from Mr. Adams of the WilC follows:
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7 05
"We have known for some time of the sewage and
industrial wastes discharged at Yale but present statutes
prohibit such discharges only when they can be shown to be
injurious to public health; the conducting of lawful
occupations; or to fish, aquatic and wildlife. So far we
have been unable to demonstrate any of the aforementioned
injuries, and as a consequence, we have considered this
problem to be primarily an infringement of private rights.
"l am referring your letter to our chief engineer
with a request to have this problem reviewed at the earliest
opportunity. A report of our findings and conclusions will
be furnished you upon completion of the investigation."
Nothing further was ever heard of the "investiga-
tion" referred to.
During lengthy discussion with several complain-
ants and others interested in water pollution problems in
Michigan, and especially with the head of the School of
Public Health at the U of Michigan, we have been advised
to ask for a public hearing on this matter. To date we
have not formally done so, though I have several times advised
the WRC by phone and by letter that if a hearing were held,
the circulators of petitions wanted to be represented and
were entitled to notice. I furnished a list of circulators
and stated that notice to them would be acceptable in the
event a public hearing were to be held or any other action
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70?
in which petitioners would wish to be represented. I was
then told that "at least a conference would be held," but
they would not notify individual petitioners. I then said
I would accept responsibility of notifying them if only
I were notified, but as stated before, I have been sent
no word of any kind as to any future proceedings. We
have compiled a list of over 20 persons who definitely wish
to make a statement to the VJIIC staff regarding uses of
Mill Creek and damages to them because of the pollution
and who would make such a statement if called upon. There
might prove to be others if a public hearing were announced.
Curious to learn how the \LIC proceeds to handle
its business by "conferences," I finally in the last part
of February, obtained a copy of the conference of August 28,
1951« I mention it last because it has been the last to
come to our attention, which was perhaps for the best,
as the approach to this problem has been handled in no way
to heap any abuse upon the Y//.G, as might have been the case
had this been made public earlier, because reading the record
has certainly made a few people's blood boil. It has also
revealed a picture—of the V/RC staff presenting plenty of
evidence of conditions in violation of pollution statutes,
and the Commission ignoring the same.
At the conference in 1951 were 4 WRC members who
are currently the same. The Yale Woolen Mills was
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708
represented by Mr. Eugene Andrea of the City of Yale, and
the City of Yale by John J. Kaatz, the major. (I am told,
although the record does not show it, that Mr. Kaatz at the
time was also manager of the Mill.)
No person was present to speak for the public or
represent anyone who had ever complained, though the con-
ference started with a statement by Mr. Adams, then and
now Executive Secretary of the WI1C, that "the discharge of
sanitary sewage from the city and the industrial waste
from the Yale Woolen Mills * * * combine to create conditions
of gross pollution for a distance of 4 to 5 miles below the
city, and have been the basis for the numerous complaints by
local citizens and riparian farmers," and discloses no other
reason than said complaints for the City of Yale or Yale
Woolen Mills being called before the WRC at that time.
Quoting in part from the record of the conference:
Regarding the complaints, Mr. Kaatz, the Mayor,
stated the City had had no complaints.
Mr. Adams stated, "I haven't been in Yale in ±5
years, but I made 2 or 3 calls about that time or previous
to that time and I know there was a very real odor nuisance
and a disagreeable stream. We had a number of complaints and
I think they are still here in the file from downstream
farmers and, of course, the stream is probably too small to
support fish life. To my knowledge we have not had a recent
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709
complaint from downstream residents. Some times they give
up after a while. (italics mine)
Mr. Oeming stated: "There are numerous complaints
on file, both from an attorney in Yale and the newspaper
man back some years ago and by people downstream, a woman
who owned a farm complained about the stench from the stream.
We had a report from the Conservation Department of a
fish killing some years ago. As matters are now fish
couldn't live there. Our men inspected it again before the
July meeting and they report serious odor problems and an
impossibility to support any fish life."
Mr. Eddy asked: "What are the dates of those
complaints?
Mr. Oeming replied: "About ten years ago."
Mr. Andrea made the statement: "At one time we
used certain dyes for cottons that seemed to effect the paint
of the homes downstream, but we haven't used that for
several years and perhaps now that's maybe one of the reasons
that you are getting no more complaints."
The conference also contains a statement of the
WRC sanitary engineer that "it (the creek) certainly does
smell," and Mr. Adams saying, "Who would want to live on
a stream of that type?"
The action taken by the Commission was, "in view
of indicated improvement in conditions over past ten years
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710
and the local nuisance nature of the problem action at this
time was tabled."
Most Recent Developments
8 farmers living on the creek composed a delegation
representing property owners on Mill Creek closest to Yale,
and presented a formal two page complaint to the Council
of the City of Yale on March 6, ±961, asking that it be
spread upon the minutes of the meeting of that date. The
official minutes of the March 6 Council meeting glossed
the matter over by disclosing only that "the communication
from Donald Bishop be referred to the Public Works Committee,"
A series of hikes to demonstrate the current
interest in the creek was organized and resulted in
attendances of 50, Feb. 12; JO, Feb. 26 (during the ice
storm), and lj>0, March 12. Five more hikes are scheduled
through May 21. The Yale Expositor has featured lengthy
accounts of each of the hikes. The Port Huron paper sent
a reporter who is making every hike (along with his wife,
a Girl Scout leader, and their two children).
On March 15 and 16, 1961, a delegation of mothers
speaking for the Ruby Mothers Club and other mothers along
the creek, in behalf of their children, grandchildren, Girl
and Boy Scouts who live on or near Mill Creek and use the
creek, made a "March of Mothers" to the St. Clair Co,. Health
Dept. and to the Michigan State Health Dept. (Detroit News,
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711
March ±7, 1961 and Port Huron Times-Herald, March 17, 1961).
These mothers, as do likewise the list of 20 referred to on
p. 8, as well as most of the petitioners, have personal know-
ledge of the conditions at Yale, and the amount of swimming
that is done in Mill Creek. They know that the facts if
investigated speak for themselves. The report from the mothers
is that the State Health Dept. staff at least seems to be
in process of completing its investigation. It appears
that the WRC staff, on the other hand, has not yet started
to make its survey, since as of March 8 it said it
"expected to get started within the next few days." Is of
March 8 the YvT.C was still writing to inquirers that "whether
or not our forthcoming investigation will disclose a basis
for Commission action remains to be seen." All we can say
is that whether or not the V»T.C will, in view of the past
record, ever do its public duty in this matter, likewise
remains to be seen. They have certainly kept us guessing
right to the very last minute'.
CONCLUSIONS
1 - We would like to demand a public hearing in
this matter, but a readipg of the governing statutes shows
no provision for such, a public hearing on any pollution
complaints as ours. Therefore, what we do demand is that
when this matter is acted upon by the WRC, that the
Commission MAKE A DEFINITE ORDER ON THIS MATTER, ONE WAY OR
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712
THE OTHER—either that Yale can continue to pollute Mill C; eek,
or it cannot. Under the law, if we are then dissatisfied
with the order, we do have a definite right to ask for a
public hearing, have witnesses sworn, etc.
This matter will never again be forgotten (as in
1956), buried in files, ignored or "tabled" if we have any-
thing to say about it.
2 - Because we feel the WRC has not acted certainly
in the past in the above matter in the best interests of
the People of Michigan, we are actively engaging in support
of House Bill No. 130 (if all reference to the present WHO
is removed therefrom). This bill was recently introduced
in the State legislature to create a commission to study
Michigan water resources, present and future uses thereof,
and laws pertaining thereto, to work out a water policy
for Michigan, and to propose changes in legislation. This
bill is now before the State -iffairs Committee, and we intend
to see that this committee is fully informed of the Wind's
handling of the Mill Creek matter, and to suggest that a
proper beginning for such a commission as is proposed by
House Bill No. ±30 is to study the present water pollution
laws of Michigan and how they are being presently enforced.
Bertha Daubendiek
for Macomb Nature Association, 191 North Rose Street,
Mt. Clemens, Michigan
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713
REPORT OF THE NATURE SANCTUARIES COMMITTEE, 1953-1962
TO THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF MACOMB NATURE ASSOCIATION
FIRST ELEVEN YEARS OF MACOMB NATURE ASSOCIATION
On March ±7, 1962, Macomb Nature Association will
celebrate the tenth anniversary of its founding as a Michigan
non-profit corporation (deriving its support from dues and
contributions). Actually, it was in existence a full year
before its incorporation, as a Nature Study Group. Its
first official name, St. Clair Metropolitan Beach Sanctuary
Association, was changed in 1955 to the present form, Macomb
Nature Association, a non-profit organization to promote
conservation education and natural history study in Macomb
County and adjoining areas, and dedicated to the preservation
of local native wildlife. As a practical matter, it has
devoted its efforts almost exclusively to Macomb and
St. Clair Counties, Michigan.
As of this date, MNA has ±55 members, about half
adults and half juniors. This membership consists likewise
of almost half men and boys, half women and girls. Thus it
has been and probably always will be, a family-type organ-
ization, (complete, naturally, with maiden aunts and
bachelor uncles). 1/5 of our members reside in St. Clair
Co., 1/10 in Detroit, 8 out of state, and 2/3 in Macomb Co,
The stability of this organization is shown by
-------
the fact that 22 adults, 9 of its Founders, and an additional
13 of the Charter and First Year members, and one organiza-
tion member, the Mt. Clemens Branch of the Women's National
Farm and Garden Association, have been active throughout the
entire ten-year period, and are still today actively engaged
in its affairs.
EDUCATIONAL EFFORTS
MNA has of course enlarged the nature horizon of
its members. Some were far advanced in study in various
fields when they joined; the majority, however, came in as
beginners, and were assisted by veteran members—some of
whom are experts in birds, trees, wild flowers, rocks and
minerals, and insects, to name a few specialities—in the
pursuit of their nature studies. The turnover of Junior
members has been high; many are now scattered to the far
corners of the world.
However, MNA has never limited its efforts to its
membership. Meetings and lectures have been supplemented by
series of field trips, both spring and fall, in which
hundreds of persons, both members and non-members, have par-
ticipated annually. Starting with a weekend nature booth
at Metropolitan Beach in 1952, visited by as many as 2500
people in one day, and various educational exhibits and
expositions and schools, the idea of the Traveling Museum
of Conservation and Nature Study was conceived and put into
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715
action. This was a trailer equipped as a museum which
traveled, with two different displays, to all the schools in
the two counties. A teacher member suggested the formation
of a Junior Nature Pp.trol, a nature club for those children
who had visited the trailer museum. 1,000 boys and girls
were enrolled the first year; 4,000 the second. After having
been viewed by an estimated ±50,000, the trailer was turned
over to the Blue Water Audubon Society for use at Lakeport
State Park, where it last summer had 20,000 visitors.
Experience has shown that, given the opportunity,
10$ of all school children contacted will join a nature club,
the only lack being of adults who have the time and patience
to be leaders of such a club. Indeed, the growing trend
toward outdoor recreation of all kinds makes a demand
for and appreciation of this type of educational effort
far in excess of the resources of an organization composed
entirely of school age youngsters and working people, giving
voluntarily of their free time and own pocket money.
Distribution of MNA's publications has been
impressive, too. Thousands of copies of "The Birds of
Metropolitan Beach," "A checklist of the Birds of SE
Michigan," and "An Outdoor Guide for Macomb and St. Clair
Counties," have been sold, attesting the emphasis upon self-
knowledge v/hich has made MNA a successful, vital force in
its chosen area. In its tenth year, a Members' Nature Study
-------
716
Course has been enthusiastically received, and other organi-
zations are planning to pattern after this material.
The achievements—all terminating in success—of
which we can be proudest are the protection of the Tern
colony at Metropolitan Beach, the fight to clean up Mill
Creek in St. Clair Co., and recently, the drive to ban oil
drilling at State Game Areas. In connection with the latter
two, 2,9^4 conservation-inspired miles were covered in ±961
by MNA sponsored hikers along Mill Creek, and a five-year
hiking program along the Black River is well started (at
the third hike, February ±8, ±962, 49 showed up despite
biting wind and a prediction of blizzard weather),.
Another bit of good resulting from MNA's activities
is that new stimulation has been provided to other con-
servation organizations in the State. Many of our innova-
tions and lines of emphasis have been adopted by other or-
ganizations. There are many others of these organizations
subscribing to principles of conservation, who when the need
is made clear, will cooperate. Our sanctuary program should
serve as an inspiration for them "to go out and do likewise."
A TURNING POINT
MNA. now is about to embark upon what can be its
most significant contribution to present and future
generations—by devoting the next 5 years of its efforts to
the realization of a NATURE SANCTUARY PROGILAM for the two
-------
717
counties, Macomb and St. Clair.
This has been a dream and a talking point of the
Directors of MNA for the past 8-9 years. It was given a vote
of confidence by the entire membership in ±95^« Now, "it's
Later Than We Think." There comes a time when "educational
efforts" are not enough and words must be replaced by action—
in terms of dollars and cents — for influences and pressures
out of our control are making it imperative that we DO SOME-
THING about preserving the few remaining natural areas in
those two counties, else soon the creeping hand of the city
and suburbs will have reached out and destroyed even what
little now remains. This is a duty we owe to the future.
It is something we (conservationists) can "do for our
country," and needs doing NOW. We cannot be like an ostrich,
hiding our head in the sand (content with looking at colored
movies of the wonders of nature) and ignoring what has
happened in the last ten years, or what will probably happen
in the next ten or twenty, to destroy all we count of value.
What, then, is the situation today, and the out-
look for tomorrow? To begin with, it must be stated that
the two counties we have come to know so well have no virgin,
untouched wildernesses of the type we read about that
still exist in the western parts of our country today.
Practically all the land has been exploited and altered in
some way at one time or another--cleared, cultivated,
-------
718
drained, filled, flooded, grazed, or lumbered. The closest
we can come to in the way of a place that is probably in the
state it was when the Indians roamed are a very few hundred
feet of the Lake St. Clair shoreline south of Huron Point,
and the few acres of bog at Cusic Lake. St. Clair Co.,
particularly was one of the finest White Pine districts, *
but the destruction of the primitive forest was soon accom-
plished, the last piece of pine being cut about ±910. Think
how wonderful it would be if somewhere during the last
century, a square mile of this magnificent timber with its
primeval vegetation, had been preserved! Or even 80 acres,
or 40 acres, or as at Hartwick Pines State Park, even a
few acres'. The cost v/ould have been small at the time,
and it would now be the marvel and wonder of millions of
people in the whole Detroit area'. But now it is too late—
once destroyed such things can never be restored. The
ecologists tell us that the second growth White Pine even
if left alone, will never attain the size of the pines on
the uncleared forest soils, for the old root channels are
gone. ** St. Clair Co., too, has been severely drained,
and most of its former marsh and swampland, the home of varied
plant life not found elsewhere, is gone. (The Federal
government now tries to encourage farmers to make ponds
for wildlife, but the results are not the same).
Outstanding wildlife feature of Macomb Co., which
*Dodge, History of St. Clair Co. 1912
-------
719
is mostly flat country, was its vast marsh areas along
Lake St. Clair. Y/ithin the memory of some of MNA's members,
all the lake shore from St. Clair Shores to New Baltimore was
cattail marsh, and one couldn't get within two miles of the
lake shore anywhere.*** 6 "eagle trees," nesting places for
this noble bird whose decrease in numbers is so deplored,
existed along Anchor Bay. **** The fame of Lake St. Glair's
duck hunting was widespread. Today, after years of draining
and filling in, building of homes and canals, only a few
hundred acres of marsh remain and most of these seem doomed
to the same fate.
(The original marshes, together with our streams
and forests, were part of a natural system for supplying
and storing water and preventing floods. Alterations of the
natural state result in little-understood effects. The
following is quoted from "Nature In The Metropolis, A Study
of Conservation in the Tri-State New York Metropolitan
Region, 1960": "Wetlands, with their high in-soak value,
are the heart of the watershed. ***During period of heavy
rainfall they act as safety valves holding the water and
preventing flooding. * * * A 6-inch rise on a 10 acre marsh
places 1,500,000 gallons of water into storage. Wetlands
are the cheapest built-in flood control and water supply
facility in the world. * * * What is not sufficiently
recognized is that society pays dearly for interrupting
**Leopold/ quoted in Milwaukee Journal, August 22, 1961
-------
720
almost overnight a balance which has taken centuries to devel-
op.* * *Where lack of conservation hurts the most is in the
field of water resources. Before the advent of urban settle-
ment, about 75 percent of the spring rains and the runoff
from melting snow was absorbed by soil and vegetation. * * *
In periods of excessive runoff the abundant wetlands stored
water until levels subsided. What happens to this natural
water management system when urban development takes place?
Houses, pavements, even grass lawns, do not have anywhere
near the absorptive capacity of the fields and forests they
replace. The proportion of runoff which soaks in en route
makes a dramatic shift from the previous 75 percent to 25
percent. * * * Swamps and marshes are often filled or drained
as part of the urbanizing process, thus destroying crucial
natural safety valves. The net result is the building of
expensive storm sewers which take the water out to * * *
(the lake*)—an utter waste. (Footnote: in the case of
Macomb Co.) The water supply suffers and floods wreak havoc
* * * We permit our swamps, marshes, and bogs to be dredged,
drained, filled and polluted with the mistaken notion that
man-made works are somehow superior to these biologic natural
features which subtly perform a great, continuous task free
of any capital or maintenance charge.** (Footnote: Anyone
living in Macomb Co. knows that the difference between the
wisdom of nature's design and the wisdom of man's design
***Arthur J. Milleri quoted in 1953 report of Sanctuaries Com.
GPO 8208I9-C-I5
-------
737
the setting aside of a number of areas (but all already in
State ownership) to remain undeveloped as permanent refuges
for plant and animal life. Its work, however, has been
limited mostly to State parks in the Upper Peninsula and
upper part of the Lower Peninsula, though it has dipped
into the southern part of the State at Warren Woods and
Warren Dunes, near Chicago, and at Proud Lake and Bald
Mt. Recreation Areas in Oakland Co. As stated before,
the Conservation Commission, while it usually goes along
with the recommendations of this Council, cannot assure
absolute protection. Administrations change in the Conser-
vation Department, the Commission itself changes from time
to time, and all State lands are subject finally to the
whim of the legislature, only constant vigilance by
citizen groups can effectively insure unbroken protection
in the future.
Two organizations supported by private citizens
are striving to do on a national scale what MNA is recom-
mending on a local scale.
The Nature Conservancy, a national organization
incorporated in 1951> calling for "Living Museums—Now or
Never," has saved natural ai-eas from virgin forests to
tiny one-acre tracts. Its goal is perpetual preservation.
It has acquired by gift or purchase, 5^ nature preserves in
*
20 states, having a total area of over 10,000 acres.
-------
738
footnote: Save a Spot of Beauty, Reader's Digest, January,,
I960). For its first Michigan project, it is working with
the Michigan Natural Areas Council and other groups to raise
$100,000 to acquire a significant large Beech-Maple woods
near Vermontville. This step is much to be applauded
and has MNA's firm support, but it is to be pointed out
that a woods at Vermontville (half way between population
centers of Detroit and Chicago) will never be of value to as
many persons as even the most insignificant Beech-Maple
woods in the Detroit area.
It is good to know that such an organization as
the Nature Conservancy stands by ready to help, with a loan,
if necessary, if the best area we have found for preser-
•*#
vation should be made available by its owners. (Footnote:
120 plus acres in Bruce Twp, Macomb Co., described by Douglas
Middle ton, who studied it (The Jack-Pine Warbler,, Vol. 35,
1957, No. 2) as having topographical features and variety
of plant communities not commonly occurring in southern
Michigan. It has 5^ nesting species of birds, many unusual
and rare, and 19 of the list of Michigan's rare wildflowers.)
Without this, the amount to be raised is small enough that
outside help should not be necessary. And as in many fields
of public endeavor, the more local our effort is kept, the
more successful it will be.
The National Audubon Society, another nation-wide
-------
759
conservation organization, has had a distinguished record
extending over a half century of preserving wildlife
sanctuaries, especially the nesting rookeries of coloniz-
ing birds in the southern states, thus saving certain
species from extinction. But we feel no need to call upon
the National Audubon to carry out a program which can be
accomplished locally, especially when its largest affiliate
club in the country, the Detroit Audubon Society, is right
here where the initiative needs to be taken'.
In every city of any consequence in southern
Michigan there is a nucleus of nature-minded outdoor people
who can take the lead to get a similar program started
for their locality. These are high school and college
teachers of the natural sciences, garden club members and
Audubon leaders. They know the local "hot spots" of wild-
life, and if, instead of deploring their disappearance,
they channeled their energies into preserving some of them,
the job would be soon accomplished. However, the financial
burden should not fall on them entirely. If our program
were directed toward 1 and 2 small places, where only our
members would enjoy bird-watching and nature walks, our
own resources would be sufficient and no public appeal
would be necessary. It is right that fishermen and campers
should be taxed to provide fishing access sites and camp-
grounds, if only fishermen and campers will benefit. But
-------
7-40
benefits from nature sanctuaries are universal, now and in
the future, and this applies not only to the wildlife that
is saved, but also to the people who wish to enjoy seeing it.
"Nature conservation must not be treated as the
private hobby of a minority of enthusiasts, but must become
a soundly based and generally accepted element in national
policy and practical trusteeship toward the land.
"Our land and all that lives on it is the nation's
basic resource. No part of the inheritance which we must
pass on to our children is more vital to their health and
happiness. None is in more danger of being passed on to
them badly damaged. Only the fullest understanding of its
nature and needs can enable us all to look after it wisely
for the future. That is what conservation means." (Foot-
note: Great Britain's Nature Conservancy, created by
Parliament to preserve and study wild lands.)
A HATUHE SANCTUARY PROGRAM FOR MACOMB AND ST. CLAIR
COUNTIES
Our selection has been preceded by a number of
years of intensive study of the bird and plant life of all of
the two-county area, plus much devoted "exploring" for
promising prospective sanctuaries. We have been very
thorough.
To render unnecessary a detailed description of
the several sites, the accompanying map has been prepared,
-------
7L
showing the major park areas of the two counties, and the
location of the most desirable nature sanctuary properties,
also the next most important ones to be acquired if funds
can be raised. Many of these places are already familiar
to the Directors from field trips and individual field work
over the past 8 years.
We have studied quite carefully the nesting birds
and the plants of the major park areas, and tried to supple-
ment rather than duplicate them. Our sites will insure
permanent preservation of habitats of some of the rarer
plants that do not exist in any of the major parks, large
as their area may be in toto.
Geographical location, especially in sections far
removed from any parks at all, was considered very important,
and as a matter of fact, since no townships except 3 °r ^
have more than one good nature sanctuary location, anyway,
with these exceptions, we have tried to find prospective
nature sanctuaries in as many different townships as
possible. (A few townships are so overfarmed and barren
that no satisfactory place to recommend has as yet been found.
Whereas, an ideal arrangement would be to have 1
sanctuary in each of the 39 townships, practical considera-
tions have led to a MINIMUM program that would provide for
sanctuaries in only at least one-fourth of this number.
If enough funds can be raised, this number could be increased
-------
742
to JO or more.
Most important criteria in our selection have been:
Number and variety of nesting birds and number and
kind of mammals which have been noted.
Number and variety of plants, using as a standard
the list of 33 Michigan's Rare Wildflowers, prepared by the
Michigan Conservation Department.
The Lynn Twp Sanctuary site (as yet unnamed) thus
provides a home for 75 species of birds (3/4 of all the
varieties commonly nesting in SE Michigan) and this number
can be increased by 10 species if a lake is made or deep
canals are cut through, to stabilize the water level. With
the exception of this tract, which is former farmland revert-
ting to marsh, none of the nature sanctuaries are to be
A/
developed or changed in any way, (Footnote: except that a
few that have been severely grazed we will replant with
wildflowers rescued from flooded areas of Stony Creek park.)
and most of them (wooded) have at least some other nesting
birds different from the ones at Lynn Twp so that most of the
nesting birds of this entire area will be well represented,
even if only the MINIMUM objective is achieved.
The combination of all sites will provide for
preservation of at least 27 of the 33 rarer wildflowers
(the others are northern species not usually found in
southern Michigan). Numbers of other plants will be
-------
protected, also, and homos for animals assured.
A final word about the ability of MNA to provide
for these sanctuaries in the future, in case they are all
acquired: Large endowments are not an absolute necessity
(the budget as set up provides for no buildings of any kind).
We can be guided by the Nature Conservancy's experience,
which uses fencing only as a last resort, and reports that
the annual maintenance of these areas runs to less than 50
cents per acre per year, which our membership dues can carry
if necessary. These properties are tax exempt under Michigan
law, once clear title has been obtained.
In conclusion, we feel that the crying need for
this program in an area so near the more than 4,000,000
people in the greater metropolitan area of Detroit is that,
although the sum necessary to do an adequate MINIMUM job
on this program is very modest, and with 2, ^> or ^ times
that amount a much better job could be done, yet the sad
fact is that IF 25 or 100 TIMES THAT AMOUNT were suddenly
to be turned over to us to spend as we would, we could do
little better--there just aren't enough worthwhile nature
properties left anywhere in the two counties.
RECOMMENDATIONS TO MNA'S BD OF DIRECTORS
1. That the program as outlined in the above re-
port and map be adopted as of March 3» 19^2, and be
announced to our members and to the public during National
-------
Wildlife Week, March 17, ±962.
2. That the program should be of 5 years' duration
and should be planned to raise a MINIMUM of $32,000 for 5-10
properties.
3. That this be financed as follows:
Assets of MA already pd on Lynn
Twp Sanctuary purchase from the
Nature Sanctuary Fund of MNA $ 1,275.00
Other cash available 600.00
Already pledged by Directors 1.725.00
3,600.00
Estimate to be raised from members'
dues and other efforts, and pledges
from members over the next 5 years,
at rate of $600 per year 3,000.00
(approx. 20$ of total goal) 6,600.00
Balance to be raised by Public
Appeals 26.000.00
32,600.00
less allow for printing
and other expenses ($125 per
year) 600.00
$ 32,000.00
4. That if public response is good, and it seems
possible to increase the above MINIMUM figure, that this be
-------
745
done, and the number of parcels to be acquired be raised
accordingly, up to a MAXIMUM of J>0 (see map) or more if
possible.
5. That in any event, if the Bishop family should
make their property available, that this be included in the
overall program, and the figure of $32,000.00 be raised
accordingly.
6. That efforts be continued to locate any
additional places that may have been overlooked by placing
appeals in all the smaller newspapers of the two counties
asking property owners to notify MNA if they wish their
properties inspected or evaluated as prospective nature
sanctuaries (for gift or purchase).
7. That letters be sent to owners of property in
the two counties (not on the sanctuary list) where plants
on the list of 33 rare wildflowers grow, pointing out the
identity and rarity of the plants, and the desirability of
protecting them. Many owners are unaware of their exis-
tence and could save them from thoughtless destruction.
8. That all of MA's field trips during ±962 be
held exclusively on the nature sanctuary properties under
consideration, for tiie purpose of more adequately census-
ing and appraising their plant and animal life, in case
choices are necessary, and also to assist in preparation
of guidebooks for future use.
-------
746
9. That a finance committee be appointed to start
at once to consider ways and means of raising $600 for MNA's
Nature Sanctuary Fund for the year March, 1962-March, ±963
from its members, and that a separate committee be formed
to solicit from outside sources.
10. That MNA use every means at its command to en-
courage (or prod, if necessary) other conservation organiza-
tions in and near Detroit (and eventually in the 14 other
metropolitan areas of southern Michigan) to get started
on a similar program, working outward in all directions from
population centei-s until the circles meet. We can give them
the shortcuts to putting such a program into effect in a
space of two years' time.
(Signed) Bertha Daubendiek,
Thelma Sonnenberg,
Nature Sanctuaries Committee for MNA, 1953-1962.
Wo wish to express thanks to the earlier members
of this committee for their help, especially Bob Ambacher,
James Kenney, Arlene Gregory and Ann Crocker. Mrs. George
Tapley has given invaluable assistance. Others who have
helped materially in one way or another are: Mrs. Bette
Jane Johnston, Mr. and Mrs. Louis Senghas, Mr. and Mrs.
Elmer Jasper, Mr. and Mrs. l.laynard itemor, ;,lton H. Woe,
Alton McGaw, James Norton, Michael Loges, Douglas Middleton,
Marie Malik, Charles ohoumaker, Frank Giambrone,
-------
Wendell Lichtenfelt, Mrs. Donald Cope, Mrs. Francis Spencer,
DickCoulon, Ralph O1Reilly, C. W. Pohly, John Streefkerk,
Bill Hopkins, Martha Lengemann, Elwyn Rapp, Mrs. Charles
Starkweather, Mrs. James McEvoy, Mrs. Helen Rice, Fred Case,
Jr., Walter Nickell, Alfred Phillips, Mrs. Ada Draveling,
Mrs. William Rowley, Mvs. Charles Rivard. We are deeply
indebted for their courteous cooperation to: The Leon
Bishop family, Sam Frankel and the Wayne Kasuris, Bruce
Harding, Mrs. Sherman Harding, and to Jack Van Coevering of
the Detroit Free Pi-ess.
* * *
TO: W. D. Mclntyre August 31, ±96l
FROM: i'orrest T. Marx
ilEPOLT ON POLLUTION IN WATERS
IN AND AHOUND MONROE
(together with other data and findings)
On the date 8-10-61, I visited the Sewage Disposal
Plant and made a thorough inspection of the inner workings
as well as the Clearifiers, Digesters, etc., which are out
of doors. I also checked their methods and also the labora-
tory control and found that they were doing a very complete
job. It is true that at certain times of the day, the
Clearifiers do not present a pleasing picture but they do
not have control of the incoming sewage. Today there were
four men working on the Clearifiers, scraping off old paint
-------
748
and applying new primer and paint. The general overall
housekeeping was acceptable.
The amount of contamination in the final effluent
sewage is extremely low because it is thoroughly chlor-
inated before being discharged into the river. Hourly
checks are made to determine the degree of contamination.
Currently they are treating approximately 2.9 million gallons
in 24 hours with 175 Iks of chlorine. Incidentally, as the
sewage first reaches the Sewage Disposal Plant, a primary
shot of chlorine is introduced (75 Iks Per 24 hr day) to
intentionally destroy a large percentage of objectionable
bacteria, principally from fecal matter. I examined the
solid residue from Digesters which is deposited to the East
of the plant but it is not objectionable, veople may have
this material for the asking.
Generally, while this plant is a primary sewage
disposal plant, I am of the opinion that it is doing every-
thing that it was originally intended to do and with satis-
factory results. It is capable of treating 6 million gallons
of sewage daily and they are presently treating about 1/2
this amount daily.
Mr, Gessner, the Plant Manager, appears to be
thoroughly acquainted with the job and informs me that the
supporting employees must meet certain civil service
standards to qualify for this type of work.
-------
749
Friday, August 11 - I made an inspection of waters
around the old River Raisin, which is directly South of
Ford Plant. Found considerable accumulation of green
sludge, etc., near shore which appeared to have been created
by a fibrous material probably from the paper mills. While
in this area, I borrowed a row boat to get first-hand infor-
mation about the Ford effluent discharge. It was extremely
clear and was entering the river with terrific force and
with considerable volume. I understand that Ford treats
both the industrial wastes as well as the sanitary,
with disposals of their own. I believe that the Ford situa-
tion is good for the River waters, because it causes sufficient
turbulance to cause undesirable solids to continue on to the
lake, as well as introduce large volumes of clear, oxygen
laden water into the somewhat turbid River Raisin waters.
If dead fish are found in these waters, it certainly will
not be caused by waters discharged from the Ford Motor
Company plant. I collected samples of water in the Eddy
currents of the Ford effluent discharge and it was of better
than average quality.
Saturday, August 12 - Visited various places along
River Raisin from a point somewhere in the vicinity of
Blissfield to six points along the river, and to the Waterloo
Dam. Samples were collected at several points but in no
instance was there evidence of excessive pollution. Several
-------
750
samples showed erosion but only in traces.
Tuesday, August 15 - On this date, I inspected an
area on the North side of the River Raisin, West of Monroe
to Grape Bridge but there was little or no evidence of
excessive pollution.
Wednesday, August ±6 - Made an inspection and
collected 9 samples of sewage and other questionable waters
in Monroe and environs, this exact location noted below,
together with chemical data. A number of the locations
noted are certainly trouble spots as the result of the tests
manifest, the paper mills being the principle offenders.
Sample 1 - Consolidated Paper Company emptying
into River Raisin - 2nd Cut South. Side Plant - Collected
8-16-61 - Weather clear - little or no wind -
Total solids 14.91 Grains per gallon
256.0 Parts per million
Extremely turbid and cloudy, indicating paper processing
wastes.
Sample 6A - Consolidated Paper Company emptying
into River Raisin - 2nd Cut South. Side Plant - Collected
8-28-61 - Weather clear - Southeast Wind -
Total solids 27.87 Grains per gallon
478.0 Parts per million
Large amounts of fibrous paper stock together with extremely
high turbidities.
-------
751
Sample 2 - Outlet drain into River Raisin at the
Port of Monroe - Sample collected 8-l6-6l - Weather fair
with little or no wind.
Total solids 36.35 Grains per gallon
623.0 Parts per million
Solids consisted mostly of vegetable matter together with
traces of erosion.
Sample 3 - Mason Run Outlet into Port Waters, Both
Consolidated Paper Company. North Side Plant and River
Raisin Paper Company, use this run for a paper waste dis-
posal - Sample collected 8-l6-6l - Y/eather fair - no wind -
Total solids 33«8l Grains per gallon
579.0 Parts per million
Solids and liquid portion of sample highly colored (orange),
indicating the use of straw, in the processing of paper.
Sample 4 - Mason i<;un Ditch located below River
Paper and Consolidated Paper Company North Side, use this
ditch as an outlet for industrial waste. Sample collected
8-l6-6l - Weather fair and no wind -
Total solids 5^.98 Grains per gallon
942.0 Parts per million
Solids and liquid portion of sample highly colored (orange),
indicating the use of straw in the processing of paper. This
sample was really loaded with contaminents, especially paper
stock.
-------
752
Sample 5 - Consolidated Paper Company (North Side
Plant) outlet, which flows into Mason Run Ditch - Sample
collected 8-l6-6l - Weather fair - no wind -
Total solids 28.68 Grains per gallon
492.0 Parts per million
Solids and liquid portion of sample colored a reddish brown
and the solids content was all fibrous paper stock. The
coloring no doubt was a result of a dye or other coloring
matter.
Sample 6—Consolidated Paper Company (West Side
Plant) outlet to River Raisin - Sample collected 8-l6-6l -
Weather fair
Total solids 56.71 Grains per gallon
972.0 Parts per million
Solids fibrous together with large amounts of carbon black
pigment. Effluent discharge waters produces an unsightly
black mixture which extended well towards the middle of the
river. This is a trouble spot.
Sample 7 - Sample of River Raisin water collected
at a point west of any factory effluent discharge lines -
Sample collected 8-l6-6l - Weather fair - West wind
Total solids 3.63 Grains per gallon
62.0 Parts per million
This sample was collected especially for comparison with
waters, both contaminated by industrial wastes and water
GPO 820819-C-I7
-------
753
as it is before contamination. As you will note, this specimen
is reasonably contamination free.
Sample 8 - South Monroe Townsite Tamerac Drain,
which empties into Plum Creek - Sample collected 8-l6-6l -
Weather fair - no wind
Total solids 40.12 Grains per gallon
688.0 Parts per million
This outlet water was high in detergents and other objection-
able matter. I would consider this outlet as an objection-
able sewage outlet.
Sample 9 - Plum Creek outlet at South Monroe Street
which empties into Lake Erie - Sample collected 8-l6-6l -
Weather clear
Total solids 19-56 Grains per gallon
535«0 Parts per million
Specimen of the effluent waste indicated acid content of a
PH 6.6. It was otherwise reasonably low in solids.
Sample 1A - Sewage Disposal Plant effluent dis-
charge into River Raisin - Sample collected 8-28-61 - Weather
fair.
Total solids 7.5 Grains per gallon
128.0 Parts per million
Residual Chlorine 1.0 Parts per million
The discharge waters from Sewage Disposal Plant are of better
than average quality and in my opinion present no problems
-------
754
of contamination.
Sample 2A - Monroe Auto Equipment Company Drain
into River Raisin - Sample collected 8-28-61 - Weather clear
Total solids 9-17 Grains per gallon
158.0 Parts per million
Sample was not grossly contaminated with objectionable
materials. Little or no oil stick was noted. It did have
a trace of turbidity, due to overflowing of washing machines.
Sample 3A - Monroe Paper Products Company Drain
into River Raisin - Sample collected 8-29-61 - Weather fair
Total solids JO.49 Grains per gallon
523.0 Parts per million
Samples contained a dark fibrous material, probably paper
stock. I consider the amount excessive.
Sample 4A - Monroe Water Filtration Plant discharge
outlet into Elver Raisin - Sample collected 8-29-61 - Weather
lair
Total solids 9-^9 Grains per gallon
166.0 Parts per million
The waters from Filtration Plant, does not in my opinion,
offer a serious source of contamination.
Sample 5A - Mouth of LaPlaisance Creek at Bolles
Harbor Port of Refuge - Sample collected 8-18-61 - Weather
clear - wind-North
Total solids 12.58 Grains per gallon
-------
755
216.0 Parts per million
Sample contained some erosion material together with vegetable
matter. The solids content was not excessive but it did show
an acid content of a PII 6.8. Someone no doubt is using this
creek as a disposal for acid wastes.
Sample 6/i - Monroe City Water - Sample collected
8-25-61 from drinhing fountain at Monroe Auto Equipment Plant.
The solids content was nil and there was no evidence of
turbidity. This sample was taken for reasons of comparison.
Conclusions: From the above data, you will note
that the danger spots are the paper mills. I calculate that
for every one million gallons of discharge water emptied
into River Raisin, over 1100 Ibs of solids are also deposited
into the River. I understand that some of these mills
discharge four or five million gallons of water daily. This
situation certainly presents a serious problem. Plum Creek
and Tamerac Drain, also are sources of contamination and
should not be overlooked.
(Signed) F. T. Marx, Chief Chemist
* * #
October 20, 1961
FOll: IMMEDIATE RELEASE
SUBJECT: WHAT INADEQUATE SANITARY SEWERAGE FACILITIES HAS
LED TO
FROM: THE ALLEN PARK, MICHIGAN, CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
-------
756
TO: MEMBERS OF AFFECTED GOVERNMENTAL UNITS
COPIES TO OUR MEMBERS, INVOLVED AGENCIES AND
PRESS SERVICE
For many months now, the Allen Park Chamber of
Commerce has warned of the consequences to be expected unless
sanitary sewerage facilities throughout the Downriver Area
were improved and soon.
You were told of economic hard times for building
tradesmen, building supply firms, contractors, sub-contrac-
tors, land owners, real estate brokers etc.
You know now we were not "crying wolf" as you
witness the flood of failures among building business firms
operating Downriver, and spreading unemployment among trades-
men as new construction grinds to a halt because of the
building ban imposed by the Michigan State Department of
Health.
You were also warned of the health hazard to our
Downriver population—now that danger has become a reality.
And don't think for one moment that the existing
hepatitis outbreak is of a temporary and minor nature—it
isn't.
Hepatitis as bad an affliction as it is known to
be is nothing compared to the more deadly diseases that
contamination breeds and--you know this to be true.
We are most impatient now for action by the
-------
757
communities involved in the Wayne County Department of
Public Work's Downriver Sewerage Proposal, and can no longer
stand by while politicians debate and delay its approval.
Already serious rumblings of discontent are being
heard from the beach areas to our south, which have received
wide adverse publicity since the closing of Sterling State
Park, again by the Michigan Department of Health because
of pollution in the Detroit River and Lake Erie attributed
mainly to their up river "neighbors".
These beach area folks have seen property values
drop drastically as well as their health placed in jeopardy,
and will not be satisfied until the cause of their trouble
is eliminated.
So now political procrastination has led to an
emergency situation which must be dealt with accordingly.
The sixteen million dollars the D.P.W. Sewerage
Proposal is to cost will be peanuts if the beach area
residents decide to assess damage claims against the
communities which have contributed to their plight.
Now time has run out.
PLEASE DON'T SAY YOU DIDN'T KNOW.
Sincerely,
Walter McNally, President
Allen Park Chamber of Commerce
Du 2-4258
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758
July 7, 1961
The Honorable II. C. Pfeil
Colonel, Corps of Engineers
District Engineer
U.S. Army Engineer District
1101 Washington Boulevard
Detroit 26, Michigan
Dear Sir:
The President and Council of the Village of
Gibraltar herewith record written opposition to the establish-
ment of harbor lines around Celeron Island, Sugar Island,
Powder House, Fox Island, etc., as outlined in your public
notice.
The establishment of such lines and consequent
filling in to said lines, would definitely create a
hazardous navigational problem to the owners of small
craft, a considerable number of such owners of which
reside in the Village of Gibraltar and surrounding areas.
As you know the Sugar Island Channel as it is now
charted presents a problem to such craft, inasmuch as the
channel is narrow with a very swift current. Given a slight
wind the channel becomes completely hazardous. With the
establishment of harbor lines around Celeron Island and
with the Island's proximity to the Village of Gibraltar a
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759
similar situation would be created.
Furthermore, with the filling in to the proposed
harbor lines around these various islands and that area be-
low the Village of Gibraltar the ever present problem of
flooding would be greatly magnified. In the past portions
of the Village have been under water, with the advent of the
proposed project we feel the entire Village of Gibraltar
would be jeopardized.
We sincerely feel that the best interest of the
people residing in the Village of Gibraltar and those areas
most directly affected by this proposal will be best served
by the abandonment of said project.
Very truly yours,
VILLAGE OF GIBRALTAR,
(Signed) By Jessie M. Marsh (Mrs)
Village Clerk
# * #
Article from Michigan Department of Health by Albert E.
Heustis, M.D., Commissioner, January, 1962, Vol. 50, No. 1.
HEPATITIS FELLS A RECORD 4,607
IN '6l MARCH THROUGH MICHIGAN
More Michigan people than ever before were sick
with hepatitis in ±961.
In fact, the 4,607 cases reported were more than
twice the number (2,115) counted in 1960. This was the
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?6o
previous record high year for this disease.
Health officials believe the incidence was probably
quite a bit higher than reported, considering the number
of mild attacks for which victims did not seek medical treat-
ment.
The Michigan experience was not unique, however.
Several other states and the U.S. as a whole also reported
a record number of cases. The national figure was estimated
at about 70,000 cases. This, too, was more than twice as
many as the previous record set the year before.
Hepatitis is a liver-damaging disease. It is
caused by a virus so tiny it can't be seen, but often so
mighty its blow can be felt with the impact of a sledge
hammer.
TWO TYPES
There are two types--infectious and serum.
Infectious hepatitis is far more common because it is
generally spread from person to person via the intestinal-
oral route, much like typhoid fever.
Serum hepatitis, as far as is known is transmitted
only through blood, blood products, or instruments contam-
inated with blood. Its source is a victim or previous victim
of the disease. It is the type which accounts for nearly
all deaths attributed to hepatitis.
i/iiile infectious hepatitis is spread principally
-------
by poor hygiene practices it also can be transmitted by blood
and occasionally is. An example is using a contaminated
needle to give an injection.
Hepatitis is a cyclic disease. Like measles and
some other highly contagious disease, it has "peak and valley"
years. The current onslaught, the worst ever experienced in
this country, started its upward trend in ±958. It has in-
creased steadily ever since.
Cite Urban Sprawl
Many doctors in public health, as well as private
physicians, attribute the present high incidence to health
hazards associated with the urban sprawl characterizing most
large cities in recent years.
Residential, industrial, and commercial expansion
in the outskirts has been so rapid it has been "next to
impossible" for municipal governments with jurisdiction
to keep pace in providing adequate sanitation facilities.
.Accordingly, health hazards and problems have come
to light with as much rapidity as the developments themselves.
The major problems have been to provide enough good
water to drink and water for various industrial processes
and adequate sewage disposal and treatment for the fringe
dwellers.
Overloading Sewers Common
In several communities, particularly the new ones
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762
springing up throughout Wayne County, tie-ins with the
municipal sewer system created such overloads it became
necessary for the state health department to ban further
connections until contracts were signed by the communities
to build relief sewers.
An immediate and cooperative effort resulted in
paving the way for construction of the much needed relief
facilities.
Hepatitis epidemics in some areas of the state
have been traced to well water contamination by overflowing
septic tanks.
An outbreak of this type occurred in a small
northern Michigan community in ±959. It was triggered by
a visitor who was convalescing from the disease but still
shedding the virus. Before the outbreak could be halted,
90 persons had become ill. In several cases the source of
their illness was traced from the septic tank at the home
where the visitor stayed to the victims wells.
The incubation period for hepatitis is from two
to six weeks. Symptoms at onset include fever, headache,
nausea; extreme fatigue, and depression.
The appearance of jaundice used to be the "tell-
tale" symptom on which diagnosis was established. More
recently, however, it has been found that for every case
with jaundice, there may be many without, particularly
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763
among children.,
Strikes the Young Mostly
Hepatitis strikes children and young adults most
frequently and fortunately these groups usually have milder
attacks. The most severe cases are usually found among
older persons and pregnant women.
The highest incidence of the disease generally
occurs during a period from late autumn through early winter.
In the present time, however, several peaks have occurred
outside this period.
Most of the increase has been in the infectious
type through Table I, above includes both infectious and
serum hepatitis cases reported in the past decade.
The apparent constancy in deaths in both high and
low years is due to the fact that deaths are almost
entirely caused by serum hepatitis which has increased
very little compared to the infectious type.
Vaccine on the Way
The biggest advance yet toward prevention and
possibly eventual eradication of hepatitis came in 196!
with the disclosure that a vaccine which looks promising
is on its way to development as a result of tests conducted
on more than 200 convict volunteers at Joliet State
Penitentiary.
The tests had been going on in secret for five
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764
years. About 50 of the volunteers were reported to have
developed hepatitis after being inoculated with virus organ-
isms causing the disease. Other convicts who were inoculated
with the infective virus did not contract the disease after
they were vaccinated against it.
It was also discovered last year that a certain
breed of monkey is susceptible to the disease. Previously
it had been thought only humans contracted hepatitis. It
is for this reason that progress in developing a vaccine
has been slow because human volunteers needed to test
vaccines have been "hard to come by." The availability of
monkeys for testing vaccines should help speed progress in
this vital phase of the fight to tame one of today's most
debilitating diseases.
* * *
Article from Michigan Department of Health, Vol. 50, No. 1,
January, ±962.
DR. BARRETT REPORTS:
HEPATITIS IMPACT HITS MONROE
By C. D. Barrett, Sr., M.D., Director Monroe
County Health Department
(EDITOR'S NOTE: When hepatitis strikes a community, how
great is the impact on its citizenry? Who, or what, gets
the blame for the outbreak? What, if anything, can be done
to quell the epidemic? What is the role of the local
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765
health department during an outbreak? And, what are some
of the complications which may develop? Dr. Barrett answers
these questions and others in his description of the hepati-
tis outbreak in Monroe County during 1960-61).
The effect of hepatitis on the community depends
on the local incidence and the emphasis given to the
subject in the news, both locally and nationally.
The ingredients which increase impact were
present in Monroe County. The incidence was high—6.2
percent of all cases reported in the state in a county
comprising 1.J5 percent of the state's total population. And
a great deal of publicity was given the situation to the local
papers and over the radio. At the same time, a number of
articles on hepatitis were appearing in national magazines
and television programs were discussing the high incidence
of the disease throughout the U.S.
In a situation like this, the county health
department must, because of popular demand, if not other-
wise, "do something". The question is: "Do what?"
When a case of hepatitis occurs in a school room,
for example, all parents of children in the same room and
riding the same school bus, the teachers, the bus driver.
and all the neighbors and friends--all want something done.
More specifically, they demand gamma globulin!
-------
7 66
"You're on the Spot"
When you get several cases in the same room, and
20 or JO over a period of a few weeks in the same school,
then the health department is on the spot.
If there is a hospital patient diagnosed as hepati-
tis after admission, all the nurses, nurse aides and hospital
staff are even more vehement in their demands on the health
department.
Every county has some peculiar characteristics
working to its advantage or disadvantage. Monroe County has
a 30-mile Lake Erie shore line. On this shore line is located
Sterling State Park. As many as 800,000 people come here
each summer to swim, fish and picnic. Pollution from the
Detroit River and from Monroe County sources affect
the quality of water on the Sterling State Park bathing
beach. Last summer, signs were placed on the beach August 15
reading, "Unsafe for 3wiraming--Michigan Dept. of Health".
The number of visitors to the park decreased to a
small fraction of the normal, and suddenly all Monroe
County—or so it seemed—rose up in wrath.
Comes the Loud Cry
There was a long and loud cry that prompt measures
be taken to alleviate the situation. Although there is
no epidemiological evidence that pollution of Lake Erie
water is a factor in the incidence of hepatitis, neverthe-
less, the leaders in the Lake Erie Clean-up Committee
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767
immediately connected the two facts and inferred in public
statements that the high incidence of hepatitis was a result
of the neglect of public health officials which allows
pollution of Lake Erie and other waters to exist.
We in the health department have been concerned
about the possible causative effect of polluted private
wells as related to hepatitis incidence. Monroe county's
topography is flat. Most of the county is less than 50
feet above the lake level. Ground water is in many places
near the surface. There is much underlying lime stone
formation which is near or at the surface; also much clay
and as a result many vicinities and many homes are so located
that septic tanks and the fields cannot operate effectively.
We have many polluted wells.
Well Pollution A Factor?
Considerable time and effort has been given to a
study to determine whether polluted wells have been a
factor in the high incidence of hepatitis. We have been
aided in this study by Dr. Horace Dodge and Dr. Charles Stark
of the University of Michigan School of Public Health. This
study is not complete but thus far there is no evidence of
which I am aware that Monroe County's high incidence is due
to any other than the usual person to person contacts.
The administration of gamma globulin to contacts
of cases has been referred by the attending physician to
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768
the health department in an estimated 85 percent of the cases.
For the 259 cases reported from January 1 to November 30,
196l, the health department has given gamma globulin in-
jections to 760 different contacts. For the month of
April, ±961 a review of our records shows that for the 40
cases reported, physicians attending 34 of these cases referred
all of the contacts to the health department. These 34
cases represented 121 children and adults, who as contacts
all received gamma globulin injections during April.
Gamma Globulin Effective
Seven individuals (included in the total of 259
reported elsewhere) are secondary cases with onsets
following immunization with gamma globulin. The interval
between injections of the gamma globulin and reported date
of onset in these cases varies from two days to two weeks.
We have no data including controls on which to base any sound
conclusions as to the effect of gamma globulin in preventing
hepatitis. It would appear that, with only seven secondary
cases among an estimated 900 contacts, the use of gamma
globulin has been effective.
The chronological picture of the epidemic shows
the outbreak starts building up in February and March of
1960. It then levels off but does not drop to the low
level in the summer to be expected with the normal
seasonal decline. After the beginning of the next school
GPO 82O819-C—18
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769
year, the incidence mounts rapidly and continues high all
through the winter and is slower than normal in declining
during the summer of ±961.
Comparing the two years, we find the incidence was
low in the first part of ±960 and high in the same period
of 1961. The incidence was high in the last part of ±960
but low late in 1961.
The incidence of reported cases is shown in
Table I. Those over age 20 are 33-8 percent. The percent
over age 20 for Michigan in ±961, weeks 17-43 is given by
the Public Health Service as 43«7 percent. Perhaps the use
of gamma globulin for household contacts has kept the inci-
dence relatively low among the adults.
TABLE I — Age Incidence -- January 1
September 30, 1961
Age Gvoup
5-9
10-19
20-29
30-39
40-4-9
50 +
Unknown
Total
Cases
14
84
66
37
27
12
5
1
246
63.2$
•z-z Qo'
J2~* <->/<>
-------
770
Cases Concentrated
Table 2 shows the number of cases by city and
townships for all of ±960 and the first nine months of 1961.
As may be noted in the last column, showing rates for the 21
months, the greatest concentration of cases has been in
two townships—Frenchtown immediately north of Monroe, and
Monroetown, adjacent to the southern city limits. Monroe-
town Township has had the highest incidence, 1,234 per 100,000
population for the 21-month period, of any of the Townships,
However, a small community in Fvenchtown township, known
as Detroit Beach, with a population of about 1,500 had 27>
cases in a three-month period (March, April and May, 1961).
The county as a whole had a case rate in I960 of
179, and for the first 11 months of 1961, the case rate was
250.
The rate for the state is approximately 5^ for 1961
and the national rate appears to be considerably below that
of Michigan.
Monroe's Caseload High
Monroe County's incidence of hepatitis is higher
than any other Michigan County of more than 50,000 population.
Because of the high concentration of cases in
Detroit Beach and because of the known high percentage of
private wells in this area showing pollution, an attempt
was made to determine whether there was any causative
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771
relation. Fifteen homes, having one or more cases of
hepatitis, and 29 homes as controls with no reported cases,
were selected and samples of water were collected from these
wells and two tests were run on each. These tests were the
standard coliform index done at the Michigan Department of
Health laboratory and a field test for detergents.
In the 29 wells selected as controls, 13 were
found unsafe by the bacteriological tests and eight of these
wells had detergents present. In the ±5 wells used at homes
with known hepatitis cases, eight showed bacterial pollution
and three were positive for detergents. The difference does
not appear to be significant.
More Complete Report Coming
A more complete epidemiological report is being
compiled by Drs. Dodge and Stark.
Many hours of time by nurses and clerks have been
given in the health department office and clinic for inter-
views, history taking, records and gamma globulin injections.
Also, many home and school visits have been made by nurses
for investigations, history taking and health education,
as well as much time given by sanitariums in the investi-
gation of wells and sewage disposal systems.
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772
TABLE 2 — Cases by City and Townships
Jan. 1, ±960 to Sept. 30, ±961
CASES
Population
1960
1961
(9 Mo.)
Total
Rates
(21 mo.)
Monroe City
Townships
1.
2.
3.
4.
5-
6.
7-
8.
9-
10.
11.
12.
13-
14.
15.
Ash
Bedford
Berlin
Dundee
E.-ie
Exeter
Fi-onchtov/n
Ida
LaSalle
London
Milan
Monroe town
Raisinville
Summerf ield
White ford
22,968
4,825
14,353
4,459
^1,511
5,456
2,518
12,199
2,000
3,672
2,422
2,490
8,3^3
3,277
3,386
3,641
50
10
13
23
2
1
0
28
3
2
0
0
45
3
1
0
38
11
18
12
3
8
l
76
1
7
3
5
58
3
1
1
88
21
31
35
5
9
1
104
4
9
3
5
103
6
2
1
387
435
216
785
110
165
40
853
154
245
124
201
1,234
183
59
27
Total
101,126
181
46
427
423
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773
Article from: Monroe News, 3-22-62
COUNTY'S HEPATITIS CASES DECLINE IN TWO MONTHS
The number of hepatitis cases in Monroe County
has declined sharply in recent months, Dr. C. D. Barrett
of the Monroe County Health Department said today.
A total of 62 cases were recorded during the first
two months of ±961 and only 6 in January and February, ±962.
This contrasts with the statewide figures of 739 cases during
the first two months of ±961 and 937 f°r the same period of
1962.
"So far in March, we have had only two cases of
hepatitis," Dr. Barrett said.
The present low incidence of the disease in Monroe
County is well below the 292 cases recorded from October,
±960, to May, ±961. It was this epidemic that gave Monroe
County the notoriety of having 6.2 per cent of all cases
in the state and only 1.3 per cent of Michigan's population.
"it was one of those epidemics that burned itself
out," Dr. Barrett said. "The use of the gamma globulin drug
also helped. It was administered in households where members
of the family were exposed to the disease. In April, ±961,
a total of 121 children and adults received injections of
the drug.
"However, we have no data on which to base any
sound conclusions as to the effectiveness of gamma globulin
-------
774
in preventing hepatitis."
The work of the health department staff in fighting
the spread of the ailment also was cited by Dr. Barrett.
"Many hours were given to interviews, history taking, gamma
globulin injections and health-education programs in our
office and in homes and schools," he said. "Much time was
devoted by our sanitarians to investigations of wells and
sewage-disposal systems.
"Considerable effort was given to a survey to
determine the effect of polluted wells in causing the disease.
There are many of these wells in the county. There is no
evidence so far that the county's high incidence of the dis-
ease is due to other than the usual person-to-person contacts.
There also is no proof that pollution in Lake Erie is a
factor."
A. study of last year's outbreak is being made by
Drs. Horace Dodge and Charles Stark of the University of
Michigan School of Public Health. It still is incomplete,
Dr. Barrett added.
Hepatitis, once called yellow jaundice, is an
ailment in which ducts from the liver to the gall bladder
become obstructed, the doctor said. "Bile can't be
stored and part of it gets into the blood stream causing
yellowing of the eyes and skin. The disease is seldom fatal
but it leaves the victim with a tired feeling that lasts
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775
for weeks.
"it can do permanent damage to the liver but 90 P®r
cent of the victims recover completely."
During the recent epidemic, Monroe, Frenchtown, and
Berlin Townships had the highest number o± cases. Incidence
also was high in Ash and LaSalle Townships and the City of
Monroe.
A breakdown of occurrence of the disease by age
groups showed children up to 19 most susceptible although
effects of the illness are more severe in adults,
Dr. Barrett said.
-X
Article from: The Detroit News, Sunday, February 11, 1962
ENGINEERS TO CH003E SITE FOil $172 MILLION WATER PL.xHT
By John M. Carlisle
The long-proposed Lake Huron intake and Port Huron
Water Station for the Detroit water commission, involving
the eventual expenditure of $172 million, will move much
closer to realization this week.
The current plan is to have the water intake four
miles out in Lake Huron, draw it into the water station
through a pressurized tunnel, and pump it through water
mains J>6 miles into the pi*esent Detroit water system.
Consults Engineers
Gerald I:emus, municipal water department general
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776
manager, will confer Tuesday with 10 engineers on the proposed
water plant site. They will be asked to choose a "general
area" for one of three possible sites in the Port Huron area.
Borings were taken of soil conditions for these
sites in November- and December.
The Board of Water Commissioners plans to con-
struct the Lake Huron water facilities in three sections
over an 18-year period.
Construction will start on the first section,
which will cost $88 million, in the spring of 196^. It will
be completed in 1967. The other sections will be built
as metropolitan Detroit's expanding water needs require them.
The new Port Huron water station will be equipped
with settling basins, pumping plant, filter facilities,
chlorinators and storage basins.
250 MILLION GALLONS
The capacity of the first section will be 250
million gallons a day. The next two sections will each have
similar capacities.
This will give Detroit's Lake Huron system a total
capacity of 750 million gallons a day when it is finally
completed.
The Lake Huron intake has been under discussion
since an elaborate study was made of Detroit's water needs
in 1924-25. The intake has been in the "thinking stage"
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777
for the last five years.
"We think we will need this additional water
capacity by ±9^7»" Genius explained. "We are obligated to
get a supply oi' water other than through Lake iit. Clair.
uIVEIt INTAKE
"V/e now have everything boxed in one spot. Our
present intake is off the head of Belle Isle. When the Allen
Park Y/atev station, which \ve bought from the county, is
completed in the spring of 196^1, its intake will be from
the Detroit Paver off Fighting Island.
"in the Lake Hir-'on project we will be buying water
reliability. Civil defense and the 5th Corps Army Industrial
Security Division lius been critical of our confinement to
Detroit River intakes.
"They are convinced and so is the water commission
that extra reliability like the Lake Huron intake has
to be provided.
"As I see it, this will be a normal expansion for
our utility in metropolitan Detroit to supply what water is
needed."
Kemus said the Lake Huron facilities would be
financed "without any hardship" by the giant revenues of
the water department. These "casn register funds" would
support revenue bonds.
Detroit's v/ater system, Remus pointed out, has been
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778
spending a yearly average of $10 million since ±948 on im-
provements.
Detroit's water intake was off Water Works Park
until the present system was started in ±926 with an expendi-
ture of $33 million and an intake off Belle Isle.
The giant Northeast Water Station was completed
in ±956 at a cost of $52 million. The addition to the Spring-
wells Water Station was comnleted in ±959 at a cost of $35
million.
Several years ago, the city undertook to absorb
and construct new facilities of the county water system.
When it is finished, the Allen Park system will supply the
southwestern part of the county.
The water department is so wealthy that it has
already paid the county $8 million in two payments for county
expenditures on the Allen Park station.
The Detroit department, with 1,265 employes and a
yearly budget of $25 million, is self-supporting. It does
not cost the taxpayers anything for its operations or its
capital improvements.
It now supplies 1,700,000 City of Detroit customers
and 1,600,000 other customers in 52 suburban communities.
Water mains are now being constructed for six new
customers--Pontiac, Utica, Troy, Belleville, van Buren and
Farmington townships.
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779
BILLION CAPACITY
The water department now has a top capacity of a
billion gallons a day and it pumps an average of 490 million
gallons a day.
It is the city's most successful department. It
also has ±55 employees and a $7 million yearly budget in its
sewage treatment division.
The department has assets of $284 million, includ-
ing the 24-story Water Board Building, the Northeast,
Springwells and Water Works Park water stations. It also
has a vast system of water mains, filtering plants
and water storage facilities.
This tremendous enterprise is run by a policy-
making body of seven commissioners, including four Detroit
residents, and one commissioner each from Wayne, Oakland
and Macomb counties.
The late Mayor Albert E. Cobo once observed that
"it's fantastic what a big business selling water is."
* * *
Article from: The News Herald, Wednesday, January 31, 1962
Volume 85—No. 5
COUNTY SETS NEW SEWER DEADLINE
'TASK FORCE' READY TO ROLL FOR SOLUTION
The Wayne County DPW, shooting for another chance
at Federal aid on its $±5-million Downriver sanitary sewer
-------
780
system, has sent a new--Feb. ±6—deadline on Downriver
communities' contract signing.
Simultaneously, yesterday, Gov. John B. Swainson's
"Task Force" was reactivated to help clarify newly issued
sewer contracts and to speed community action.
George Binghara, County DPW director, said the
schedule of meetings and organization of the Task Force
v/ill be worked out in the next few days.
The Task Force, organized at the Colonial House
in Taylor Township last October, has been inactive awaiting
changes in the proposed contracts to 14 Downriver communities
and the call to action. Contracts stipulate, primarily,
financial commitments for the $15 million sanitary sewer
system.
"For awhile, DPW board considered diverting the
Downriver sewage to Detroit. It was decided by mid-January
that this would be unworkable," said Bingham.
Almost simultaneously, Bingham continued, an
opportunity came to secure $250,000 Federal grant for the
Goddard Road segment of the $15-million sewer project. This
opportunity came because some communities in northern Michigan
failed to meet Federal time limits and requirements for
grants on their projects. This made the Goddard project
eligible for aid.
"For Wayne County DPW now to qualify," said Bingham,
-------
"we must reach a March 1 deadline on filing with the Michigan
Resource Commission for the Federal Grant.
"Because we must get the contract okayed by the
Wayne County Board of Supervisors after communities sign,"
Bingham added, "We have asked them to indicate their willing-
ness to sign by Feb. 16. It is to help these communities
because of this short period that we have reactivated the
Task Force," he added.
Wyandotte Council received the new contract Monday.
Commenting briefly, City Engineer Louis II. Moehr said "this
one saves us $100,000 because they have cut the population
figures from 5^1,000 to 47,000." This was one change Moehr
had fought for. He suggested some of Wyandotte's other
suggested changes could best be solved though other agreements
Bingham said other contract changes include Browns-
town Township as a signee as a future possible financial
participant in the project although it would not presently
benefit directly from the project. Other changes asked by
Riverview were made.
On the Riverview action pulling out of the county
project, Bingham commented "we are still hoping they may be
in the project when they find other communities are signed
up by March 1."
-------
782
Article from: Toledo Blade, 3-20-62
HARBOR VIEW PRESSED TO BUILD SEWERS
$221,541 Price Tag Put on System
Harbor View (pop. 273) is being pressed to build
a sewage disposal system to replace septic tanks and out-
houses .
There is an estimated $221,3^1 price tag on sewers
and a treatment plant, Ray Hall, county sanitary engineer,
said yesterday.
This is $53,201 more than the $±68,l40 tax duplicate
of Harbor View.
Assessments would be $38.52 per front foot, Mr. Hall
informed county commissioners. On the basis of 1.82 lots of
record, assessments would run $1,216.16 a lot.
Because lots are only 30 feet wide in most cases,
many homes occupy two parcels, thus doubling the assess-
ment.
By any standard, Mr. Hall said, cost would seem
to be prohibitive. Help from the Federal Government is one
avenue being explored, he said.
Both state and county health departments are
urging an end to septic tanks and outhouses in the tiny,
two-street lakefront community.
Since the early 1950's the county's minimum area
requirement, with city water, for a septic tank is 10,000
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783
square feet, according to Dr. Dorothy VanAusdal, county
health commissioner.
It would take at least two Harbor View lots, which
are usually ±75 feet deep, to meet county requirements.
* * -X-
Article from: Detroit News, 12-8-61
RIVER WASTE BLAMED ON CANADIAN
From Our Lansing Bureau
Lansing, Dec. 8. -- Gov. ijwainson today asked for
federal help to eliminate Canadian pollution of the Detroit
River and Lake Erie.
He sent the request to Abraham A. Ribicoff,
seci^etary of health, education and welfare.
owainson said repoi-ts reaching him charged that
Windsor and >jarnia, Ont., were discharging untreated sewage
into the water.
"if this, indeed, is a contributing factor, this
added problem would have international implications that would
better lend themselves to federal assistance to bring about
pollution abatement," Swainson's letter said.
Swainson said the problem was especially acute in
southeastern Michigan where the densely populated metro-
politan area was creating new sewage problems.
He said the Michigan Water Resources Commission
"has compiled an exemplary" record in most inland areas
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784
of the state.
"However, as is common in highly concentrated
industrial areas, critical pollution problems make demands
that are above and beyond the normal pollution control
activities," he said.
•x- #• *
ALLEN PABK CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
Allen Park, Michigan
March 1, ±962
Mr. W. D. Mclntyre
Monroe Auto Equipment Co.
Monroe, Michigan
Dear Mr. Mclntyre:
I read with interest your letter to the 3tate
Chamber of Commerce in regard to pollution of the waters
of this area by industrial wastes.
Having myself a deep feeling of concern in this
matter, it is my desire to personally say--THANKS.
In the foreseeable future, it is entirely
possible that control of waste solids will be accomplished,
at least we know definite movement in this direction is
underway now, or will be shortly.
However, a much more serious contamination problem
than solids will still persist to plague us, and that is—
what is being done, or can be done toward bacterial control?
G"O 8?0819-C—19
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785
Jince this type of pollution is unseen, it is
passing unnoticed—or conveniently ignored in some quarters.
What I know of sewage disposal treatment plants
presently in operation or planned are and will be, to my
knowledge, completely inadequate in opei^ation to eliminate
harmful bacterial concentrations in the effluent.
That the Lake Erie Cleanup Committee is doing an
admirable job, and needs continued and increasing support,
is the purpose of this letter.
At the U. of M. there is a top authority in the
field of bacteriology, who might be induced to help the
Committee--DR. LLOYD KEMPE.
There have been so many admissions—and then
denials, buck passings, procrastinations etc. by governmental
agencies during this controversy, that it appears logical
the only way to force action by these bureaus is to have
a recognized top notcher laying it on the line for the
committee — a man whose findings can not be refuted or taken
lightly.
I do not know D . Kempe—only of him, from his
former students now employed in bacteriological fields.
Perhaps, there may be someone presently working
with the Committee who does know him, and would make the
approach to enlist his help.
There is so much at stake now, that we simply
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786
cannot let the committee go it alone, through an uncharted
course of governmental double talk and red tape which may
lead to stagnation, disheartening discouragement—and failure,
It could very easily be that the next phase in
this battle to gain proper sanitary controls will be to have
positive, proven scientific data backing up a bunch of
guys—amateurs who took on a big, big job and didn't quit.
That you and so many others are pitching it is
gratifying.
Again—THANKS.
Sincerely,
ALLEN PAKK CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
(Signed) Walter McNally, President
•*•*•*
MONROE AUTO EQUIPMENT COMPANY
Monroe, Michigan
February 5, ±962
M . Harry R. Hall
Michigan State Chamber of Commerce
215 South Washington Boulevard
Lansing 25, Michigan
Dear Harry:
Inasmuch as it was impossible for me to attend the
January J51 meeting of the Board of Directors, I would very
much like to know what action was taken in regard to the
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737
proposal on the Sleeping Bear Dunes park. Personally, I am
opposed to the establishment of this federal park, prin-
cipally because I think a lot of other things should be done
first.
As you know, we have a large state park here in
Monroe County, known as Sterling 3tate Park. The park is
located on Lake Erie and in past years it had a very
rapidly improving attendance, until last year when the beach
waters were condemned by the Michigan Health Department.
For your information I am attaching copy of a
confidential report that was prepared for me on August J>1
by our chief chemist and you will note from this report
that 1100 pounds of solids are dumped into Lake Erie by the
paper companies for every million gallons of water that
they use. The paper companies in Monroe use from 30,000,000
to ^1-0,000,000 gallons of water per day and there is no
question in my mind but what the major source of pollution
in the area of Sterling State Park has been brought about
by these paper mill waste materials that have been dumped
into Lake Erie.
I am sure that you will find similar conditions
existing in other areas throughout the State of Michigan,
not only where paper is produced, but also other industrial
operations where their effluent run-off is not held in
check, and I think it is high time that the utate Chamber
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788
of Commerce insist that these pollution practices which have
been going on for years by many industries throughout the
state be stopped at the earliest possible moment.
At the present time the federal government, under
the direction of Mr. J. M. Ilademacher, Chicago Office of
the U.o. Department of Health, Education & Welfare, directed by
the Hon. Abraham Ribicoff, one of the members of President
Kennedy's cabinet, are making an investigation which they
claim will be completed in eighteen months.
In my opinion this type of finagleing is nothing
more than a means of investigating the complaints over
such an extended length of time that the people who originated
the complaints will forget about them, or have moved away
or died. I do not intend to forget about this pollution
problem. I have no intention of moving out of Monroe and
my health is in excellent condition and I would like some
action NOW, and if these politicians are going to persist
in their delaying tactics they must be prepared to suffer
the consequences of my personally exposing their delaying
tactics to the public.
Therefore, in order to avoid embarrassment on their
part, I would suggest that you encourage immediate action be
taken to stop pollution by industry in all parts of the state
and I would appreciate your advice as to what action you and
the rest of the members of the Chamber of Commerce are taking
-------
789
in this direction.
Copies of this letter, incidentally, are going
to the local Chamber of Commerce and the Chairman of the
Lake Erie Cleanup Committee
Sincerely,
(Signed) W. D. Mclntyre
* * *
STONEY POINTE COUNCIL OF PRESIDENTS
RTE #2
DU. 2-4258 NEWPORT, MICHIGAN
July 17, 1961
Honorable Mayor and Council
City of Monroe
Monroe, Michigan
Gentlemen:
Meeting Thursday, July ±3th, the 3toney Pointe
Council of Presidents by resolution have directed that you
be advised of a deplorable condition existing at the
beaches along Brest Bay.
A deep silt has been deposited along the lake shore
destroying the swimming areas of Stoney Pointe Beach Associa-
tion and Brest Bay Grove Association.
It has been substantiated by governmental investi-
gators that this mucky debris is waste from paper mills.
Since the offending paper mills are located in your city,
-------
790
we are requesting that you take such action as will relieve
our beacn areas of this destructive polluting material.
The U. S. Corps of Engineers and the Water Resources
Commission have been informed in this regard and have sampled
and tested the contaminating residue.
It is entirely probable that you were unaware of
the damage to the beaches on Brest Bay, especially since
this area is to your north, but winds and possibly reverse
currents have caused Monroe's paper mill effluent to move
"upstream" to cause the problem.
Please let us know what you can and will do in this
regard.
Yours truly
Walter McNally, President
Stoney Pointe Council of Presidents
* * #
EXCERPTS FROM MINUTES - WATER RESOURCES COMMISSION
May 18, 1961 meeting, page J5:
Jterling State Park beach: Mr. Eddy presented a letter to
him from Dr. Heustis, dated May ±5, ±961, stating
that following consideration of studies made
jointly by the staffs of the Water Resources
Commission and the Michigan Department of Health.
It has been demonstrated that the water quality
at Sterling State Park beach cannot be maintained
-------
791
sufficiently free of contamination for protection
of the public health. Dr. Heustis, further stated
that no assurance could be given that the beach
is now, or can be expected to be, safe for swimming.
Following discussion, and in compliance with
Mr. Eddy's request, it was the consensus of Members
that staff, in collaboration with the Michigan
Department of Health, present a report at the
June meeting for Commission consideration, on what
can be done, in addition to waste control programs
and measures presently in effect or planned, to
improve the water quality of Lake Erie at the beach,
June 22, 196! meeting, page 5:
Lake Erie-Sterling State Park: Distribution was made of a 7
page report prepared by staff members of the Water
Resources Commission and the Michigan Department
of Health on the sanitary quality of water in Lake
Erie at the Sterling State Park beach. Factors
having a bearing on present quality were reviewed;
the extent that these factors will be modified by
current waste control measures and programs was
discussed; the conditions under which a higher
water quality might be achieved were also described
in the report. The report concluded by stating
that when all of the measures described are in
-------
792
effect, no assurance could be given that a uniform
quality of water consistently acceptable for recre-
ational bathing purposes could be maintained at
the beach. Arthur Elmer, Chief, Parks and
Recreation Division, Department of Conservation,
stated that if the water at the beach is considered
unsafe for swimming by the Michigan Department of
Health, an official statement to that effect
should be forthcoming. He further recommended that
official Michigan Department of Health signs
declaring the beach unsafe for public swimming, be
erected. Members concurred in his request.
Representative Sterling of Monroe expressed his
concern about the conditions at the beach.
* * •*
ROUGE KECuEATION BOAT CLUB
17 4 Burke Street River Rouge ±8, Michigan
Vinewood 2-^6^10
March 22, ±962
To Whom It May Concern:
The Rouge Recreation Boat Club fully endorses the
stand the Lake Erie Clean-Up Committee has taken in the fight
to eliminate the pollution of our waters.
The Detroit Kiver and Rouge River are part of the
boundaries of our city and are great contributors to our
-------
795
pollution problem. Industries along these two rivers have
been operating outside the pollution laws for years unchecked.
Due to the unchecked industries and municipalities, our waters
are a cesspool for the collection of corruption of our State.
Wildlife is not abundant in our area as it was in
years past. Breeding grounds have been destroyed by polluted
water. Dead waterfowl are found in abundance along our
shores.
We were once able to stand with our head high when
fishing was talked about because we knew there was no
better area than ours, but no more. The river now produces
second rate fish, and when one is caught, it is not edible
because of oil or chemical traces in the meat.
Boating is a hazardous sport today due to objects
thrown in the water. Logs as large as telephone poles are
not an uncommon sight when out for a boat ride.
Swimming is something of the past. Ear infection
is very common to those who do venture into our waters for
a swim.
The greatest of all the evils brought upon us by
pollution is the threat of disease. In the past Hepatitis
was almost unknown in our area. Today it is an everyday
word. Typhoid, Skin Infection, Polio Myelitis and
Menengitis are only a few of the diseases that are found to
be lurking in the waters of our area.
-------
Is our beautiful Water Wonderland to be destroyed
by a few villainous individuals who have no respect for the
laws and rights of his fellow man? We, the members of our
club, will never willfully stand by while this takes place.
We will continue to fight with every weapon at our disposal
to put a stop to the destruction of our State's water.
(Signed) Billie K. Payne
Water Pollution Committee
•* * *
STONY POINT PENINSULA ASSOCIATION
Route No. 2 Newport, Michigan
March 21, ±962
Mrs. Irene Finck
3003 - llth Street
Detroit Beach Association
Monroe, Michigan
Dear Mrs. Finck:
Relative to your work with the Lake Erie Clean-Up
Committee, we should like to register a complaint from
residents of Stony Point Peninsula Association relative to
pollution and unsightly conditions of our Lake Erie beaches.
The first is that raw sewage has been occasionally
reported by our residents. The source of this contamination
is not readily recognized, but the pollution danger is clearly
evident and of the highest degree.
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795
Aaother item which causes considerable concern to
all the residents is the scum or residue that continues to
pile up on our beaches. This is recognizable as a compara-
tively large, but light, particle size that deposits on our
beaches, particularly on the beaches facing our prevailing
winds. This scum is not only unsightly but contributes to
the pollution of bur waters and, furthermore, decreases
considerably from the valuation of the general property in
our area. as further evidence of this pollution, we have
seen no walleyed pike in this area in the past five years
and, in fact, except for perch there is a lack of all species
that prefer to live and reproduce in relatively clean areas.
In view of these conditions, we would appreciate
your bringing this to the attention of your committee for
further action in cleaning up Lake Erie. Thank you for
your cooperation in this matter.
Very truly yours,
(Signed) C. F. Orloff, Secretary
Stony Point Peninsula Association
* •* •*
OIL, CHEMICAL AND ATOMIC WORKERS INTERNATIONAL UNION, AFL-CIO
TItENTON LOCAL NO. 7-456
:i RESOLUTION ON THE TRENTON CHANNEL AND ANTIPOLUTION:
WHEREAS: Congressman John Lesinski has a proposal before
Congress to deepen and extend the Trenton Channel
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796
into Lake Erie, and
WHEREAS: Such proposal would provide facilities for industrial
expansion, thereby creating job opportunities and
strengthening our national defense efforts, and
IVHtliEiiJ: Such job opportunities are much needed in this
highly distressed employment area, and
\7HEREAS: The use of the Detroit River and other existing
natural resources is a privilege which should not
be abused by industrial mismanagement, and
V/HSREAJ: Many industries located in the Detroit and Down-
river areas have shown dollar expediency and utter
contempt for the privilege of using these natural
resources by dumping industrial wastes into the
Detroit Liver, thereby destroying millions of
dollars worth of recreational facilities, destroy-
ing fish and game, and turning the Detroit iliver
and Lake Erie into a cesspool of industrial garbage,
and
T/HEKEA3: These same industries, through air polution, have
shown utter contempt for personal and community
properties by turning some of these properties
into industrial blights, and
WHEREAS: Existing controls have proven weak and ineffective
in eliminating these abuses; now therefore be it
RESOLVED: Local 7-4-56, OCAVI, vigorously supports the
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797
proposal to deepen and extend the Trenton Channel,
and be it further
KEJOLVED: Local 7-^56, OC^V,, urges the adopting of enforce-
able ordinances and legislation with penalties
so severe it will eliminate these industrial
blights and the needless destruction of our natural
resources, and be it further
RESOLVED: Local 7-^56, OCAY,r, urges all organizations, govern-
ing bodies, and interested citizens to support tae
Trenton Channel proposal and also to support
appropriate Antipollution ordinances and legisla-
tion, and be it further
RESOLVED: Copies of this resolution be sent to Congressman
John Lesinski, Senators Hart and McNamara,
Governor John Swainson, Labor Organizations,
Newspapers, and other interested organizations
and citizens.
LOG,:.!, 7-456, JC.xV,', .'JFL-CIO
(Signed) B. E. Henson, President
30^78 Young Drive
Gibraltar, Michigan
The above resolution unanimously adopted by the
membership of Local 7-^56, OCAW, in a general membership
meeting held on February 1, ±962.
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798
FOREWORD
During its December meeting the Committee on
Physical Planning of the Supervisors Inter-County Committee
considered a resolution adopted and submitted by the Monroe
County Board of Supervisors, relating to conditions in the
Lower Detroit river and Lake Erie resulting from sewage and
industrial waste discharged into the river in the Detroit
Metropolitan area. Chairman David R. Calhoun requested of
John E. Vogt, Director of Engineering, Michigan Department
of Health, that a report be prepared by the engineering staffs
of the Department of Health and Michigan Water Resources
Commission describing the measures undertaken in recent
years for pollution control in this area. The attached
report has been prepared primarily for this purpose. It is
hoped that the information presented here may be of value to
others who have interest in the extent and magnitude of
pollutional control activity in this area and what has been
achieved by its communities and industries.
SOME SIGNIFICANT ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND TRENDS IN
POLLUTION CONTROL IN THE GiiEuTEll DETROIT METROPOLITAN
AREA DURING THE PERIOD ±956-1962
Today the communities and industries in the Greater
Detroit Metropolitan area are culminating a period of
coordinated effort in pollution control. This is demonstrated
by the number, type and magnitude of waste treatment works
-------
799
completed or scheduled for completion this year in all sections
of this six county area. Most of the municipal installa-
tions will have reserves in capacity sufficient to meet the
needs of anticipated growth until ±980 or later. Some are
planned for ultimate development of the community.
Several trends in concept and practice are note-
worthy. Important are the aggressive programs of the Water
Resources Commission and State Health Department to provide
motive, direction and control for this activity and the
general acceptance and support of the basic concepts of the
statutes which they administer. The acceptance of respon-
sibility and recognition of the need for adequate waste
collection and treatment has gained momentum in the last 10
years. The problem today common to municipal officials and
industries is not whether these facilities should be in-
stalled but rather what is the best way to do the job and
how can it be financed. Industries now accept the require-
ment to obtain approval of the Water Resources Commission
for a new or increased use of the waters of the state for
waste disposal before the waste is discharged. And they
proceed to install the required waste treatment works on
schedule. Similarly communities know they must install
adequate treatment works approved by the State Health Depart-
ment before their sewers will be approved by the Department
and every community today wants public sewers. What's more
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8oo
significant, most communities have begun to plan to expand
their treatment plants before--not after--they become over-
loaded .
The principle of a coordinated system of inter-
ceptor sewers serving several communities delivering sewage
to a central treatment works has gained favor in the last
decade in several new areas. The framework for such a
system was developed in the mid-thirties by Detroit and
Wayne County. During the past five years this system has
been expanded and strengthened in major portions of the
fast growing areas of Oakland County and Macomb County.
"Wayne County is almost wholly dependent upon three major and
other minor systems of this kind. These coordinated multi-
community facilities have removed most of the pollution
from the lower end of Lake St. Clair. By June, 1962,
pollution from sewage will be largely eliminated from all
branches of the Rouge River. By these means health hazards
and conditions of nuisance will be effectively reduced for
large segments of the population.
Another important trend in this area is the
general adoption of the practice of building separate sani-
tary sewer systems rather than sewers of the combined type
carrying both sewage and storm water. Today all systems are
of the separate type except in largely built-up areas where
combined systems had been installed. This practice has
-------
8oi
eliminated overflows of sewage to streams during periods of
surface water runoff, thereby greatly reducing the pollu-
tional load. Consonant with this principle is the require-
ment imposed by the State Health Department for treatment of
overflows from combined sewers. The projects at Farmington,
Grosse Point-Harper Woods, and southeastern Oakland County,
listed in the summary statements of this report, will pro-
vide the degree of control required by the special conditions
of the receiving waters.
The summary statements which follow indicate the
actions taken by the State regulatory agencies for each
project. Three types of action are noted, namely: promo-
tional, includes many forms of educational and publicity
activities, usually in cooperation with local community
officials and organizations; orders or agreements; and re-
strictions on sewer construction pending assurance of the
required facilities. Not reflected in these summaries are
the efforts and active support and leadership provided within
the community and by the press. These influences have be-
come stronger and increasingly effective in recent years.
The magnitude and extent of pollution control
projects are reflected in Tables I and II. These projects
do not include the major construction work completed prior
to ±957 but represent only projects recently completed or
scheduled for construction. That the tempo of construction
-------
802
of control facilities throughout the area has been acceler-
ated tremendously since 1959 is very evident. Equally
obvious is the increased protection to the Lake Erie, Lake
St. Clair, the Detroit River and the tributary streams which
the facilities now under construction or to be commenced
this year will provide when completed.
These facilities, however adequate, cannot do
the job for which they are intended without competent opera-
tion. The quality of operational control in this area, and
throughout the state, is widely recognized as second to
none when compared with other states. Training, supervision
of operating staffs, and certification of the plant super-
intendent as to competency by the State Health Department,
as required by statute continually increases the dependa-
bility and quality of operation and maintenance in the treat-
ment plants and other control facilities.
Increasing emphasis on effective disinfection for
bacteriological control of effluents will assure improve-
ments in water quality in the receiving waters as the new
projects are completed and placed in operation. This is
an important and significant trend in both present and
future installations.
For the future many communities are preparing
either by themselves or through county agencies, to assess
future needs and how best to meet them. Several outstanding
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803
examples illustrate this trend. The City of Detroit is
continuing to broaden its long range plan to serve the metro-
politan area with waste transportation facilities. Wayne
County, through its Department of Public Works, is planning
how to extend its interceptor and treatment system for the
entire county beyond ±980 to ultimate development. Oakland
County, through its Department of Public Works, is planning
facilities for the Clinton iliver and Huron Basins. Communi-
ties in the Huron Liver basin in Washtenaw County have
adopted a water use management policy for the Lower Huron
River. Thus the stage is being set to meet the needs of
a growing dynamic society years in advance. This is a
healthy and progressive approach which bids fair to continue
the shift from corrective action to prevention—to be ahead
rather than behind in pollution control.
Donald M. Pierce, Chief—Section of Sewerage
and Sewage Treatment, Michigan Department of Health.
John E. Vogt, Director of Engineering, Michigan
Department of Health.
F. B. Frost, Sanitary Engineer Water Resources
Commission.
Loring F. Oeming, Chief Engineer, Water Resources
-------
804
PART I
ACTIONS TAKEN AND PROGRESS MADE BY INDIVIDUAL COMMUNITIES
TO CONTROL POLLUTION IN THE GREATER
METROPOLITAN AREA
1957-1962
LAKE ST. CLAIR
Sources of pollution are communities located along
the lake shore and communities tributary to the Salt and
Clinton Rivers.
Shoreline Communities
The only community regularly discharging wastes
directly to Lake St. Clair is New Baltimore. Mixtures of
sewage and storm water discharge to the lake during periods
of surface runoff from communities in Southeastern Macomb
County and Northeastern Wayne County.
New Baltimore
Facilities: Sewage treatment plant (trickling filter
type) completed December, 1961. Sanitary
sewers (25 miles) and pumping stations
completed concurrently.
Purpose: To eliminate health hazards and nuisances
created by failures of septic tank
systems and direct discharges to creeks
and lake.
State Action: Program strongly urged by State Health
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805
Department who assisted in publicity and
public meetings. Refused to issue per-
mits for sewer construction until program
assured.
Area Served: Entire city; 2,000 population.
Costs: About $1,500,000
Grosse Pointe Woods - Harper V/oods
Facilities: Pumping station, storage and retention
ponds and dewatering facilities for
treatment of overflows from combined
sewer system completed ±959. Eliminates
overflows up to about a one year storm
frequency.
To eliminate local health hazards in
Purpose:
State Action:
Area Served:
Costs:
stream and lake receiving overflows
during periods of storm water runoff.
Michigan Department of Health promoted
and fostered concept and withheld approv-
al of construction of additional sewers
until project was assured.
10 square miles; 40,000 population.
$6,318,950.
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806
Wayne County Metropolitan Sewerage System
Northeast Interceptor District
Facilities: Additions and improvements of existing
interceptor sewer with connection to
Detroit for treatment. Under construc-
Purpose:
State Action:
Area Served:
Costs:
New Haven
Facilities
Purpose:
tion.
To increase capacity of interceptor to
meet needs of expanding communities in
the district.
Michigan Department of Health withheld
approval of sewer extensions in the
district pending construction of the
improvements.
Three communities in Macomb County and
three communities in Wayne County;
200,000 population.
$700,000.
Salt Paver
Sewage treatment plant (trickling filter
type) completed February, ±958.
To eliminate health hazards and
nuisances in Salt tliver and Lake
St. Clair.
State Action: Michigan Department of Health withheld
-------
Area Served:
Costs:
Richmond
Facilities:
Purpose:
State Action:
Area Served:
Costs:
Almont
Facilities:
80?
approval of Sewer extensions until an
agreement between the Village and the
Department was executed, calling for
construction of treatment plant and
sanitary interceptors in two years.
Entire community; 1,100 population.
$1^5,000.
Additions to existing trickling filter
sewage treatment plant completed
December, 1961.
Correct deficiencies of existing plant
and provide capacity for growth.
Michigan Department of Health withheld
approval of sewer extensions until
agreement with Department executed by
Village to construct plant improve-
ments within 15 months.
Entire community; 2,000 population.
$245,000.
Clinton iliver
Sewage treatment plant (trickling
filter type) and sanitary interceptor
completed March, 1958.
-------
808
Purpose:
State Action:
Area Served:
Costs:
Armada
Facilities:
Purpose:
State Action:
Area Served:
Costs:
Centerline
Facilities:
Purpose:
To abate pollution of North Branch,
Clinton River and eliminate health haz-
ai-ds caused by raw sewage discharges.
Michigan Department of Health and
Water Resources Commission urged
Village Council to initiate program.
Entire community; 1,000 population.
$150,000.
Sewage treatment plant (trickling
filter type) and sanitary interceptor
completed March, 1957.
To abate pollution of Deer Creek, a
tributary of the Clinton River, aad to
eliminate health hazards created by
discharge of raw sewage.
Michigan Department of Health urged
Village Council and general public to
initiate project.
Entire community; 1,000 population.
$272,000.
Interceptor sewer with connection to
Detroit for treatment.
To eliminate health hazards created
-------
809
by discharge of untreated sewage into
Red Run.
State Action: Michigan Department of Health withheld
approval of sewer construction pending
adoption of program for construction
of interceptor called for in agreement
with the City.
Area Served: Entire city; 10,000 population.
Costs: $1,300,000.
Clinton Township (Macomb County)
Facilities: Sewage treatment plant (trickling filter
type) and sanitary interceptor completed
March, 1957- Additions to a second
trickling filter plant were completed
August, 1961.
Purpose: To permit development of the community
without creating health hazards or un-
lawful pollution.
State Action: Sewer construction not permitted by
Michigan Department of Health until
adequate interceptor sewers and treatment
facilities provided.
Area Served: Approximately 15 square miles; 15,000
population presently.
Costs: $2,425,000.
-------
810
Pontiac
Facilities:
Purpose:
State Action:
Area Served:
Costs:
Rochester
Facilities:
A new sewage treatment plant (activated
sludge type) presently under construction
to supplement existing treatment
facilities.
To improve degree of treatment provided
by existing facilities and add capacity
for community growth in order to pro-
tect public health and prevent unlawful
pollution.
Michigan Department of Health and Water
Resources Commission urged City officials
and general public to provide these
facilities. When three referendums on
financing the project failed, Water
Resources Commission ordered City to
abate pollution by proceeding immediate-
ly.
Entire community of 90,QOO and several
large industries.
(Of present expansion) - $3,500,000.
Expansion of capacity of existing sewage
treatment and addition of secondary
treatment (activated sludge type).
-------
811
Purpose:
State Action:
A,rea Served:
Costs:
Romeo
Facilities:
Purpose:
State /iction:
To improve degree of treatment provided
by existing facilities and to add
capacity for community growth in order
to protect public health and prevent
unlawful pollution.
Michigan Department of Health with-
held approval of additional sewers until
agreement executed between Village and
Department to complete required improve-
ments by April, 1962.
Entire community and industries; popula-
tion equivalent to about 8,000.
$250,000.
New sewage treatment plant (trickling
filter type) to replace outmoded and
inadequate existing plant currently
planned.
To eliminate existing health hazards
and unlawful pollution of North Branch
of Clinton ..liver and provide capacity
for fcommunity growth.
Litigation Michigan Department of Health
versus Borneo commenced in Macomb County
Circuit Court seeking an order requiring
-------
812
prompt construction.
Area Served: Entire community; 5,000 population.
Costs: $400,000.
Sterling Township (Macomb County)
Facilities: Construction under way for expansion of
existing sewage treatment plant (activatec
sludge type).
Purpose: To provide adequate capacity and improved
treatment to meet needs of rapid commun-
ity growth without creating health
hazards or unlawful pollution.
State Action: Project undertaken voluntarily by
community, recognizing that the Michigan
Department of Health would withhold
permits fox" sewer extensions if project
delayed.
Area Served: Presently, about 8,000 population.
Expanded facility adequate for 20,000
population.
Costs: $300,000.
Southeastern Oakland County
Facilities: Auxiliary sanitary interceptor to deliver
sewage from Southeastern Oakland County
Sewage Disposal District to Detroit for
treatment; and facilities for storage
-------
Purpose:
State Action:
Area Served:
813
and retention of overflows from combined
sewer system of the District with subse-
quent dewatering into the interceptor.
Construction scheduled for mid-winter,
1962.
To abate pollution and control health
hazards and nuisances created by discharge
of untreated sewage into Red :cun Drain,
a tributary of the Clinton i'liver. A
companion project for relief sewers in
the same area (Twelve Towns Relief Sewer
District), to be under construction con-
currently, will relieve health hazards
arising from flooding of basements and
streets with mixtures of sewage and storm
water.
Michigan Department of Health ordered
the communities in tho District and the
County in ±957 to construct the
facilities now programmed. Project de-
layed by extended litigation in Circuit
and Supreme Courts over cost apportion-
ment.
About 50 square miles; ^00,000 popula-
tion.
-------
814
Costs: $7,000,000 for interceptor and combined
sewer overflow controls. $50,000,000
for relief sewers.
Warren
Facilities: Trunk sewers and sewage treatment plant
(activated sludge type) completed early
I960.
Purpose: To control health hazards and unlawful
pollution created by inadequate private
systems and overflows of raw sewage to
the Red Run Drain.
State Action: Michigan Department of Health urged
community to construct the facilities
undertaken voluntarily. Health Depart-
ment withheld permits for sewer construc-
tion until treatment plant completed.
Area Served: 33 square miles; 100,000 population.
Costs: $15,000,000
ST. CLAIR RIVER
The sources of pollution are from the communities
located along the river. The major communities include
Port Huron, Marysville, St. Clair, Marine City, and East
China Township, all of which have adequate treatment
facilities to meet present and future anticipated needs.
-------
815
DETROIT RIVER SYSTEM
The sources of pollution are from the communities
located along the river and its principle tributary, the
Rouge River.
Detroit River
Detroit
Facilities: Sewage treatment plant additions includ-
ing additional sedimentation tanks and
sludge handling facilities completed
or under construction; extensions and
improvements to interceptor sewer
system continuing each year.
Purpose: To provide immediate capacity in the
treatment works to continue to serve the
needs of the 45 municipalities presently
tributary to the plant, thus making it
possible for these communities to con-
tinue to develop; to prevent discharge
of untreated sewage to Rouge and Detroit
Rivers.
State Action: Program to develop this integrated
metropolitan sewerage system strongly
urged and supported by Michigan Depart-
ment of Health. Improved controls urged
by Water Resources Commission.
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8l6
Area. Served: 600 square miles; 3, 000,667 population.
Costs: About $10,000,000.
Wayne County Metropolitan Sewerage and Sewage Disposal System
(See Wyandotte and Trenton Plants)
Wyandotte Treatment Plant Service Area
Facilities: Plans completed for expansion, of the
sev/age treatment plant and interceptor
sewers serving 15 communities. Con-
tracts for sewage disposal service by
the County presently being negotiated.
Purpose: To eliminate health hazards and
nuisances created by overloaded sewerage
systems; to provide intercepting facili-
ties to eliminate three existing sewage
treatment plants incapable of adequate
treatment; to provide capacity for future
growth.
State Action: Michigan Department of Health withheld
permits for sewer extensions in June,
1959, after due notice of impending healt
hazards; Department ordered all communi-
ties June, 1960 to discontinue permit-
ting additional connections to the
already overloaded sev/age system and
urged communities and County agencies
GFO 820819-0-21
-------
817
to accelerate relief program.
Area Served: 120 square miles; present population
served 214,000.
Costs: $10,000,000.
Trenton Treatment Plant Service Area
Facilities:
Purpose:
State Action:
Area Served:
Plans for expansion to the sewage treat-
ment plant at Trenton serving three
communities completed and approved.
Contracts for sewage disposal service
by the County presently being negotiated
with the three communities.
To abate pollution and control health
hazards and nuisances created by over-
loaded sewage treatment plant; to provide
capacity for future growth.
Michigan Department of Health withheld
permits for sewer extensions in June,
1959> after due notice of impending
health hazards; Department ordered all
communities June, 1960 to discontinue
permitting additional connections to
the already overloaded sev/age system
and urged communities and County agencies
to accelerate relief program.
10 square miles; present population
-------
818
served ±9,500.
Costs: $740,000.
Grosse lie Drainage District
Facilities: Plans and specifications completed for a
complete sewerage system and treatment
plant to serve Grosse lie Township.
Purpose: To eliminate health hazards created by
inadequate treatment facilities
serving portions of the Township which
discharge into the Thoroughfare Canal
in the Detroit River.
State Action: Michigan Department of Health filed
findings with the Water Resources
Commission of a health hazard being
created by the discharge of sewage from
certain County drains in the Township.
Water Resources Commission petitioned
the Drain Commissioner to take the
necessary steps to eliminate the health
hazard.
Area Served: Approximately eight square miles; present
population served 3,000.
Costs: $2,408,100.
-------
819
Rouge River
Dearborn
Facilities: Overloaded inadequate sewage treatment
plant serving eastern portion of City
abandoned ±959 by connection to Detroit(
Overloaded plant serving remainder of
City and three communities to be
connected to Detroit by June, ±962.
Purpose: To eliminate unlawful pollution of the
Rouge River by discharges of inadequate
and overloaded treatment facilities.
State Action: Water Resources Commission held
Statutory Hearing on a proposed order
to eliminate unlawful pollution of
the Rouge River. City submitted stipu-
lation in lieu of order.
Area Served: Entire City; 112,000 population and
65,000 population in other communities
now served by Dearborn.
Costs: $800,000.
Rouge Valley Sanitary Sewage Interceptor
Facilities: This sanitary interceptor will provide
service for 18 Wayne County and one Oak-
land County communities located along
the lower and middle branches of the
-------
820
Rouge River, Now under construction.
Purpose: To eliminate health hazards and
nuisances created by the discharge of
sewage into the lower and middle bran-
ches of the Rouge River and to permit
continued development within the com-
munities with adequate sewerage
facilities.
State Action: Michigan Department of Health withheld
permits for sewer extensions in June,
1959 after due notice of impending
health hazards; Department ordered all
communities June, ±960 to discontinue
permitting additional connections to
the already overloaded sewage system and
urged communities and County agencies
to accelerate relief program.
Area Served: Approximately 150 square miles.
Costs: $18,000,000.
Farmington and Evergreen-Farmington District
Facilities: Sanitary interceptors and trunks to
deliver sewage from 12 communities in
south-central Oakland County to Detroit
for treatment. Major portion completed
1960, additional trunks under
-------
821
Purpose:
State Action:
Area Served:
Costs:
Farmington
Facilities:
Purpose:
State Action:
construction and more to be constructed
in ±962.
To abate pollution and control health
hazards and nuisances created by the dis-
charge of untreated or inadequately
treated sewage into the various branches
of the Rouge River and its tributaries.
V/ater Resources Commission ordered
communities to abate pollution. Michigan
Department of Health withheld approval
of sewer extensions until facilities
provided.
About 130 square miles; 100,000 popula-
tion.
$15,000,000.
Sanitary interceptor to Detroit for treat-
ment; treatment of combined sewer over-
flows including settling, chlorina-
tion, and dewatering to interceptor.
Completed 1958.
To abate pollution and control health
hazards and nuisances in the Rouge Eiver.
Water jlosources Commission ordered City
to abate pollution; Michigan Department
-------
Area Served:
Costs:
822
of Health withheld permits for extension
of sewers.
Entire City; 6,800 population.
$800,000.
LAKE ERIE
Primary sources of pollution are from the major
tributary streams including the Detroit River, Huron
River, and Raisin River. The Detroit River has been covered
elsewhere in this report.
Huron River
Ann Arbor
Facilities:
Purpose:
State Action:
Area Served:
Costs:
Report completed for expansion of
existing sewage treatment plant
(activated sludge type).
To provide additional treatment
capacity to meet the City's growing needs,
The Michigan Department of Health with-
held approval for additional facilities
pending the completion of a study of the
water resources in the so-called Lower
Huron portion of the basin and the
adoption of a water use policy by the
affected communities.
Entire City; 90,000 population.
$3,000,000.
-------
Brighton
Facilities:
Purpose:
State Action:
Area Served:
Costs:
Chelsea
Facilities:
Purpose:
State Action:
Area Served:
Costs:
825
Sewage treatment plant additions
(trickling filter type) completed ±960.
To permit continued development of the
expanding community.
Program undertaken voluntarily to permit
continued development.
Entire City; 2,280 population,
$221,442.
Additions and replacements to sewage
treatment plant (activated sludge type)
completed ±960.
To correct deficiencies in existing
facilities and permit development of the
community.
Michigan Department of Health withheld
approval of sewer extensions. Sewer
construction permitted after City agreed
to construct additions to the treatment
plant.
Entire City; 5,550 population.
$235,299.
Dexter
Facilities:
Plans completed for expansion and
-------
824
Purpose:
State Action:
Area Served:
Cos ts:
South Lyon
Facilities:
improvements to existing sewage treat-
ment plant.
To correct deficiencies in existing
facilities and permit community growth.
Program strongly urged by the State
Health Department following a survey
of the existing sewage treatment
fa cilities.
Entire City; 1,700 population.
$85,000.
Sewage treatment plant (activated sludge
type) completed 1961 replacing obsolescent
plant.
To eliminate health hazards and nuisances
created by the discharge of inadequately
treated sewage from existing treatment
facilities.
Michigan Department of Health withheld
approval of sewer extensions. Sewer
construction permitted after City agreed
to construct additions to the treatment
plant.
Area Served: Entire City; 1,75° population.
Costs: $3^5,592.
Purpose:
State Action:
-------
825
Ypsilanti
Facilities: Sewage treatment plant additions
(activated sludge type) to existing plant
to be constructed in ±962.
Purpose: To improve degree of treatment provided
by existing facilities and add capacity
for community growth in order to protect
public health and prevent unlawful pollu-
tion.
State Action: The Michigan Department of Health
withheld approval for additional facili-
ties pending the completion of a study
of the water resources in the so-called
Lower Huron portion of the basin and the
adoption of a water use policy by the
affected communities.
Area Served: 20,900 population.
Costs: $1,500,000.
Ypsilanti Township
Facilities: Plans for sewage treatment plant
(activated sludge type) completed.
Construction being delayed by litiga-
tion.
Purpose:
To make possible the continued develop-
ment of the community.
-------
826
State Action: The Michigan Department of Health with-
held approval for additional facilities
pending the completion of a study of
the water resources in the so-called
Lower Huron portion of the basin and the
adoption of a water use policy by the
affected communities.
Area Served:
Costs:
23,000 population.
$1,206,000.
Raisin River
Monroe
Facilities: Report nearing completion on a study
of the sewerage system and treatment
facilities.
Purpose: To determine adequacy of facilities to
meet expected future needs.
The other major communities in the basin includ-
ing Dundee, Blissfield, Milan, Adrian, Tecumseh, Manchester,
and Saline all have adequate treatment facilities to meet
present and future expected needs.
Tables I and II are as follows:
-------
82?
TABLE I
SUMMARY OF ACTIONS TAKEN AND PROGRESS MADE TO CONTROL
POLLUTION IN THE GREATER METROPOLITAN AREA
1957-1962
Service Area
Community
Facilities
Date
Com- Sq.
pleted Mi.
Pop.
Cost
Mil-
lions
I. LAKE ST. CLAIU
Shoreline Communities
New Baltimore
Grosse Pointe
Woods and
Harper Woods
New sewage treat-
ment plant—inter-
ceptors
Storage and treat
ment of overflows
from combined
sewers.
Dec.
1961 All 2,000 $ 1.50
- 1960 10 40,000 6.30
Wayne Co. System-Increase capacity 1962
N.E. inter- of existing inter-
ceptor Dis- ceptor
trict
200,000 0.70
New Haven
Richmond
Almont
B. Salt River
New sewage treat- Feb.
ment plant--inter- ±958
ceptor
Additions to Dec.
sewage treatment 1961
plant
C. Clinton River
New sewage treat- Mar.
ment plant—inter- 1958
ceptor
All
All
1,100
2,000
0.13
0.25
All 1,000
0.15
-------
Community
Facilities
Date
Com- Sq.
pleted Mi.
Pop.
828
Cost
Mil-
lions
Armada
Center Line
New sewage treat- Mar.
ment plant—inter- 1957 All
ceptor
1,000 $ 0.27
New interceptor
Clinton Township New sewage treat- Mar.
(Macomb Co.) ment plant No. 2— 1957
interceptor. Aug.
Additions to No. 1 1961
1962 All 10,000
15 15,000
Pontiac
S.E. Oakland
Co . ( 14 com-
munities)
Barren
Rochester
Pomeo
Sterling Twp.
(Macomb Co.)
Additions to
sewage treatment
plant
Under All 90,000
con-
struc-
tion
Auxiliary inter- Con-
ceptor to Detroit; struc-
storage & treat- tion
ment of overflows sched-
from combined uled
sewers. Relief winter
sewers 1962
New S.T.P. —
interceptors
Mar.
I960
50 300,000
33 100,000
Additions to S.T.P. Apr.
1962
New S.T.P, —
replacement
Additions to
S.T.P.
To
com-
mence
All
All
8,000
5,000
Under Por- 8,000
constr. tion
2.42
3-50
50 300,000 7.0
50.0
15.0
0.25
0.40
0.30
$39.^7
-------
829
II. DETROIT RIVER SYSTEM
A. Detroit River
Community
Detroit
Wayne Co .
System:
Wyandotte
Trenton
Grosse He
Twp.
Facilities
Additions to
sewage treatment
plant & inter-
ceptors
Additions to
sewage treatment
plant & inter-
ceptors
Additions to
sewage treatment
plant
New S.T.P. &
Interceptor
Service Area
Date
Com- Sq. Pop.
pleted Mi.
1957, 600 3,000,000
1958,
1959,
I960,
1961
1962- 120 214,000
63
1962- 19,500
63 10
Plan- 8 3,000
ned
Cost
Mil-
lions
$10.0
10.0
0.75
2.4
Dearborn
Wayne Co.
System:
Rouge Valley
(15 com-
munities)
B. Rouge River
One sewage treat- 1959
ment plant aban-
doned and connected
to Detroit. Second
S.T.P. to be aban-
doned and connected
to Detroit 1962
Additions to inter-
ceptors with connec-
tion to Detroit
j Dec.
Commenced:
All 112,000 0.8
150 250,000 18.C
-------
830
Service Area
Community
Facilities
Date
Com-
pleted
Sq.
Mi.
Pop.
Cost
Mil-
lions
Oakland Co.
System:
Erirergreen-
Farmington
Dist. (12
communities)
Farmington
New interceptor ±960
with connection to
Detroit. (3 S.T.P.
abandoned)
New interceptor
with connection to
Detroit; storage
and treatment of
overflows from com-
bined sewers
1958
130 100,000 $15.0
All 7,000 0.8
Total $57.7
Ann Arbor
Chelsea
Dexter
Brighton
South Lyon
Ypsilanti
Ypsilanti
Township
III. HURON RIVER SYSTEM
Additions to S.T.P. Sched-
uled
1963 All 90,000 $ 3.00
Additions to S.T.P. 1960 All 3,350 0.23
Additions to S.T.P. Sched-
uled
1962 All 1,700 0.10
Additions to S.T.P. 1960 All 2,300 0.22
Replacement of
S.T.P.
1961 All 1,750 0.35
Additions to S.T.P. Sched-
uled
1962 All 21., 000 1.50
Additions to S.T.P. Sched- All 70,000 1.20
uled - -
1962 Total $6.60
Total all basins - $103,820,000, not including relief sewers,
-------
831
TABLE II
SUMMARY OF PROJECTS COMPLETED OR IN PROGRESS
TO CONTROL POLLUTION IN THE GREATER
METROPOLITAN AREAS 1957-1962
A. New Projects:
Number of new projects
for plants and inter-
ceptors
Number of communities
served
Area served (sq. miles)
Population served
Cost
B. Additions:
Number of projects for
additions to existing
plants and interceptors
Number of communities
served
Area served (sq. miles)
Population served
Cost
Completed
21
200
270,000
39.5 Million
5
5
20
23,000
13.12 Million
In progress or
Scheduled for
1962
25
130,000
$4.9 Million
12
72
450
1,272,000
$ 46.3 Million
.
Note: Includes projects at Detroit estimated at over
$10,000,000 serving Detroit and about 50 communi
ties in a 300 sq. mile area serving ~3tQQQ,QQQ
people.
-------
PART II
ACTIONS TAKEN ON PROGRESS MADE BY INDUSTRIES
TO CONTROL POLLUTION IN THE GREATER
DETROIT METROPOLITAN AREA
LAKE ST. GLAIR
Sources of industrial waste are located along the
Clinton River and its tributaries.
Clinton River
Briggs Manufacturing Company
Type of Wastes: Industrial process wastes and sanitary
sewage.
State Action: Order of Determination adopted by Water
Resources Commission in September, ±956
establishing restrictions on polluting
content of discharges.
Approved facilities for treatment of sewage and wastes
provided.
Reliable cost data not available.
Chrysler Corporation, Defense Operation Division
Type of wastes: Toxic chemicals resulting from electro-
plating operations.
State Action: Order of Determination adopted in June,
1958 by Water Resources Commission sets
limits on concentration of toxic
chemicals in wastes and requires
GPO 820819-C—22
-------
precautionary facilities inside plant
to prevent accidental losses to sewers.
Approved facilities for treatment and control of wastes
provided.
Reliable cost data not available.
Cross Company
Type of Wastes: Machine oil wastes and sanitary sev/ago,
State Action: Order of Determination adopted by Water
Resources Commission requires control
of process wastes and complete treat-
ment of sewage by Company.
.Approved facilities for treatment of sewage provided.
Reliable cost data not available.
Ford Motor Company (Bruce's Township, Macomb County)
Type of Wastes: Sanitary sewage.
State Action: Order of Determination by Water ^sources
Commission adopted in January, 1956
requires complete treatment of sewage
by Company.
Approved sewage treatment facilities provided.
Reliable cost data not available.
National Machine Products
Type of Wastes: Indust/ ial process wastes.
State Action: Order of Determination adopted by Y/ater
Lesources Commission sets restrictions
-------
on objectionable components.
Approved waste control facilities provided.
Reliable cost data not available.
Robins Products Company
Type of Wastes: Toxic chemicals resulting from mechani-
cal plating operations.
State Action: Order of Determination adopted by Water
Resources Commission limits toxic com-
ponents in wastes and requires pro-
tective facilities in plant to prevent
accidental losses to sewer.
Plans for control facilities approved.
Reliable cost data not available.
Sparton Products
Type of Wastes: Sanitary sewage.
State Action: Order of Determination adopted by Water
Resources Commission in December, ±959
requires complete treatment of sewage
by Company.
Approved treatment facilities provided.
Reliable cost data not available.
ST. CL/jIR RIVER SYSTEM
Stewart Cunningham's Fisherman's Wharf
Type of Wastes: Sanitary sewage and restaurant v/astes.
State Action: Order of Determination adopted by
-------
835
Water Resources Commission in March,
1959 requires treatment and disinfection
of all sewage and wastes.
Approved treatment facilities provided.
Sellable cost data not available.
Marysville Plating Company
Type of Wastes: Toxic chemicals resulting from electro-
plating operations.
State Action: Order of Determination adopted by Water
Resources Commission restricts toxic
components in wastes and requires
protective facilities inside plant to
prevent accidental loss to sewer.
Approved control facilities provided.
Reliable cost data not available.
Dunn Paper Company
Type of Wastes: Caustic wastes resulting from bleaching
operations.
State Action: After conference with Commission,
Company voluntarily took necessary
steps to control waste to eliminate
the killing of minnows downstream.
Reliable cost data not available.
Diamond Crystal Gait Company
Type of Wastes: Sanitary sewage.
State Action: Contacts by Water Resources Commission
-------
staff resulted in voluntary action by
Company to collect sewage for dis-
charge to municipal system for treat-
rae n t.
Reliable cost data not available.
DETROIT ?JVE?i SYST3LI
The sources of industrial pollution are located
along the river and its principle tributary, the Rouge River.
Detroit ..liver
Allied Chemical Corporation, Seraet-Solvay Division
Type of Tastes: Phenolic compounds resulting from co!:e
oven operations.
State Action: Following conference with Conmission,
Company voluntarily provided phenol
recovery facilities,
"'eliable cost data not available.
Dana Corporation
Nicholson Terminal and Docl:
Great Laltes "ngineering V/orlcs
Type of T.rastes: Sanitary sewage.
State Action: Following conference with Commission,
the three industries made joint project
for connecting sanitary sewage to
Wayne County system for treatment.
Reliable cost data not available.
-------
837
E. I. duPont de Nemours & Company
Type of V<"astes: Process wastes resulting from manufacture
of sulphuric acid.
State Action: Order of Determination adopted in
February, ±95^ by Commission limits
acidity in waste discharges.
Approved control facilities provided.
Reliable cost data not available.
Great Lakes Steel Corporation, Rolling Mills (Ecorse)
Type of Wastes: Oil and mill scale.
State Action: Following conference with Commission,
Company agreed to provide facilities
for removing oil and mill scale from
wastes.
Approved facilities provided.
Estimated cost approximately $1,000,000.
Great Lakes Steel Corporation, 80 inch Mill (River Rouge)
Type of Wastes: Oil and mill scale.
State Action: Order of Determination adopted by
Commission in June, ±959 restricts
oil, iron, acidity and solids in
waste discharges.
Approved facilities for control provided.
Reliable cost data not available.
-------
McLouth Steel Corporation (Trenton)
Type of Wastes: Blast furnace and rolling mill process
v/astes.
State Action: Order of Determination adopted by
Commission restricts oil, acidity,
solids and iron in waste discharges.
Approved facilities now completed.
Estimated cost for ±961 additions to treatment system
$1,100,000.
McLouth Steel Corporation (Gibraltar)
Type of V/astes: Steel processing wastes.
State Action: Order of Determination adopted by Water
Resources Commission in March, 195&
limits oil and acidity in Company
discharges.
Approved treatment and control facilities provided.
Reliable cost data not available.
Mobil Oil Company
Type of Wastes: Oil refinery process wastes.
State Action: Contacts by Water Resources Commission
staff resulted in new additions to oil
recovery system.
Estimated cost of treatment system additions approxi-
mately $200,000.
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859
Shawinigan Resins Corporation
Type of Wastes: Chemical processing wastes.
State Action: Order of Determination adopted by
Water Resources Commission in January,
1956 limits acidity in waste discharges.
Approved control facilities provided.
Reliable cost data not available.
Rouge River
Ford Motor Company (Dearborn)
Type of Wastes: Phenolic compounds resulting from the
operation of coke ovens.
State Action: Order of Determination adopted by
Water Resources Commission in January,
1956 limits amounts of phenol discharged
to river.
Approved facilities for disposal of excess phenol
provided.
Reliable cost data not available.
Mills Products Corporation (formerly Baux Corporation)
Type of Wastes: Toxic chemicals resulting from electro-
plating operations.
State Action: Statutory Hearing scheduled. Company
submitted stipulation in lieu of Hearing.
i
Approved control facilities provided.
Reliable cost data not available.
-------
840
!Trilex Corporation
Type of Wastes: Toxic chemicals resulting from electro-
plating operations.
State Action: Contacts by Water Resources Commission
staff resulted in voluntary action by
Company to provide needed treatment
and control facilities.
Reliable cost data not available.
LAKE ERIE
Primary sources of industrial wastes are located
on major tributary streams including the Detroit River,
Huron River and llaisin River. The Detroit Iliver sources
covered above.
Huron Iliver
Belleville Plating Company
Type of Wastes: Toxic chemicals resulting from electro-
plating operations.
State -ction: Order of Determination adopted by
Water i-.esources Commission in May, 1958
establishing restrictions on polluting
content of waste discharges.
'.pproved facilities for treating and controlling wastes
provided.
reliable cost data not available.
-------
841
Ford Motor Company (Novi Township)
Type of Wastes: General processing wastes resulting
from automobile assembly.
State Action: Order of Determination adopted by Water
Resources Commission in April, 1956
establishing restrictions on polluting
content of waste discharges.
Approved facilities for treating and controlling wastes
provided.
Reliable cost data not available.
Hoover Ball and Bearing Company (Pittsfield Township,
T$7ashtenaw County)
Type of Wastes: Sanitary sewage.
State Action: Order of Determination adopted by V/ater
Resources Commission in February,
1956 requires complete treatment and
disinfection of sewage flows.
Approved sewage treatment facilities provided.
Reliable cost data not available.
Hoover Ball and Bearing Company (Saline)
Type of Y/astes: Toxic chemicals resulting from electro-
plating operations.
,'jtate .ction: Jrder of Determination adopted by V/ater
Resources Commission in Ilarch, 1959
establishing restrictions on polluting
-------
842
content of discharges.
Approved treatment and control facilities provided.
Reliable cost data not available.
Raisin River
Buckeye Products Corporation
Type of Wastes: Toxic chemicals resulting from
electroplating operations.
State Action: Court Order obtained by Water Resources
Commission in ±957 establishes restric-
tions on polluting content of wastes.
Approved facilities for treating and controlling
wastes provided.
reliable cost data not available.
Consolidated Paper Company, South Side Division
Type of Wastes: Paper mill process wastes.
State Action: Contact by Water Resources Commission
staff resulted in Company stipulation
to provide for additional treatment.
Mill changes and improved treatment facilities resulted
in marked reduction of polluting content in wastes.
Reliable cost data not available.
Ford Motor Company (Monroe)
Type of Wastes: Toxic chemicals resulting from
electroplating operations.
State Action: Order of Determination adopted by Water
-------
843
Resources Commission in April, ±956
establishing restrictions on waste
discharges.
Approved treatment and control facilities provided.
Reliable cost data not available.
Garnsey-Dillon Company
Type of Wastes: Waste waters resulting from the canning
of tomatoes.
State Action: Final Order adopted by Water Resources
Commission in April, ±957 establishing
limits on polluting content of wastes.
Approved disposal facilities provided. Company
subsequently discontinued operations.
Reliable cost data not available.
* * •*
Article from: The American Home, August, ±961
WILL THERE BE GAi^AGE CANS ON THE MOON?
It seems to us incredible that it should be illegal
to use what many women call the most convenient appliance
in the kitchen—the garbage disposer. Yet this appliance
is prohibited by ordinance in at least 65 major cities
across the nation.
If your community is one of these, with streets and
alleys decorated with garbage cans, only your forceful appeal
can put the wheels in motion to do something about it. For
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844
one thing, municipal costs of collection and disposal
have more than doubled in the past ten years. How much more
wisely this money might be used to update sewage and sanita-
tion methods which in turn would make garbage disposers
possible.
Garbage cans are dispensable 1 Communities of
every size, all over the country, have proved it by passing
ordinances to make disposers mandatory in new houses and
nearly so in existing homes. These communities have
recognized the garbage disposer as an ally in a fight for
better sanitation. They've reduced the menace of rats,
flies, and germs. They've converted valuable land from city
dumps into municipal parks or housing areas.
V/hether a city requires residents to use garbage
disposers or simply allows for their use by establishing
installation standards, it has made a major step forward in
the fight against unsanitary conditions and disease.
Is your community one which recognizes the advan-
tages of such equipment or are you bound by antiquated
codes and laws? We are living in the space age, yet it
is conceivable that the first mission to the moon could be
delayed while the astronaut carries the garbage from his
home before embarking.
WHAT YOU CAN DO ABOUT IT
Learn which department of your city government is
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845
responsible for ordinances on waste disposal. Form com-
mittees to review these ordinances and suggest methods of
creating a garbage-free community.
Seek the advice of master-plumber and electrical-
contractor associations, builders, architects, appliance-
dealers associations, and water and power utilities. These
groups can offer protection to the home owner from the usual
efforts to sell substandard materials and equipment and will
insure installation under recognized standards.
In Detroit the mayor initiated an all-out campaign
to clean up the city. '.n ordinance requiring disposers was
passed, and supported by three important steps: 1. Costs of
city electrical and plumbing permits were reduced, an incen-
tive for owners of existing homes. 2. L municipal testing
laboratory issued a list of approved disposers, including
eight brands. 3« Easy financing arrangements were worked
out with banks and the FIIA.
Similar plans have been adopted by communities of
all sizes from Portland, Maine, to Los Angeles County,
California.
Reasons for passing such ordinances vary widely.
Lodi, Wisconsin, was suddenly faced with a problem when
their garbage could no longer be used as hog feed. Their
choice: buy land for a dump build an incinerator, or devise
a better plan. They decided on disposers, bought by the
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846
city, sold at cost to residents, and installed at their own
expense. The city handled the financing of disposers as
\vell as servicing- defective units. Purchase was optional,
but with garbage collection discontinued (saving Lodi
$3000 a year), those lacking disposers had to get rid of
garbage as best they could.
Jasper, Indiana, illustrates dramatically how a
small town can benefit by adopting a disposer plan. It
began with an epidemic of cholera among garbage-fed hogs
in the area. This meant an obvious end to this garbage
disposal method. Jasper chose to require garbage disposers
in homes. Thus in 19^9 Jasper became the world1s first
garbage-free community. An extensive study by the U.S. Public
Health Service revealed these findings: 1.• No noticeable
increase in water consumption. 2. No harmful effect on
sewers. 3* Noticeable reduction in rodent and fly in-
festation. But more important than these and other
technical findings, perhaps, is the fact that Jasper has
had a decline in disease since ±9^91
YfllY SOME TOOTS PROHIBIT DISPOSERS
Reason: Garbage disposers create an extra load
on city sewage systems, since they use water, and the cost
of purifying extra water-borne waste may be more than
collection by truck. Fact: In most cases the only effect
of disposers on any sewage system v/ould be to emphasize
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84?
existing inadequacies that need correction. Reason: Cities
now trying to abate pollution of local water sources feel
garbage disposers would add to pollution unless purifica-
tion systems v/ere improved. Fact: In most communities
growing populations will soon require such improvements
even without disposers.
Some antiquated city sewage systems simply could
not handle the extra waste sludge created by a garbage
disposer in every home, so they forbid disposers entirely
instead of spending more wisely to provide for additional
waste. Gather such facts to support your crusade for the
right to use a garbage disposer in your kitchen. We're
behind you all the wayl
THE EDITOR
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848
THE CHAIRMAN: Thank you very much for a comprehensive
and full statement. Are there any comments or questions?
If not, Dr. Heustis.
DR. HEUSTIS: I have a statement I would like to
place in the record, a letter dated March 20, 1962, from the
Monroe Auto Equipment Company over the signature of George M.
Streicher.
(The letter is as follows:)
MONROE AUTO EQUIPMENT COMPANY
Monroe, Michigan
March 20, 1962
G. M. Streicher
Vice President of Manufacturing
and Assistant to President
"Mr. Milton P. Adams,
Executive Secretary,
Water Resources Commission
200 Mill Street,
Lansing, Michigan.
"Dear Mr. Adams:
"With reference to Mr. W. D. Mclntyre's correspondence
with you on March 9, in which he indicated that I would be the
representative of our company to attend the meeting on Tuesday,
March 27, in the Veterans Memorial Building, I would like to
outline the pollution problems that are the greatest concern to
GPO 820819-C-23
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849
us in this area.
"l. Because of the posting of the Sterling State
Park by government agency last summer which prohibited swimming
in Lake Erie at that park, it has deprived many young people
of the benefits that are derived from swimming, while we are
so proud of our 'Water Wonderland' slogan.
"2. Inasmuch as there will still be swimming in
other areas adjacent to Sterling State Park, the health risk,
I know you will appreciate, is still very great.
"3. Monroe has embarked on a very active campaign
to develop its port facilities, and as a result it must have
a channel into the port basin for the entry of large freighters,
Because of the contamination that is constantly being emptied
into the River Raisin, it would mean almost constant dredging
to keep this channel at its proper depth unless steps are
taken to eliminate the contamination at the source.
"4. Property owners at the beach areas are finding
the value of their property depreciating rapidly because of
the contamination of the waters in Lake Erie, for with the
waters polluted and swimming not recommended it certainly re-
duces the interest in this kind of property.
"The above are, in our opinion, some of the major
reasons action should be taken immediately to eliminate this
contaminated condition. We hope that every effort will be
expended to further this end.
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850
"Very truly yours,
/s/ Geo. M. Streicher."
DR. HEUSTIS: I also have a statement I would place
in the record, from the City of Monroe, from the office of
Mayor Lawrence A. Frost, dated March 26, 1962.
(The letter referred to is as follows:
Water Resources Commission
200 Mill St'-eet - Station B
Lansing 13, Michigan
Attention: l?r. Milton P. Adams, Executive Secretary
Gent lemen:
The City of Monroe has recognized the ever increas-
ing problem of pollution and has tried in the past to co-
operate with the Water Resources Commission and Health Depart-
ment of the State of Michigan to reduce all forms of detri-
mental pollution in the River Raisin.
In late 1961, the Commission of the City of Monroe
authorized the firm of Finkbeiner, Pettis and Strout of
Toledo, Ohio to study and report back with recommendations,
improvements to our sewerage and sewage treatment facilities.
They were requested to not only study the area within the City
limits of Monroe, but to extend their study to the maximum
beyond the City, considering topographical limitations,
estimated population densities, economic aspects and other
-------
851
factors.
This report was completed and submitted to the City
Commission last month for their approval and acceptance.
We feel that through the guidance of this report the
City of Monroe cannot only improve facilities within the City t
reduce pollution, but is also in a position to cooperate with
adjacent areas if they desire to take advantage of our facil-
ities in reducing their pollution problems.
It should be pointed out that the City of Monroe was
advised in the report of Finkbeiner, Pettis and Strout that
"the sanitary sewage of the City is being adequately treated
and the goals which were established at the time of the
Sewage Treatment Plant construction, are being achieved,"
We welcome discussion with any agency, whether
Federal, State or local in offering our facilities for the
reduction of the pollution problem so long as it is on a sound
economical and engineering basis.
Through these means, the City of Monroe feels that
it has done everything possible within its own power to help
correct the pollution problems of the area.
We also recognize that through support of the Fed-
eral Health Department, the State is now in a better position
to carry out their programs of pollution control and reduction
at a much earlier date.
Very truly yours,
-------
852
/s/ Lawrence A. Frost
Lawrence A. Frost
Mayor)
DR. HEUSTIS: I have a letter from the Monroe County
Health Department. Dr. Barrett is here. Dr. Barrett, do you
wish to place this in the record or add to it?
STATEMENT OF C. D. BARRETT, SR., M. D9,
DIRECTOR, MONROE COUNTY HEALTH DEPARTMENT,
MONROE COUNTY COURTHOUSE, MONROE, MICHIGAN
DR. BARRETT: I do. I would like to have a couple or
minutes to explain this matter.
DR. HEUSTIS: You may have three.
THE CHAIRMAN: Would you identify yourself first?
DR. BARRETT: Dr. C. D. Barrett, Director of the
Monroe County Health Department. I thought maybe it would be
well for you all to see the bald-headed man that was down on
the firing line in Monroe County. This is not necessarily
part of the record.
THE CHAIRMAN: I think it would be useful for the
record, if you don't mind.
DR. BARRETT: I have no objection to it. We have
a population of about 101,000. We have approximately twenty-
seven or twenty-eight thousand population that have sewage
facilities that are reasonably adequate.
In the last five or six years we have, in accordance
-------
853
with our sanitary code, supervised the installation of some
five or six thousand new septic tank tile field installations.
We believe that these are reasonably adequate but recognize
that septic tank tile field installations are a poor second
choice to good municipal sewerage systems.
We have been steadily whittling down those houses
that have inadequate facilities. However, there are probably
some 30,000 or more population that would benefit by having
municipal sewers and sewage treatment. Perhaps as much as
fifteen to twenty thousand of this population is adding some
pollution to Lake Erie. I don't mean by that that that many
homes are sending raw sewage, untreated, directly into the
Lake. Please make that clear.
This fifteen or twenty thousand have some sewage,
some of it not treated and some of it only inadequately
treated, and some of it not reaching the Lake directly but
traveling several miles before reaching the Lake, and I am
sure it Is not adding greatly to the pollution.
Inasmuch as I am speaking for the record, may I
add one word about hepatitis? We have made a study, an
epidemiologioal study, assisted by the University of Michigan,
School of Public Health, as to the possible means of the
spread of what was our high incidence of hepatitis. We are
no longer near the top. Let that be a part of the record, too.
There is no evidence in this study that our hepatitis was
-------
854
waterborne or was related to polluted private wells, and
certainly not due to any public water supplies.
Thank you.
THE CHAIRMAN: Thank you, Dr. Barrett. Your pre-
pared statement will be made a part of the record.
(The letter by Dr. Barrett, dated March 22, 1962 is
as follows:
Mr. Milton P. Adams
Executive Secretary
Water Resources Commission
200 Mill Street,
Station B,
Lansing 13, Michigan
Dear Dr. Adams:
Thank you so much for your letter of invitation to
the Detroit River-Lake Erie Conference. We definitely plan to
attend the meeting.
Last January 23, we submitted to the U. S. Public
Health Service, at their request, a tabulation showing the
extent of domestic waste disposal problems in the County of
Monroe. Our tabulation shows that some 6300 homes, represent-
ing about 20,000 people, are causing a potential public health
hazard in the County. This represents nearly 25 percent of the
total population of Monroe County. Indeed, our pollution
problem is critical.
-------
855
We do want to report something of 'what we have al-
ready corrected and what steps we are now taking to further
correct these potential public health hazards. Our records
show that we have, in the past eight years, corrected pollu-
tion conditions originating from some 1000 homes along Lake
Erie. These were obvious corrections easily made as one could'
i
see the waste discharging into the ditch in front of the home,
For the most part, these types of situations are now corrected.
What remains to be corrected, for the most part, are the
numerous small communities connected directly or indirectly
to storm sewer drains and discharging into nearby streams
without treatment facilities.
This later condition is most difficult to correct.
Muoh time is needed to determine in a small community, the ones
that are connected to a storm sewer system. Dye tests are,
to our knowledge, the best way to make such a determination,
but this process is very slow, requiring more personnel than
we now have.
It is realized that septic tanks and tile fields,
regardless of the quality of construction, are a poor second
choice to a central sewerage disposal system. There may be
occasions, however, in a community where they need to use in-
dividual on-site waste disposal systems instead of a community
system. Whatever the community may choose, it is their de-
cision, knowing full well they may need to duplicate capital
-------
856
expenditure through the construction of a central sewerage
disposal system at some later date.
Further, our department is now working towards the
creation of a County Department of Public Works, together with
a regulation requiring that most new subdivision developments
must be on a central sewerage disposal system. Also many com-
munities are upgrading their present zoning laws on lot sizes
where septic tank and tile field systems are to be installed.
Again, we know there are serious sewage disposal
problems here in the County of Monroe. Much effort is being
expended to search for new tools and methods to correct the
problem considerably faster than we have been able to do in
the past years. Indeed, we are encouraged by the awareness
and response of the many groups toward helping to correct our
present, as well as our potential future waste disposal
problems.
Very sincerely yours,
/&/ C. D. Barrett
C. D. Barrett, Sr., M. D.
Director^
DR. HEUSTIS: We have a statement from Mr. Victor
F. Kane, President of the Monroe County Rod and Gun Club. Mr.
Kane, do you wish to amplify that?
MR. KANE: Dr. Heustis, as the note states, William
J. Phelan is making that statement.
-------
857
PR. HEUSTIS: I beg your pardon, Mr. Phelan.
STATEMENT OF WILLIAM J. PHELAN,
PUBLICATIONS CHAIRMAN, MONROE COUNTY ROD AND
GUN CLUB, 6280 LIGHTHOUSE ROAD, P.O.BOX NO. 1,
MONROE, MICHIGAN
MR. PHELAN: Mr. Chairman, my name Is Bill Phelan.
I am acting today as spokesman of that organization,
"Since 1942, the Monroe County Rod & Gun Club has
recognized the problem of Water Pollution — particularly the
pollution which exists in the Monroe area. During these twenty
years, we have had an active Anti-Pollution Committee. The
members of the committee have spent a great deal of their own
personal time, effort, and money trying to combat the growing
menace of pollution. This committee has worked diligently,
sometimes under extremely unfavorable conditions, acquiring
and testing samples of polluted water, contacting many of the
individuals and industries responsible for the pollution, and
alerting and educating the people of Monroe County as to the
dangers of this problem. Frequently we have been instrumental
in effecting remedies.
"Until the formation of the Lake Erie Cleanup Com-
mittee our club has worked on anti-pollution in our area almost
single handed. Despite our efforts, the past two decades has
seen the pollution condition go steadily from bad to worse.
Last summer, the beaches at Sterling State Park, located just
-------
858
outside the City of Monroe, had to be closed because of uncon-
trolled pollution — pollution caused by municipal sewage and
Industrial wastes.
"Why are we concerned? In our back yard is the
world's 12th largest inland fresh water body — Lake Erie —
with 9*5^0 square mile's of water — but no longer 'fresh.1
Over and above its recreational and industrial uses, we drink
Lake Erie water. Because of pollution this water must now be
so thoroughly impregnated with chlorine that it tastes less
and less like water each day, and more and more like medicine.
To paraphrase a line from the old classic 'The Rhyme of the
Ancient Mariner,' Monroe County is truly faced with 'water,
water everywhere, and not a decent drop to drink.'
"As our club's committee has carried on its fight
against pollution we have prayed for some effective measure of
control — some assistance from those State agencies respons-
ible for the protection of our water resources and for the
health and welfare of ourselves and our neighbors. The evi-
dence of any concrete achievement Is Indeed little and wanting.
For a water wonderland and an area where tourism is so vitally
important to our economy, it is a sorry situation, indeed.
Ironically, conditions have deteriorated to such an. extent
that the Federal Department of Health, Education, and Welfare
has had to step into our pollution control program.
"Certainly our club and all serious-minded citizens
-------
859
welcome this Interest and assistance. The citizens of Michigan
need the assistance of every agency — every medium that might
be put at our disposal. We are hopeful and anxious that some-
thing be done to ameliorate this very, very serious problem
which threatens our very existence.
"The Monroe County Rod & Gun Club is very concerned
about State agencies now wanting to sit idly by and let 'Uncle
Sam1 carry the ball. The presence of the Federal Government
in this program does not give them any such license. Rather,
we pray that the efforts of our State and local agencies now
be doubled and redoubled. This is their opportunity to clear
up our water pollution problem. To some extent, we are all
guilty of contributing to the situation and, as such, we
should all be willing to take the necessary steps to eliminate
the problem. We realize that the cost will be great, but
these costs won't be one cent cheaper tomorrow, or next year,
or five or twenty years hence. The longer we delay corrective
action, the more staggering will be the costs of correction.
"During the course of this conference, you have
heard of many specific instances wherein filth in our waters
has created a very serious health menace, spreading such dread
diseases as hepatitis, typhoid, polio, et cetera.
"Epidemiologists with their collform counts may tell
us that history does not record any instances where commun-
ities have died out as a result of polluted water. This may
-------
860
be true. Let's not spoil the historical record, and let's not
be lulled into any false sense of security. It does not make
good tense to wantonly destroy our God-given water supply, to
intentionally spread serious diseases, to create water short-
ages in the midst of plenty. Something must be done, and done
now. This is the only way in which we can conserve and protect
what is probably our most important natural resource — water.
"We must educate the public to the inherent dangers
which are even now on our very doorstep. Government, business
industry, and individuals must be told the whole unsavory
story — what has happened to the waters of Michigan during
the past several decades, what is likely to happen if cor-
rective measures are not promptly taken, as well as details
of the measures that each of us can take to eliminate this
insidious condition. With a sincere united effort, the Monore
County Rod & Gun Club firmly believes that we can prevent our
Water Wonderland from becoming a Water Wasteland, To ac-
complish this, we must take forceful action now.
"Respectfully submitted,
"MONROE COUNTY ROD AND GUN CLUB
/&/ Victor F. Kane
Victor F. Kane, President
/B/ K. R. Thompson
K. R. Thompson, Chairman of
the Board
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861
/s/ W8 R. Brewer
W. R. Brewer, District Represent-
ative
/s/ Russell E. Waugh
Russell E. Waugh, Director
/s/ C. W. 'Ted" Hoffman
C. W. 'Ted* Hoffman, Chairman
Anti-Pollution Committee
/s/ Fred Peterson
Fred Peterson, Chairman of
Legislation
/s/ William J. Phelan
William J, Phelan, Publications
Chairman."
(Applause.)
THE CHAIRMAN: Thank you, Mr. Phelan. Are there
any comments or questions?
(No response.)
THE CHAIRMAN: If not, Dr. Heustis.
DR. HEUSTIS: I would like to call Mr. Lawrence M.
Braun of the Anti-Pollution Committee of the Wayne County
Sportsmen's Club.
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862
STATEMENT OF LAURENCE M. BRAUN,
12629 MANOR BOULEVARD, DETROIT, MICHIGAN,
CHAIRMAN, ANTI-POLLUTION COMMITTEE, WAYNE
COUNTY SPORTSMEN'S CLUB
MR. BRAUN: Mr. Chairman, honorable conferees and
d1st inguished guest s:
For the record, my name is Laurence M. Braun. I
reside at 12625 Manor Boulevard in Detroit, and I am here to-
day in my capacity as Chairman of the Anti-Pollution Committee
of the Wayne County Sportsmen's Club.
I would like to state that I consider it a privilege
to appear before this distinguished conference, and that I am
pleased to discover that persons other than sportsmen are
'becoming Interested in the problems of water quality control.
If Greater Detroit is to continue as a population
center and a major industrial complex, the water systems
supplying its homes and factories must have a pollution-free
source; if Michigan is to continue to be a state of hunters
and fishermen, the water leaving the area must be of similar
quality.
It is primarily the responsibility of the municipal-
ities and industrial concerns to insure the quality of water
entering western Lake Erie. We should not be so quick to con-
demn other metropolitan areas for water diversion when we dump
large quantities of pollutants into the world's most abundant
-------
863
source of fresh water, the Detroit River.
Through the eyes of a sportsman, I can see the
increasing need for pollution abatement in this area. At a
time when the population of ducks is at an all-time low due to
the lack of water in the prairie provinces of Canada, we are
cutting further into the breeding stock: by polluting our abun-
dant supply of water where these desirable species: canvasbackg,
redheads, scaup, blacks, and mallards, spend the winter.
At the present time, when the worker is required to
spend less hours per week on the job, and consequently has
more leisure time, the recreational water resources at his
disposal are dwindling. Waterways formerly available for
pleasure boating and water skiing are now considered to contain
excessive amounts of coliform bacteria, creating a health hazard
to present users.
The sport and commercial fishermen are confronted
with a reduction of desirable species, and an increase of the
less desirable noxious and rough fish, due to a reduction of
oxygen content in the water, and a gradual silting in of the
river and lake beds, where the desirable species feed and
breed. Gone, perhaps forever, are the blue and northern pike,
the ciscoes, and the black bass. Replacing them are the carp,
garpike, and dogfish.
I realize that it is impossible to remove all pollu-
tion downstream from a population center and industrial compleK
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864
the size of the greater Detroit area, but we must take steps
to abate the present volume of pollutants now discharged, if
we are to insure for future generations the continued use of
this area for recreation, residence, and industry,,
Wildlife and industry can exist in the same area,
but only if industry lives up to its responsibility as a water
user. Municipalities must likewise live up to their respons-
ibility to abate the concentrations of suspended solids,
bacteria, and glycerial oils they discharge into the Detroit
River and its tributaries, for the water we use, treat, and
discard is re-used by cities on the lower Great Lakes. V/e
cannot condemn Sarnia, Ontario for contaminating our water
supply when we direct our human wastes in the direction of
Toledo and Cleveland, Ohio.
In conclusion, may I emphasize the increasing need
there will be for an uncontaminatea source of fresh water in
future years and future generations. We, the citizens of
Michigan, have too often derelioted our obligation to abate
water pollution. If we are to preserve this most widely used
natural resource, fresh water, we must act now, not five
years from now. Without the cooperation of each and every
municipality, industry, and home owner, the interest of the
majority and the honest efforts of conservationists will be
in vain.
Thank you0 (Applause.)
GPO 820819-C—24
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865
THE CHAIRMAN: Thank: you, Mr. Braun. We know you
work at night, and we appreciate your giving up your sleep to
attend the conference and give us your views. Dr. Heustis.
DR. HEUSTIS: I have been advised that the confer-
ence recorder has received a statement from the Monroe County
Board of Supervisors, which will be made a part of the record.
(The statement of the Monroe County Board of
Supervisors is as follows:
County Supervisor: Director Civil Defense:
Karl Stasne S. M. Broadus
County Auditor: Prosecuting Attorney:
J. Ernmett Kirby Charles J. Golden
County Clerk: Register of Deeds:
Beth Ann Winters Roy Moore
County Treasurer: Sheriff:
Edward A. Mahn Charles G. Harrington
Drain Commissioner: Surveyor:
Donald VI. Burton Angelo Marino
COUNTY OF MONROE,
Monroe, Michigan
March 2?, 1962
Gentlemen:
The Lake Erie Committee, since appointment in Sep-
tember, 1961, has inquired of the Michigan Health Department,
the Michigan Conservation Department and the Water Resources
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866
Commission, to develop and understand the facts surrounding th$
posting in August of 1961 of Sterling State Park by the Mich-
igan Oonservat:l"n .Dppartrn^nt: with Mlchigfm Health Department
signs, d^'larlng 'rhat the T-'!re E^ie waters are unsafe for
swimming. The Committee CuHsr
1. That the posting by the Conservation Depart-
ment was based upon the Michigan Health Depart-
ment ' s opinion of the Lake Erie waters.
-2, That the Michigan Health Department opinion is
based upon a 1957 Health Department survey of
Lake Krie waters.
3. That the Health Department has held essentially
the same opinion, that is, that the waters are
unsafe for swimming since the survey was
interpreted in 1958.
4. That the Health Department, since 1958, has
not posted public warnings of its opinion that
the waters are unsafe for swimming on Sterling
State T'ark nor other public and private beaches
considered unsafe for swimming.
The Committee believes that the Michigan Department
of Health's failure to post and prohibit the public from
swimming In Mns-af" -.nters fO'1 three jea^s points up a major
health d?f1 ejriv.v . /vrpnumi'nc; the correctness of the Health
Department's opinion that the water is unsafe, the Committee
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867
directed Inquiry to determine the action of stage agencies to
protect the public from swimming in unsafe waters. The Health
Department advises that it is without authority to post or
prohibit the public from swimming in unsafe waters, particu-
larly when the waters are adjacent to State lands.
The Committee proposes to make our legislators
aware of the lack of public protection with respect to waters
determined unsafe for swimming by the Health Department, so as
to revise Michigan Laws, if necessary, to protect the public
from swimming in unsafe waters throughout the state.
Respectfully submitted,
/s/ James F. Townsend
James F, Townsend
Supervisor, Bedford Township,
Representing Monroe County.
(The Resolution accompanying the letter follows:
RESOLUTION
WHEREAS investigations conducted since the posting
of Sterling State Park as unsafe for swimming in August, 1961
have established :
1. That the posting was based on a 1957 survey made
by the Michigan Department of Health, and
2. That based upon this 1957 survey, the Michigan
Department of Health, since 1958 has considered Lake Erie
Waters adjacent to Monroe County unsafe for swimming, and
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868
3. That the Michigan Department of Health is with-
out authority, after determining waters open to the public
are unsafe for bathing, to prohibit bathing by posting public
or privately owned land, and
WHEREAS public posting of beaches, regardless of
the ownership of the land, to warn and prohibit bathers from
bathing in unsafe waters, is a protection to which the public
is entitled, and
WHEREAS Senate Bill No. 1182 provides that the super-
vision and control over bathing beaches open to the public
shall be vested in the State Health Commissioner and requires
the commissioner to test waters to determine the safety of the
water for bathing purposes, and if found unsafe, to order the
beaches closed for bathing regardless of the ownership of the
land, and
WHEREAS the Monroe County Board of Supervisors is
firmly convinced that the State Health Commissioner should be
vested with authority to prohibit bathing at any beaches
within the State that the State Health Commissioner has de-
termined that the waters are unsafe for bathing purposes.
NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Monroe County
Board of Supervisors approves the objectives of Senate Bill
No. 1182 and recommends the passage of this Bill into Law to
protect the health of all bathers using the public waters of
this State.
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869
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a oopy of this Resolutiqn
be sent to Michigan State Senator Elmer Porter and State
Representative Win Sterling,
Health and Welfare Committee
Chairman
DR. HEUSTIS: Next on my list — and for those who
are admittedly getting tired, this is about fifth from the
end — next on my liat is a representative from the Van Buren
Township of Wayne County, Michigan.
STATEMENT OF DARWIN R. KURETH,
TOWNSHIP SUPERVISOR, VAN BUREN TOWNSHIP,
WAYNE COUNTY, MICHIGAN
MR. KURETH: Mr. Chairman and Committee members:
I am Darwin R. Kureth, Supervisor of Van Buren Township.
Statement on Pollution by
Van Buren Township, Wayne
County, Michigan
Van Buren Township is located at the westerly edge
of Wayne County adjacent to the easterly line of Washtenaw
County in southeastern Michigan. The Huron River flows into
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Wayne County within the limits of Van Buren Township, and at
that point forms a series of lakes established from the back-
waters of the Huron River due to a dam located at French
Landing.
The lakes formed by the dam in the Huron River are
the only lakes located within Wayne County, and constitute one
of its major recreational areas.
Although Van Buren Township is sparsely populated
at the present time and can scarcely afford the expenses
involved, the Township nevertheless has within the past few
months signed contracts for the transmission of its sewage in
both the Rouge Valley Project and the Down River Project of
Wayne County. The reason for Van Buren"s entry into these
two projects was to prevent further disposal of raw sewage
and the effluent of disposal plants into the waters of the
Huron River and its lakes.
At the present time, however, the Washtenaw County
communities adjacent to Wayne County, and especially Ypsilanti
Township and Ann Arbor, are discharging raw sewage and the
effluent of sewage disposal plants into the Huron River where
the aforesaid lakes become settling basins, have become
polluted, their bottoms have become fertilized, and there
have been excessive algae formations, markedly restricting the
recreational use of this area and causing health hazards.
These communities have publicly announced plans for the
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871
expansion of their sewage facilities, and have been permitted
to continue building at an abnormally high rate, both
residentially and industrially.
The State Health Department for the State of Michigan
refused permission for the addition of treated sewage into
these waters back in 1956, but for reasons best known to that
department, advised the Huron River Watershed Inter-Governmental
Committee, an unofficial group, that it would permit the
expansion of the sewage facilities arid the increase of sewage
into the Huron River, provided a majority of said unofficial
committee voted for such use of these uaW-i-b. The commietee
being heavily weighted with Washtenaw County i-ebideuus voted
for the use of the Huron River for this purpose, and the
State Department of Health authorized this use, authorized
the expansion of the facilities, the increase of ihe sewage,
and thus made public health a matter of a majority vote despite
their own statements that such use was not proper for these
waters.
The engineering reports indicated that under no
circumstances should the sewage or sewage treatment plant
effluent be increased without placing holding basins on the
upstream side of the Washtenaw County Communities, but no
plans to construct such holding basins have been made or even
contemplated because of the cost involved. The result is
that in low water periods 64 percent of the water flowing
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872
through the Huron River and the recreational lakes will be
and will consist of the effluent of sewage treatment plants
and raw sewage within a very short time.
It is the contention of Van Buren Township that the
Huron River is being polluted not only by raw sewage in
periods of high water, but is also being polluted by the
effluent of sewage treatment plants since under present and
contemplated treatment facilities it is impossible to treat
fertilizers, detergents, chemicals and the various bacteria
and virus from hospitals such as the University of Michigan
Medical Center.
Because of the artificial boundary lines between
municipalities and counties, it has been practically impossibly
to obtain the whole hearted cooperation of all of the communi-
ties involved. Van Buren Township takes the position and
strongly recommends that sewage treatment and disposal must
be done on a regional basis and that the only means by which
the Great Lakes and its tributary waterways will be cleaned, is
when legislation is passed establishing a metropolitan sewage
disposal district authority covering the entire southeastern
district of Michigan with taxing authority and bonding authority
and with the further authority to acquire all grants in aid
for sewage disposal facilities for the entire region. This
would prevent the stampede between various non-cooperating
municipalities for Federal grants. Such an authority should
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have the duty and obligation of taking over all municipal
sewage disposal systems and operating them as part of a unit
on a self-sustaining basis.
One of the obvious reasons that it is so difficult to
obtain cooperation between various communities and counties
is that the communities operating their own sewage disposal
facilities are doing so at a sizeable profit to the community,
which profit in many cases is used for other municipal services
other than sewage disposal.
It is the further recommendation of Van Buren
Township that all proper means be taken to acquire the knowl-
edge to improve the methods of treatment of sewage so that
said treatment will be complete as to all matters going through
disposal plants, including chemicals, detergents, fertilizers^
and bacteria.
(Applause.)
THE CHAIRMAN: Thank you very much.
MR. KURETH: I trust we will get the minutes of the$e
meetings?
THL CHAIRMAN: You certainly will. They will be
made available to the State and Dr. Heustis or Mr. Adams will
have them.
MR.KURETH: Thank you, sir.
DR. HEUSTIS: Next on my list is Thomas S. Welsh,
the Macornb County Drain Commissioner. Is Mr. Welsh still
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874
here?
MR. DOHERTY: I am Richard Doherty. The statement
Is In the record. We won't read it.
(The statement of the Macomb County Drain Commission
is as follows:
MACOMB COUNTY DRAIN COMMISSION
MACOMB COUNTY ENGINEERING BUILDING
115 GROESBECK HIGHWAY (M-9?)
MOUNT CLEMENS, MICHIGAN
26th March 1962
Water Resources Commission
Lansing, Michigan
Re: Detroit River-Lake Erie Conference
Dear Sirs:
Under the listed ^vrposes of this conference, which
purports to seek factual answers to the three major questions,
this office respectfully submits the following information.
1. Whether pollution of navigable waters is occur-
ring that is subject to abatement under the Federal Water
Pollution Control Act?
The answer is that the pollution of Lake St. Clair
is occurring now and has been Increasing for the past ten (10)
years as the cities of St. Glair Shores, Roseville, East
Detroit, and Warren have experienced explosive population
increases. This rapid growth has caused massive amounts of
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sewage wastes of all kinds to be dumped into Lake St. Glair
in time of storm through the only existing drainage outlets
for this entire urban complex.
Both of these drains, the Nine Mile-Halfway and the
Martin Drains, carry combined flow, storm as well as sanitary,
and were constructed about 35 years ago. The original
districts for which these drains were designed have been
arbitrarily expanded until the overload has reached fantastic
proportions 4 to 10 times their capacity. In dry weather the
Jefferson Avenue interceptor takes the sanitary flow from
these drains and transports it to the downriver Detroit sewage
treatment plant. In time of storm the diversion chamber gates
of both drains are opened and the flow is released into the
lake. The alternative is to cause pollution to back into
thousands of basements and to flood streets, yards and fields.
To the knowledge of this office the above-described
situation constitutes one of the major pollution factors of
Lake St. Glair. It pollutes the bathing beaches along the
shore and causes them to be closed because of high bacteria
count during some of the summer months, and It threatens
shallower parts of the lake, which has become a recreation
area for many thousands of small boat owners.
The Michigan State Health Department and the Michigan
Water Resources Commission long since have recognized the
endemic nature of this lake pollution. The Health Department
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8?6
has forbidden any new connections to these overloaded drains,
and the Water Resources Commission has under way other
sanctions against the offending communities, which will be
Imposed unless relief structures are built.
This pollution is subject to abatement under the
Federal Water Pollution Act, but our application for help in
constructing a pumping station and retention basin for one
of four proposed new drainage outlets did not qualify us under
the point system employed by the Michigan Water Resoxircea
Commission when all applications were reviewed in October 1961,
2. The adequacy of measures taken to abate said
pollution.
In 1958 the cities of St. Glair Shores, Roseville
and East Detroit petitioned the Macomb County Intra-County
Drainage Board for the construction of four major relief
drains. The estimated cost is almost $29 million. The City
of Warren, which is geographically situated so that it may be
drained northward into the Clinton River-, is in the midst of
a gigantic drain construction program that will correct its
flooding and pollution problems* Within a comparatively short
time Warren will have separate sanitary and storm drainage
systems, and will contribute pollution neither to the Clinton
River nor to Lake St. Glair.
The four relief structures, designed to relieve
flooding and pollution in St. Clair Shores, Roseville and
East Detroit, will accomplish most of the necessary pollution
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abatement in Lake St. Glair.
The 8-1/2 Mile Relief Drain and the Stephens Relief
Drain will reduce the area served by the present Nine Mile
Drain BO that raw sewage need never again be released into
the lake, no matter what storm intensity is encountered. The
8-1/2 Mile Drain includes a pumping station and retention basin
near the lake, as required by the State Health Department, and
it will carry combined sanitary and storm water.
The Stephens Drain also will relieve the Nine Mile
Drain, and it will carry only storm water via gravity to the like
The Martin Drain will be relieved in the main by the
new 11-1/2 Mile Relief Drain and to a lesser degree by the
Stephens Drain, The Martin Drain itself will continue in use,
but with the addition of retention basin near the lake of a
one-year storm capacity.
The Lake Boulevard Relief Drain will serve the
northern section of Roseville and St. Glair Shores, will carry
only storm water and will empty into the lake by gravity flow.
Final engineering and design work has been completed
on the projects described. The affected communities have
taxed their citizens to pay for the engineering, and the
Drainage Board has acquired almost a quarter million dollars
In planning advance funds from the Federal Government, money
that must be repaid. The Drainage Board has certified final
apportionment of costs over the benefitting public agencies
involved.
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3. The nature of delays, If any, being encountered
in abating the pollution.
The Michigan State Highway Department is protesting
its apportionment in the courts. Having lost a decision in
a Maoomb County certlorarl hearing, it now is attempting to
secure a second hearing in a chancery court, and threatens
to appeal an adverse decision to the Michigan Supreme Court.
This single law suit is preventing the .Drainage Board
now from proceeding with the construction of the described
program.
This statement is submitted to the Conference for
Informational purposes, and also with the hope that Federal
assistance with which this office is yet unacquainted —
despite diligent study of all Federal help type legislation
— might be forthcoming through Conference efforts.
Sincerely yours,
(Signed) THOMAS S. WEI£H
Drain Commissioner
Macomb County, Michigan)
DR. HEUSTIS: Thank you very much. Next we have
Mr. Stryker. I tried, as you will remember, and suggested
that he could insert this statement in the record, but you
see how much water the State Health Commissioner carries.
MR. DAMON: We are going to accept your offer. This
will be made a part of the record and we appreciate the
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opportunity to present our statement. It will appear in the
record?
THE CHAIRMAN: It will appear in the record as
though read.
DR. HEUSTIS: If you get in trouble with your boss
for not reading it I will take full responsibility.
(The prepared statement of the Macomb County
Health Department is as follows:
March 14, 1962
Mr. Chairman and Conferees:
The Macomb County Health Department wishes to
submit the following statement for the record.
This department since its inception in 19^7 has
taken an active role towards abating and controlling pollution
of our water resources in Macomb County. This can be seen
in many ways, several of which are enumerated:
1. In 19^8 the establishment of Rules and Regula-
tions governing sub-surface sewage disposal systems.
2. Three revisions of the above-mentioned Rules
and Regulations all strengthening the code and raising the
standards. Such revisions have been approved by the Macomb
County Board of Supervisors.
3. An active and continual program with all
municipalities and other governmental Jurisdictions within
this County towards providing adequate municipal sewerage
systems.
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880
4. Close coordination and working relationship with
both the Michigan Department of Health and the Michigan Water
Resources Commission, whose Joint efforts and accomplishments
within Macomb County will be shown under other reports.
We wish to state that definite accomplishments
have been made in Maoomb County towards pollution control.
Further, it is recognized that being in a rapidly growing
metropolitan area with our geographical location and geological
conditions, we must continually strive towards improvement In
all phases of our pollution control work. Both the Board of
Health and Health Committee of the Board of Supervisors have
continually given us support towards this end.
One of our present problems which we believe deserves
attention from your group as well as our organizations, is
that of the pollution caused by wateroraft, ranging in size
from the small boats, used for recreational purposes, to the
Great Lakes and ocean-going vessels,, This problem has been
recognized by the Health Committee of the Macomb County Board
of Supervisors, for whom we act as an administrative agency.
We have been charged with stdying possible means of controlling
this type of pollution in the waters within and bordering on
Macomb County,
We wish to thank you for this opportunity to state
our position.
Yours truly,
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MACOMB COUNTY HEALTH DEPARTMENT
(Signed) Oscar D. Stryker, M.D, Director
(Signed) Merlin E. Damon, Sanitary Engineer)
DR. HEUSTIS: Next on our list Is the Washtenaw
County Health Department. Dr. 0. K. Engleke's name is down
here, and his able engineer is now approaching. Mr. Price,
we will be glad to hear from you.
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STATEMENT OF JOSEPH W. PRICE, ENGINEER,
WASHTENAW COUNTY HEALTH DEPARTMENT,
STATE OF MICHIGAN
MR. PRICE: I am Joseph W. Price, the engineer for
the Washtenaw County Health Department.
This statement has been prepared by the staffs of
the Huron Pdver Watershed Intergovernmental Committee and the
Washtenaw County Health Department to present a common view
shared by these units of local government. Our interest in
the problem under study comes from a concern for the Huron
River, an important tributary to the waters in question.
In our programs and activities we have long recog-
nized the obligation of an upstream community to treat and
control its wastes for the protection of downstream users.
We also believe that a common water resource should, however,
be utilized for various beneficial purposes consistent with
reasonable safeguards that can be applied to minimize con-
flicts of use and detrimental effects of one use upon another,
The Huron River Watershed Intergovernmental
Committee was formed in ±958 with a membership for thirty two
(32) units of local government - county, township, village
and city - in the Huron Basin. Although its broad interests
are basin-wide, major efforts of the Committee have been
centered in the Lower Basin, Ann Arbor downstream to Lake
Erie, and have been focused upon the impact of growing
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urbanization together with the use of the Huron for disposal
of waste effluents and the inter-relationships of these upon
water quality and other uses of the river.
A number of important studies have been completed,
including an extensive sampling and testing program by the
City of Ypsilanti for the river from above Ann Arbor to
Belleville. From these studies and reports, the Technical
Advisory Subcommittee of the Huron River Intergovernmental
Committee prepared a summary report which included a recommend-
ed Water Use Policy. A copy of this report is appended for
reference and copies of all other studies can be made avail-
able upon request. These documents and reports are in your
office, Mr. Connaughton, as part of the studies being
conducted by your office, or your staff, in relation to the
Huron River Basin.
We have found the Huron River to be of acceptable
sanitary quality in the area of our intensive studies. The
specific effect of the river upon Lake Erie has not been
determined by us and we would welcome additional data in this
regard. However, we are certain that measures already under-
taken, or planned, under the Water Use Policy of the Huron
River Intergovernmental Committee, adopted in early ±961 and
endorsed by these member governments, will effectively control
pollution for at least the next twenty years. The following,
significant features, or programs, are contemplated:
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(1) The extension of trunk sewer service by the
County of Wayne from their Wyandotte sewage
treatment plant to service the entire Wayne
County portion of the Huron Basin with this
effluent actually diverted from the river;
(2) Expansion and use of existing individual
community sewage treatment plants which will
provide a high level of secondary treatment
and disinfection in all installations;
(3) Control of the river flows with possible
future low flow augmentation from new storage
reservoirs.
We have no recent knowledge regarding the timetable
to accomplish point number (1). However, a communication
from the Wayne County Department of Public Works, dated
January 26, 1962, indicated their plan at that time was to
award contracts for expansion of their sewage plant at
Wyandotte and construction of an interceptor to Belleville on
or about May 1, ±962, We believe some delays have been
encountered since that time, but we are uncertain as to their
exact nature.
With regard to program number (2), action is now in
progress. The City of Ypsilanti has awarded a contract and
construction is underway for expansion of their sewage treat-
ment plant, including the addition of secondary treatment.
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Ypsilanti Township nas completed work to improve the hydraulic
capacity of their plant at the Willow Run Airport, so they
have some reserve for future growth, and engineering plans
have been prepared and approved by the Michigan Department of
Health for additional treatment plant improvements which will
be constructed as needed to maintain high treatment efficiency.
The complete treatment plant of the City of Ann Arbor is
operating near capacity at the moment but a preliminary study
on enlargement has been completed, accepted by the Michigan
Department of Health and the preparation of final designs by
the engineers has been authorized.
The third program is being pursued by two means.
Reorganization of the Huron River Watershed Intergovernmental
Committee to provide an organization that can administer a
water management program is now under study. The U.S. Corps
of Engineers is making a preliminary investigation of a
reservoir site in the Huron Basin for flood protection with
added studies relating to multiple use being made for them
by the U.S. Public Health Service on low flow augmentation
and water supply.
Delays beyond our control have been experienced in
the past and are still confronting us. We have been under
pressures in the past to "export" our sewage directly to the
Detroit River or Lake Erie through connections to the Wayne
County system. We resisted this past pressure on both
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economic grounds and a belief that our problem should not be
"moved downstream to another location" until we had exhausted
the ability of modern technology and administrative mechanisms
to handle it locally.
There is now outstanding a lawsuit started by Wayne
County and Van Buren Township which is a further attempt to
force a connection to the Wayne County sewerage system and
to restrain our municipalities from continuing to use the
Huron River for disposal of our highly-treated sewage
effluents. This tends only to create added delay and we
sincerely question the position of Wayne County in arbitrarily
attempting to force our communities into its system in view
of the fact that Wayne County's sewage is being discharged
directly into the waters now being surveyed for pollution,
after being given only primary treatment.
It is our desire to proceed fully and without delay
in our thoughtfully developed approach for protecting the
quality of the Huron River through improving the treatment
plants in the Washtenaw County portion of the Huron. Wayne
County agencies should, in their turn, be concerned with a
program to improve their facilities which have a more direct
impact on the Detroit River and Lake Erie and in providing the
needed sewerage service to their portion of the Huron Basin
rather than impeding the total program with court action.
Signed:
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For Huron River Watershed Intergovernmental Committee
(Signed) Emory Mulholland, Chairman;
For Washtenaw County
(Signed) E. A. Wolter, Chairman,
Board of Supervisors;
For City of Ann Arbor
(Signed) Guy C. Larcom, Jr., City Administrator;
For City of Ypsilanti
(Signed) Elizabeth E. Fenker, City Clerk;
For Ypsilanti Township
(Signed) Roy Smith, Township Supervisor
* # #
APPENDIX
STATEMENT FOR DETROIT RIVER - LAKE ERIE CONFERENCE
by
Huron River Watershed Intergovernmental Committee
Washtenaw County
City of Ann Arbor
City of Ypsilanti
Township of Ypsilanti
March 27, ±962
THE HURON RIVER: A WATER USE POLICY AND DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM
A Report of the Technical Advisory Subcommittee
Huron River Watershed Intergovernmental Committee
October 1960
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888
TECHNICAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE
Joseph W. Price, Chairman, Washtenaw County
Health Department
Lyle Craine, Ph. D., Vice Chairman, Conservation
Department, University of Michigan
Jack Borchardt, Ph. D., Civil Engineering,
University of Michigan
William Gable, Ph. D., Institute of Public Admin-
istration, University of Michigan
Paul Van Buskirk, Huron-Clinton Metropolitan
Authority
Noland Heiden, Oakland County Planning Commission
Charles Kaufman, Livingston County Planning
Commission
Paul Reid, Detroit Regional Metropolitan Area
Planning Commission
Clarence Velz, School of Public Health, University
of Michigan
Frank Waite, King Seeley Corporation
Jerold Wingeart, Board of Wayne County Road
Commissioners
Robert Carpenter, Washtenaw County Planning
Commission
David W. Walker, Executive Secretary, Huron Paver
Watershed Intergovernmental Committee
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889
INTRODUCTION
In accordance with the directive of the Huron River
Watershed Intergovernmental Committee, the Technical Advisory
Subcommittee has reviewed available information and reports
on water resources of the Huron River Basin. We herewith
present a summary evaluation, togetner with recommendations
regarding a water use policy and an area-wide water resources
development program for the Basin. This report will serve as
a guide to the Committee and its member communities in taking
the cooperative public action which is required by the
situation.
Three reports were at the disposal of the sub-
committee: namely, "Water Resource Conditions and Uses in
the Huron River Basin," by the Michigan Water Resources
Commission, ±957', "A Report on Surveys and Investigations of
Agricultural Irrigation Potential in the Huron River Basin,"
by the Soil Conservation Service, U.S.D.A., I960; and "A
Report on Waste Disposal and Water Use in the Downstream
Portions of the Huron River," by B]ack and Veatch, Consulting
Engineers, 1960.
Water Resources Commission Report. The Water
Resources Commission Report, in addition to presenting basic
hydrologic studies and water use patterns for the Huron Basin,
devotes particular attention to methods of improving the
utility of the lower Huron River for water supply and for
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waste disposal through stream flow regulation. Extensive
studies were made of storage requirements needed to assure
selected minimum stream flows under drought conditions
similar to the worst recorded. The characteristics, costs
and capacities of several reservoir sites are presented.
Analysis indicates that substantial improvement in low stream
flow is feasible at reasonable cost.
Because this report presents considerable analysis
and study, its conclusions and recommendations are worthy of
careful consideration. For convenience they are attached as
Appendix A.
The Soil Conservation Service Report. This report,
prepared with the assistance of the staffs of the County
Planning Commissions of Washtenaw, Oakland and Livingston
Counties, assessed the soils and crop potential for irriga-
tion agriculture and consequent demands for water. Attention
was given only those areas within the Basin which iiti the
judgment of the planning commissions are expected to remain
in agriculture for a considerable time. The areas with soils
suitable for irrigation were identified, and estimates were
made of the total water which might be required for irriga-
tion. The water supply sources, stream diversion, wells, and
surface storage, could only be given a limited analysis from
data available. However, the report shows that stream flows
during the dry, or irrigation, seasons could provide only a
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891
minor portion of the need.
A summary of the findings of this report is attached
as Appendix B.
Black and Veatch Report. The Black and Veatch
report is primarily addressed to waste disposal and water
use in the down-stream portions of the Huron River. The
engineering studies were necessarily based upon already
available data. Black and Veatch developed 8 plans for
waste treatment and disposal to serve lower Huron communities.
On the basis of economic and technical feasibility, two were
recommended as alternative choices. The report discusses
water quality criteria and includes certain information
from the 1956-57 stream sampling program sponsored by the
City of Ypsilanti and carried out by Dr. J. A. Borchardt.
However, no rigorous stream analysis study was made by them
which would define waste assimilation capacity and water
quality conditions of the lower Huron under present and future
waste loads, and under various natural or regulated stream
flows. It is assumed the engineers found such definitive
studies were not possible within the limitations of presently
available data, and were, therefore, beyond the scope of
their report.
The Black and Veatch report brings into perspective
possibilities for solution of waste disposal problems. Again,
for convenience, the "Summary of Findings and Recommendations"
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892
is attached as Appendix C.
Problems and Objectives. The data and analyses
available at this time are less than those desired to develop
a complete and detailed water resources program. However,
sufficient information is at hand to serve as a guide for
important policy decisions concerning an area-wide approach
to some of the most pressing water resource problems.
One immediate problem is waste water disposal in the
lower part of the basin. A solution to this problem should be
found that is adequate for anticipated future needs and that
gives consideration to the impact of waste disposal upon
other water uses. The Michigan Department of Health has
voiced concern that uncoordinated expansion of individual
waste treatment plants might produce polution loads incom-
patible with other present, or future, uses of the river.
Consequently, it has prohibited further expansion of
individual community sewage disposal systems until an area-
wide policy for river use is developed and adopted as an
instrument to minimize future conflicts.
While this area-wide approach must be sufficient
to guide action, it is the judgment of the Subcommittee that
it should not be a rigid, detailed scheme. Rather, it should
be a statement of major objectives with the essential commit-
ments for public action as are necessary to achieve those
goals. The Huron River Watershed Intergovernmental Committee,,
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893
and its member communities, must reach agreement on broad
policies and programs for river use which are precise enough
to give guidance to continuing community development but at
the same time possess sufficient flexibility to permit
future modifications based upon new data and additional
,s tudies.
The objectives of this document are, therefore,
to: (l) review and sumnarizo these three reports to IIRWIC
and r/o-rr.-iise the facts regarding the v/ater resources of the
iu-'on Ivor and its uses; (2) evaluate the two plans for
"vasto water disposal favored by Black and Veatch; and (3)
recommend the essential elements of a water use policy and
development program for the river that seems feasible to the
Subcommittee.
THE HURON IttVEIl - RESOURCE AND USES
Description: The Huron River Basin has a drainage
area of 890 square miles with a main channel length of 125
miles. The head waters and a major portion of the watershed
lies in an area containing approximately 350 lakes. The
stream exhibits a relatively stable flow pattern. In over
40 years of records (Ann /rbor gage) the average flow has
been 4^0 cubic feet per second, with a high of 2,990 cfs.
V/ithin this period, however, extended drought conditions
have reduced the monthly average flows to less than 100 cfs.,
i in the years 1931, ±93^ and 1936. In August of 1934 the flow
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894
at this location averaged only 21.1 cfs.
For discussion purposes the Huron Basin has been
divided into "upper" and "lower" river areas. The Upper
Basin is above Ann Arbor from Barton Dam upstream where the
river is primarily a stream flowing through several natural
lakes. This portion makes up 79$ °f the total area, or about
700 square miles, yet contains only '^% of the population, or
about 78,000 in ±960, distributed widely with limited indus-
trial development.
In the Lower Basin the river is essentially a series
of dains and impoundments with flow regulated by nine hydro-
electric plants. This smaller area contains the major cities,
industries and a population of 176,000 in ±960, which cause
intensive water uso demand.
The matter of water rights and water law should be
recognized. Although complete analysis is impossible here and
the subject, has not been considered in other reports, a brief
discussion is pertinent. The common law regulating water
rights is based upon the riparian doctrine which character-
izes water law in the eastern United States. Under strict
interpretation, any user of the stream must allow the water
to pass to the next downstream user without change in
quantity or in quality. In Michigan, the strict interpreta-
tion has been modified, or defined, by the courts to permit
such depletion of quantity or deterioration in quality as may
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895
be judged to be reasonable.
With the rapid growth and development of the lower
Huron area pressures upon the river r.-? source are bound to
intensify. F om these demands, quantity depletions and
quality deteriorations may result and. be challenged in the
courts by individual owners. It would then fall upon the
r.oiu'ts? to define what is reasonable use, With such a case-
by cas<^ approach, it would be necessary to seek justice with
inadequate facts covering all the possibilities and conse-
quences .
Compromises in the public interest may be necessary
that will, in effect, require a waiver of some individual
rights through community agreements and the creation of an
area water use policy. Through the HKWIC such an area-wide
water use policy and development program can be achieved that
has as its objective the satisfaction of major water needs by
cooperative agreement, without resorting to the courts.
Drainage. Drainage is the primary function of a
river. It provides the natural means to remove storm water
and soil drainage from the basin. Drainage can influence
both quantity and quality of water in the channel.
Floods have not boon serious because of lakes in
the Upper Basin and impoundments in the Lower. Higher flows
from storms can be expected in the future, however, as more
land is covered v/ith roofs or roads which speed runoff
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896
by reducing the absorbing surface. Changes in land use or
management, such as a shift from row-crop agriculture to
truck crops, can increase infiltration and have an opposite
effect. Sub-soil drainage of farm lands to improve agricul-
tural productivity speeds the flow to channel or reduces
the storage of water within the land and diminishes the base
flow.
In the Upper Basin the stabilization of lake and
stream levels is needed if property values are to be given
optimum protection, especially where riparian lands have been
built-up with cottages and dwellings.
Water quality may be influenced by changes in
agriculture and land management practices that employ
increasing amounts of fertilizers, insecticides, and her-
bicides when residues of these chemicals reach the river.
Pollution from storm water from urban areas will
continue and may increase as community development progresses,
Tlunoff from streets and uncontrolled sewage connections to
storm drains can contribute significant pollution loads and
adversely affect the water quality to a point detrimental for
some recreation and water supply uses. The significance of
this has not been determined, and there is urgent need for
intensive river sampling studies to differentiate the effects
upon water quality from drainage, storm water discharges, or
land management practices as distinct from those of waste
SPO 3208I9-C-26
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897
water effluents.
Water Supply. Public water supply is one of the
most vital needs now met by the river. The potable water
supplies for Ann Arbor and Flat Rock are derived principally
from this source. In addition, Belleville utilizes the
stream as a supplemental supply and Ypsilanti Township main-
tains an emergency river intake. The average municipal use
from all sources in ±957 was 20 million gallons a day, with
a maximum of J52 mgd., according to the Water Resources
Commission report.
Several industries use large volumes of river water
for cooling and processing in the Ypsilanti area. This use
has been estimated by Black and Veatch at approximately
5 mgd. New industrial uses, or users needing large quanti-
ties, will probably have to seek sources of water, or plant
locations, outside the basin.
In the area of the lower Huron, as in most locali-
ties, per capita water demands are expected to rise. With
population and industrial increases this will create greater
demands for municipal water in the future. For this area an
average of 180 gallons per capita daily water use for ±980
can be selected as a conservative estimate from the Black
and Veatch data. This lies between their two extremes of
±58 gallons and 280 gallons for individual systems and well
below their projected United States average of 203 gallons.
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898
Using a population estimate of 235,000 persons for a portion
of this region in ±980 an average of 42 million gallons per
day of municipal water would be required. Black and Veatch
further indicate a maximum ground water potential for the
Ann Arbor-Ypsilanti area of only 25 mgd. The balance of
17 mgd., or 26 cfs., must come from the river or other out-
side sources. In addition to these average values, maximum,
or peak demands will, of course, be substantially greater and
may possibly coincide with drought conditions. Since monthly
flows in the lower Huron at Ann Arbor have already occurred
that averaged less than this needed 26 cfs., the river could
not be considered the most dependable source of supply for
this area without low flow augmentation.
Definitive studies outlining alternative plans for
water supply for communities along the Huron River have not
been made. Likewise, rigorous stream analyses have not been
made to define water quality conditions expected in the future
under the various plans of waste disposal proposed, and undei*
the conditions of stream flow regulation suggested.
Based upon the Water Resources Commission report and
the Black and Veatch report, notwithstanding inadequate treat-
ment at some of the sewage works, it can be judged that the
Huron River is not grossly polluted. Furthermore, water at
some locations in the lower Huron, measured in terms of avail-
able standard criteria, is now, and may continue to be
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899
acceptable as a source of public water supply.
A fundamental principle, however, should be to seek
a source providing the highest quality of water attainable
consistent with technical and economic feasibility. Given
alternative choices, there is no question of the wisdom in
providing extra factors of safety inherent in obtaining a
supply above rather than below sources of pollution, even
where waste water is treated. Three alternative sources of
supply for lower Huron communities have been suggested:
(1) further development of ground water sources; (2) obtain
water from outside sources such as the Detroit Metropolitan
system; or (5) joint development of the upper Huron River
with the common intake above Ann Arbor.
Whether the lower river should continue to be
considered as a source of potable water supply for the future
is a question difficult to answer objectively at this time.
If alternative sources were not available for communities
in the lower Huron Valley, modern technology provides through
well-designed sewage treatment plants a high degree of
pollution control in terms of bacterial quality of waste
effluents. A second line of defense could be provided in
carefully designed and well operated water purification
plants. Depending upon the location of the downstream water
supply intakes in relation to sewage treatment outfalls,
it is possible that portions of the lower river could produce
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900
a satisfactory water supply, particularly if developed in con-
junction with flow augmentation and regulation. Thus, while
immediate objectives are oriented to a thorough investigation
of alternative sources of water supply, further facts and
studies may show that certain reaches of the lower Huron, if
necessary, can serve as a source of water supply with reason-
able safety.
Waste Water Disposal. The Huron River is used to
dilute and assimilate treated sewage. In ±959, 14 sewage
treatment plants discharged about ±6.5 million gallons a day
of treated sewage, 93% occurring at or below Ann Arbor.
Primary and secondary treatment is provided at Ann Arbor and
operation is within design capacity. Ypsilanti City has
primary treatment and its plant is overloaded so some raw
sewage by-passes into the river. Ypsilanti Township has two
plants, both having primary and secondary treatment,, Consid-
erable raw sewage by-passes one plant. Belleville has only
primary treatment. The Wayne County Komulus plant provides
primary and secondary treatment.
In addition to the sanitary load, industrial waste
effluents contribute about 4 million gallons a day of which
72$ is discharged below Ann Arbor.
The discharge of treated waste water has a bearing
on the quality of water downstream available for other uses.
Quality will vary according to the location of the outfall
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001
in relation to the points of these uses and according to the
river flow available for dilution and transportation. Insofar
as existing data shows, the current treated sewage effluent
loads discharged to the river are not creating quality condi-
tions that are significantly adverse to the other present uses.
The effect of future effluent loads upon existing or
jiew uses of the river is not as clear. Increased population
&.nd industrial expansion will produce proportionately larger
sewage and industrial waste loads. Black and Veatch estimate
that by ±980 the sanitary waste load, with treatment at 90^
Efficiency, from all Lower Huron communities would be about
1.4 times that being discharged now as measured on a basis
pf B.O.D. and population equivalents. If the raw sewage
peing by-passed at present were measured and the load added
to the existing known discharges from sewage plants, the in-
I
crease in amount of wastes in the river would be even less
than 1,4 times the present.
A further breakdown of the Black and Veatch data,
together with their estimates of the future waste water loads
from the Lower Huron communities, can be made to distinguish
the Wayne County sources as distinct from those sources in
Washtenaw County. For Wayne County, the present waste effluent
load of 5i100 population equivalents would increase by 1980
to 16,700 with treatment at 90% efficiency. However, on the
same basis, Washtenaw County loads would actually decrease
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902
from the present load of 21,000 population equivalents to
18,800 in 1980, primarily as a result of more effective treat-
ment than is now being realized.
Future industrial waste water discharges, other than
those normal contributions to sanitary sewage flows, are not
ascertainable. However, it is not anticipated that individual
disposal of waste industrial water will substantially increase
due to the limitations of available process water that tends
to rule out the location of new industries requiring large
volumes.
If the Huron River is to be utilized for ultimate
disposal of treated wastes, it is imperative that the waste
waters receive a high degree of treatment. Even with the best
possible treatment, the increased pollution loads coincident
with the area's growth may overtax the stream with a decline
of water quality in the future. To protect against this,
[provision should be made for augmenting low flows occurring
during dry weather periods to: (1) aid in dilution, (2) pro-
vide adequate flow in stream sections between impoundments,
(5) improve waste assimilation capacity, and (4) enhance
general esthetic conditions.
It is conceivable that ultimate development in the
valley may reach a stage where consideration will have to be
given to diversion of waste water to other systems outside
the Huron Basin. In such case, storage to augment stream flow
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903
will also serve to maintain water levels below points of
diversion.
Recreation. More than 5^>000 acres of Basin land
are devoted to recreational uses. Large expenditures of public
money have been made by the Huron-Clinton Metropolitan
Authority for the development of park lands along the Huron
River, including bathing beaches in the upper reaches. The
recreational use along the lower Huron utilizes the river
primarily for scenic background with no organized water con-
tact.
Most of the Huron River is used for boating and
fishing. While public use of the lower Huron for swimming
and water skiing is not encouraged, nevertheless, large num-
bers of people, particularly on weekends, use Ford Lake and
Belleville Lake for these recreational purposes. The Huron-
Clinton Metropolitan Authority recognized in the past the
many limitations of the Lower Huron for public swimming and
has built a large outdoor pool at its Lower Huron Metropolitan
Park.
An expanding population may be expected to create
a continually increasing demand for recreational facilities.
Expansion of the Huron-Clinton Metropolitan Authority use
of the river for a scenic background will occur along the
lower River. For esthetic reasons such park lands need an
assured flow of modest proportions during all periods of use.
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904
Boating and water skiing will probably remain im-
portant recreation activities and may increase in a few of
the lakes in the Lower Huron. Those lakes which lack public
access will receive limited use for such activities. In any
event, boating and water skiing are not ordinarily viewed as
organized close contact use of water in the sense of needing
exceptionally pure water. It may, however, be necessary to
restrict some areas to prohibit water recreation activities
near drainage outlets as a precaution against unusual hazards.
Future population growth may create additional de-
mands for bathing facilities. The increasing interest in
swimming pools is expected to continue as a means of providing
swimming in a safe, convenient, hygenic, and enjoyable way.
Careful monitoring of water quality should be made
on a continuous basis in Ford Lake and Belleville Lake adja-
cent to bathing areas now in use. That would provide a basis
for future decisions in regard to public health safety even
though no new developments are anticipated.
Irrigation. Use of irrigation water from the Huron
is not extensive. However, all water withdrawn for those
purposes consumes and depletes the stream flow and influences
amounts available for other uses, especially during drought
periods.
Lands below Ann Arbor have low potential for agri-
cultural irrigation. Parks and golf courses are the major
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905
users, and future demands upon the river should be modest.
About 28,000 acres in the Upper Basin have gr-eater agricul-
tural irrigation potential, especially with the trend to
high value truck crops. Unrestricted use of river water for
that purpose could consume the entire flow when drought con-
ditions coincide with growing season. If surface water is to
be used extensively for irrigation, storage will need to be
provided to avoid this conflict and possible infringement of
the rights of other users.
Hydroelectric Power. The series of impoundments
for production of electric power from Ann Arbor downstream
makes the river not so much a stream as a chain of lakes.
Their value for power has declined and most of the proper-
ties are for sale. However, the impoundments have value for
recreation, water storage for municipal and industrial uses--
including sewage and waste water disposal—and they create
values for neighboring real estate. Since the dams control
the Huron, their operation determines the flow of the stream.
At present, the power plants are operated to meet peak power
demands which causes pulsations in stream flow. At times
of low power demand, little or no flow may be released for
several days.
Operation of the dams for hydro-power will probably
cease. However, the impoundments, or lakes, should be re-
tained and managed in the public interest for their other
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906
established values mentioned before. Moreover, the coordinated
operation of dams could lead to a more stable flow, without
sudden fluctuations, to better protect and serve the various
interests in the lower Huron.
PLANS FOR WASTE DISPOSAL IN LOWER HURON
Black and Veatch investigate and report on eight
engineering schemes for handling waste water loads in the
Ann Arbor-Ypsilanti area. The general design period is for
20 years to ±980 on all treatment facilities. Where inter-
ceptor sewers were needed they were designed to serve an
additional 20 years, or until 2000.
Assuming that it might be desirable or necessary to
divert the municipal wastes from the river, they proposed and
reviewed the following various plans. One was for immediate
diversion of all waste water, but they did not believe it
could be financed at present. All the other plans proposed
some use of the river for v/aste water discharge. Two plans
were recommended as most feasible from engineering and
economic viev/points although they differ in method, cost,
and administrative machinery required to carry them out.
Although some comparisons were made on the effects of each
plan upon water quality and river uses, those can not, in
themselves, form a basis for the selection of any specific
plan. Policy decisions relating to total river use must be
made prior to or coincident with one selecting a program for
-------
907
waste water disposal. The two plans recommended, Plan 5 and
Plan 2, are briefly described.
Plan 5- This plan proposes an immediate diversion
of the sewage from the Ypsilanti-Ypsilanti Township area
through the extension of the downriver interceptor now planned
by Wayne County to intercept the sewage at their Romulus
Plant and to serve Belleville and future development in ad-
joining portions of Wayne County. Ann Arbor and other com-
munities upstream from Ypsilanti would expand their treatment
plants or construct new facilities to serve during this "first
stage", or until about ±980. However, a second stage, built
about ±980 would provide an extension of the interception
system to Ann Arbor and at that time leave the entire Lower
Huron free from municipal sewage effluents.
Plan 5 is based on a concept that sufficient bene-
fits may result from immediate diversion of part of the waste
water flow from the Washtenaw County portion of the Lower
Huron to be economically justified, and that a start toward
diversion might be advantageous at this time if the long-
range objective is toward that end. The immediate cost would
be $5 million with future costs for the second stage not
readily ascertainable.
The immediate creation of an administrative organiza-
tion representing the service area would be needed to negotiate
with Wayne County. Agreement upon construction costs, their
-------
908
allocation to member communities, and rates for sorvi.ce would
bo necessary before proceeding.
In addition, in order to compensate for the loss of
flows to the interceptor system, two reservoirs in the Upper
Basin are recommended. These would provide storage of v/ater
during times of high flows for release during periods of low
flow. Their cost has been estimated at 2-1/2 million dollars,
Other benefits from flow management, more water available
during drought periods, and some multiple uses of these new
reservoirs, may also be obtained.
Plan 2. This plan depends on expansion and improve-
ments of existing or provision for additional sewage treat-
ment facilities by individual communities, as needed, in the
Y/ashtenaw County portion of the Lower Huron. Total cost is
2-1/2 million dollars. It is assumed that the sewer now
planned by Wayne County to intercept sewage at the ilomulus
plant and from the Belleville area will be constructed and
thus remove these effluents from that stretch of the river.
The effectiveness of Plan 2, like Plan 5, depends
upon the same system of upstream storage reservoirs, costing
2-1/2 million dollars. These storage developments v/ould
provide higher flows during critical drought seasons to
improve dilution and assimilation of wastes in addition to
the benefits mentioned in the discussion of Plan 5-
Plan 2 is based upon a concept that the river would
-------
909
carry the entire treated waste water discharges from the
Washtenaw County communities of the lov/er Huron until ±980
without serious damage to other present water uses. After
1980, if it is found that the high degree of waste treatment
coupled with river management and low flow regulation is not
adequate to provide the needed protection for other river
uses, diversion of waste effluents could then be accomplished
by all communities in the Ann Arbor-Ypsilanti area by con-
necting to a proposed Wayne County Lower Huron interceptor
sewer which is now shown in their long-range plan. This is
the same future interceptor which would be needed as an out-
let under Plan 5 when any second stage of that plan was imple-
mented. However, the administrative organization to negotiate
with Wayne County would not be needed until later.
Appraisal of the Two Plans. The basic questions
before R^WIC communities are whether sufficient improvement
or protection of water quality can be achieved through Plan 5
to make it \vorth the $2-1/2 million additional costs and
whether the adoption of a long-range policy goal of total
waste water diversion is realistic, or necessary, at this
tine. Is a guide for the communities in agreeing upon a
rivor use policy the Technical Advisory Subcommittee proposes
to raise and discuss pertinent questions as follows:
1. How sure are we that the water quality in ±980,
or 2000, will be significantly better with Plan 5 than under
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910
Plan 2?
The evidence is far from clear that water quality
will be significantly lowered by ±980 under Plan 2, and there
is some reason to believe that it may not experience undue
deterioration by 2000, providing adequate sewage treatment is
accomplished and low river flows are increased by additions
from new storage reservoirs.
Under either plan a major anticipated increase in
waste water, that originating in Y.'ayne County communities,
would be diverted from the river by the interceptor already
planned. Although some additional sewage from the Ypsilanti
area would be diverted with Plan 5> Plan 2 would also materi-
ally reduce the load on the river through improved treatment.
The removal of municipal and industrial waste does
not eliminate all sources of pollution. Discharge of surface
runoff from storm drains can be significant. This contribu-
tion to the river cannot be treated nor entirely diverted,
and it will carry increasing loads of pollutants washed from
the land and our expanding suburbs. Such uncontrolled pollu-
tion is more or less inevitable in our highly urbanized
society. We must not fool ourselves by thinking that it is
possible to return the lower Huron Iiiver to the pristine
conditions of the beginning of this century.
2. What river uses are likely to suffer damage if
water quality in the lower Huron does deteriorate between
-------
911
now and ±980, or the year 2000, in spite of the safeguards
provided by Plan 2?
First, it must be recognized that uses of the river
below Ann Arbor are already restricted. Swimming and other
water contact uses are discouraged. Most public recreation
plans for the lower river area depend upon the river only for
its scenic background value. Little river water is now used
for municipal water supplies, and municipalities in the lower
basin are already seeking other sources for future needs.
Study of these alternate water supply sources should be given
high priority in any event.
It appears then, that there is a considerable mar-
gin within which water quality may fluctuate without serious
effect upon present uses. Water quality would have to
deteriorate severely before it becomes so generally obnoxious
to sight or smell as to jeopardize the lower Huron as a place
to live or enjoy recreation on lands along its shores. If
Plan 2 does not maintain existing quality, it might be
necessary to further restrict water contact recreation. Uses
of river water for irrigation of vegetables may also have to
be prohibited in the future; however, the irrigation potential
in this area is limited. Detailed and constant water sampling
(quality monitoring) could provide a basis for river zoning
as well as data for other future policy decisions which may
be required by new situations.
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912
3. V/hat problems confront t'uo governmental units
of the Huron basin in carrying out each plan?
Both plans require the construction of storage
reservoirs and the regulation of river flows. This is a
cooperative task for the several governmental units in the
basin, and, as recommended by Black and Veo.tch, some kind of
coordinated water management agency should be created to do
the j ob.
Plan 5, in addition to requiring a water management
agency involving the whole basin, would require the establish-
ment of some kind of sewerage district organization of several
communities along the lower Huron. This organization would be
needed to plan, finance and construct on a joint basis the
intercepting sowers essential to the plan, and to negotiate
contracts with Wayne County for treatment of the diverted
sewage.
Plan 2, on the other hand, would not require the
establishment of such a sewerage district at this time since
it relies upon each individual community continuing to pro-
vide its own sewage disposal until such time as the evidence
is clear that treated effluents must be diverted from the
river.
The summary judgment of the Technical Advisory Sub-
committee is that the communities of the Huron River Basin
are better advised at this time to commit themselves to a
GPO 820619-C—27
-------
913
water use policy and river development program which will
include Plan 2 since the facts are not adequate to clearly
justify the additional expenditure needed under Plan 5«
This policy and the development program must recognize the
impact of Plan 2 upon other water needs and uses, and must
contain the essential public commitments that are necessary
and justified on the basis of presently available informa-
tion to best insure orderly development and equitable use of
the river.
RECOMMENDATIONS
The Technical Advisory Subcommittee recommends the
following as elements of an area-wide water use policy and
resource development program for the Huron River Watershed,
1. With respect to waste water disposal,
a. continue to use the lower Huron River
for disposal of adequately treated waste
water at existing or new sites until such
time as water quality trends, reflected
by river sampling, indicate that considera-
tions should be given to partial or com-
plete diversion;
b. give adequate treatment to all present and
future waste waters originating in the
Upper Basin, and exercise public authority
with respect to developments in the Upper
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914
Basin to prevent pollution problems,
unreasonable deterioration of quality, or
future conflicts of river use.
2. With respect to community water supply,
a. begin immediate investigation of alternative
means of increasing water supplies for
Ann Arbor and communities downstream includ-
ing: ground water, sources outside the
basin, and use of the Huron Paver above
Ann Arbor as a common source through joint
development;
b. consider the lower Huron as a source of
public water supply only after due consid-
eration of alternative sources and the com-
pletion of additional studies suitable to
sustain such consideration.
3. With respect to recreation,
a. recognize that the greatest potential for
direct use of water for bathing and other
recreation exists in the Upper Basin
where it needs protection and development;
b. recognize that esthetic, health, and safety
limitations restrict public recreational
use of the lower Huron, and consideration
be given to possibilities of directing
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915
private use through zoning water areas
in relation to location of sewage treat-
ment outfalls and storm drains, as detailed
field surveys of water quality may indicate;
c. recognize that extreme low flows in any
section of the lower Huron are inconsistent
with esthetic values and recreational use,
and that steps should be taken to elimin-
ate fluctuations of flow due to operations
of dams and taken to provide a higher
minimum flow during extreme drought con-
ditions.
4. With respect to irrigation,
a. recognize irrigation as a growing user of
water in areas of the Upper Basin and that
it depletes the supply;
b. recognize that compensating quantities of
water will need to be provided by storage
for that taken by direct withdrawals from
the stream for irrigation.
5. With respect to improving stream flow and water
management,
a. recognize that low flow augmentation is
necessary, and that it be accepted as a
joint responsibility of all communities
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916
in the Basin;
b. recognize that management of stream flow
in the Huron River is a joint responsi-
bility necessary to insure benefits of low
flow augmentation, and that coordinated
operations of exii3ting impoundments and
future reservoirs should be achieved as a
necessary service in the best interests of
many users;
c. insure that development and operation of
any water management program includes con-
sideration of multiple purpose development
including such benefits as recreation,
irrigation, flood control, and lake and
stream level stabilization where feasible.
6. With respect to need for further data and study,
a. undertake continuing study and analysis of
water quality and such other studies as
are necessary for water management;
b. encourage the Michigan Department oi Health,
Michigan Water Resources Commission or
other agencies to undertake specialized
studies or to collect basic data.
7. With respect to organizational needs,
a. recognize that a new agency representing
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917
the communities in the basin, is needed
which has adequate functions and authority
to carry forward the water management
program;
b. include among the functions of such an
agency the following:
1. studies, site acquisition, construc-
tion, operation, and benefit allocation
for new storage reservoirs with
authority to develop these reservoirs
on any multiple purpose bases as may
be feasible;
2. acquisition, maintenance and operation
of existing properties and facilities
(dams) now existing for river flow
regulation together with provision of
authority to negotiate and coordinate
operating schedules among private
owners of such facilities;
j5. design and conduct future water or
related studies in the basin as a
direct function or through negotiation
with federal, state, or local agencies.
c. Continue the Huron River Watershed Inter-
governmental Committee for interim leadership
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918
in adoption of a basin policy and program
and in creation of a management agency and
in such other activities as its limitations
allow to carry forward the interests of its
members.
The Technical Advisory Subcommittee further recommends
the following, specific actions for the HRWIC and its member
communities:
A. Adopt the water policy and resource management
program described above through resolution, or
other appropriate action, by HRWIC with endorse-
ment by its member communities.
B. Transmit the adopted policy and development pro-
gram to the Michigan Department of Health and
Michigan Water Resources Commission for their
information and request their cooperation in its
implementation.
C. The HRWIC should take immediate action to investi-
gate thoroughly the specific legal, financial,
and administrative needs and possibilities as a
basis for early establishment of a management
agency, and exert leadership in its establishment.
-------
919
APPENDIX A
Michigan Water Resources Commission Report, ±957
CONCLUSIONS iND RECOMMENDATIONS
Continuation of the great development now taking
place in the Huron River basin depends very importantly upon
wise management of its water resources. By any standard,
those resources are very substantial in quantity and generally
excellent in quality. They include 353 inland lakes, large
underground reservoirs, and a stream system that at Ann Arbor
yields an average daily flow of some 550 million gallons.
The lakes, in their attractive setting of rolling terrain and
hardwood groves, constitute a vast potential for recreational
development. The ground waters are readily accessible, cool,
clear, pure and moderately hard to very hard. The streams
are also relatively clear and, in comparison with those of
other areas, moderately to very stable in flow. Ninety-five
percent of the time flow of the Huron at Ann Arbor has been at
least one-fourth as much as its long-term average. In most
reaches of tributaries and main stream, the river system is
sufficiently free of pollution to permit its use for recrea-
tion and water supply. Although pollution is developing
critical conditions in some sections of the lower river, the
problem is, for the most part one future rather than present
seriousness.
Yet, with all these great water resources assets,
-------
920
the basin faces difficult problems. In the headwater areas
of lakes and small streams, it is becoming increasingly urgent
that further private development be guided by coordinated
planning.
Although it appears likely that most of the water
supply needs of upstream communities may be filled from
ground water sources for some time, appraisal of those sources
should be made well in advance of the needs for any expansion.
Downstream problems of water use stem largely from
the intermittent occurrence of periods of low stream flow.
The practical utility of the river for water supply and waste
disposal is seriously limited except as provision can be
made for supplementing the natural low flow with releases
from reservoirs.
This report identifies the potential reservoir sites
that appear to offer the greatest prospects from the stand-
point of capacity, replenishment possibilities, and economic
feasibility of acquisition and development. It points out
that many good sites that might formerly have been available
are now so highly developed for other uses as to eliminate
them from serious consideration.
Whether it will be feasible to develop any reservoirs
and, if so, how many and which ones, are questions to be
answered by comparing their costs and capabilities with those
of alternative facilities. Obtaining the answers to these
-------
921
questions should not, of course, be long deferred lest the
remaining reservoir sites become economically unavailable.
It may be re-emphasized here that any plan of river flow
supplementation by reservoir use should recognize the key
position of Barton Pond both as a mechanical aid to operation
of the system and as an impounding area for dry season storm
flows. Its outright acquisition should be contemplated.
Growing out of the physical picture with its wide-
sprawled ramifications, and overshadowing it in immediate
importance is the urgent and inescapable necessity for full
coordination among valley interest both in planning and in
the acquisition, development and administration of such facil-
ities as are shown to be most appropriate to the valley needs.
No time should be lost in establishing and providing for the
adequate financing of an intermunicipal entity of some sort
to define valley water management objectives and to undertake
detailed analysis of the various possibilities for attaining
those objectives. If initial appraisals indicate any likeli-
hood of using reservoirs, stream gaging stations should be
installed at all prospective sites so that when the time for
construction approaches, data will be at hand to allow
accurate computation of their respective replenishment
capacities.
Whether a reservoir system or a pipeline system for
importing water and exporting sewage or a combination of both
-------
922
is determined to be the best solution, a valley authority will
probably be needed, with the power to levy taxes and assess-
ments, to purchase or condemn property and to construct and
administer major water supply and sewage disposal facilities.
One of the prime functions of the planning entity may be to
examine extant statutes providing for inter municipal water
and sewer authorities and to draft new or amendatory legisla-
tion if that is indicated.
APPENDIX B
"Summary of Report on Irrigation in Huron River Basin
by the Soil Conservation Service,"
Of the soils in the Huron Paver basin areas of con-
tinuing articultural importance. Only a portion are con-
sidered suitable for irrigation. Of those soils suitable for
irrigation it was estimated that only 28,000 acres will be
irrigated annually. This is due to certain management practices
such as the rotation of irrigated with nonirrigated crops, the
inclusion of some nonirrigated crops in th« farm enterprise,
the growing of soil building crops and following. The over-
all expected annual acreage of crops that will be irrigated
is therefore 28,000. These are the crops that will require
28,738 acre feet of irrigation water annually. This quantity
is the amount required at the field, and does not take into
account losses in storage or transportation.
Within the areas expected to remain in agricultural
-------
923
use there are several tributary streams that have some active
flow during the irrigation season. Along certain reaches
of these streams there exists approximately 5>l80 acres of
riparian lands that will likely be irrigated for crop
production. The total flow in these streams during the
irrigation season is of such meager proportions that it could
satisfy the needs of the crops on only 1,000 acres of land.
However, diversion to storage reservoirs during periods of
high flows along these same streams and other streams having
only seasonal flow could more than satisfy the crop irriga-
tion needs of lands of riparian owners along all such streams,
The legal authority for riparian owners to divert water from
streams for irrigation of crops is beyond the scope of this
report.
As reflected above, the potential demand for 28,738
acre feet of irrigation water annually at the field will have
to be met by other than direct stream flow diversion during
the irrigation season. The suitable capture and storage of
high stream flows and diffused runoff together with such
supplementation as may be afforded from ground water sources
suggests means of meeting this demand without seriously
conflicting with other water needs in the basin.
From the evaluation of soil suitability for agri-
cultural and urban use, it was determined, that, based on
soil texture, slope, drainage and the presence or absence
-------
924
of hazardous natural conditions, there is a predominance of
moderate to highly favorable soil conditions for urban uses.
The existence of areas of soils of low suitability for urban
use justifies precautionary procedures such as generous use
of detailed soil inventories and constant reference to
criteria for urban development. Soils are generally suitable
for agriculture, primarily because of less exacting require-
ments and relatively less expensive treatment measures.
APPENDIX C
Black & Veatch Engineering Study, Recommendations pp. XIX
Recommendations
1. Adopt and execute a waste-water disposal plan.
This will involve the following elements:
(a) Public policy decisions relating to future
water uses.
(b) Selection and execution of Plan 2 or
Plan 5 as may be consistent with advan-
tages, disadvantages and ultimate objectives
(c) Creation of a water pollution control
administrative agency in the Ann Arbor-
Ypsilanti area as needed to insure
individual community adherence and co-
operation with current and future water
pollution control objectives.
2. Create a separate administrative agency for
-------
925
water management in the entire Huron Basin to:
(a) Acquire, maintain and operate existing
hydroelectric dams, now for sale, for
flow regulation in the public interest
and consistent with water-use policy
and objectives,
(b) Obtain stream flow data at potential
reservoir sites.
(c) Study the benefit-cost relationship and
hydrolgic characteristics of all potential
regulating reservoir sites to determine
which would yield optimum results.
(d) Acquire reservoir sites.
(e) Construct and operate regulating reser-
voirs.
(f) Administer future water allocation program
as necessary.
(g) Give continuing scrutiny and study to
developments involving new and increasing
water use with particular emphasis on
preventing conflicts between important
uses.
3. Conduct an administrative-finance study related
to water management. Because this study has implications in
recommendations ± and 2. it should be initiated as soon
-------
926
as possible.
THE CHAIRMAN: Thank: you, sir. Are there any
comments or questions? If not, thank you.
(Applause.)
DR. HEUSTIS: I have Carl Johnson, Administrator of
the Washtenaw County Board of Supervisors.
MR. PRICE: That is the same Board.
DR0 HEUSTIS: All right. Next I have Mayor Robert
E. Teifer, of the City of Trenton. He has a written statement.
MAYOR TEIPER: Doctor, I do have a written statement;,
and if it had taken another ten minutes I would not have
stayed, but I do feel I should make a comment on this because
Trenton has been branded as the maverick of Wayne County.
DR. HEUSTIS: Step right up.
THE CHAIRMAN: Will you identify yourself, please?
STATEMENT OF ROBERT E. TEIFER, MAYOR,
CITY OF TRENTON, MICHIGAN
MAYOR TEIFER: My name is Robert E. Teifer, and I
am representing the City of Trenton, as the City Mayor.
Pri>r to 1953 the City of Trenton was comprised of
approximately 6,000 residents and very little industry. Since
that time the population has exploded to over 20,000, and
industrial firms such as McLouth Steel, Chrysler Corporation,
Engine Division, Shawingign Resins, Vulcan Mold & Iron Company,
and Chrysler Corporation-Cycleweld Division, have either
expanded or moved into the city limits.
-------
927
With this residential and industrial expansion
program, the City of Trenton was well aware of the pollution
load that would accompany such an expansion. All new sub-
divisions since 1953 have had to provide separate storm and
sanitary sewer facilities, and this program has been followed
in the older sectlonsof the city so that today approximately
85 percent of the city has separate storm and sanitary sewer
facilities.
In conjunction with residential development, the
City of Trenton Council passed an ordinance making it necessary
to install a garbage disposal unit in any lateratlons to
existing residential buildings or new residences.
Recognizing the possibility that the present loading
plus future expansion necessitates better sewage treatment
than was originally provided for the village of 6,000 people,
consulting engineers have been engaged to construct a sewage
treatment, sludge drying and incinerator unit to further reduce
any possible residential sewage pollution. This plant, when
completed, will be one of the most efficient incinerator-sludge-
sewage treatment plants in the country, and provisions are
incorporated for future secondary treatment at a minimum cost.
With the complete cooperation of all industry, any
new construction or expansion plans were thoroughly discussed
with the City of Trenton Council before construction permits
were granted. Any possible pollution problem was investigated
and, if questionable, was referred to the Water Resources
-------
928
Commission, the Wayne County Department of Health, and
Michigan State Health Department for their study and recom-
mendations.
Solving the dust problem of MoLouth Steel Corporation
resulted in a washing and filtering system that required the
installation of approximately a three million dollar treatment
plant to eliminate this industrial water pollution. This
has been referred to several times, and our friends from
Estral Beach have brought it up. We recognize it as McLouth
has recognized it. We have spent considerable money, and this
process will be set up and running by midsummer. This equip-
ment is now in its trial run and preliminary reports indicate
that this industrial treatment plant will be the first and
finest of its kind in the industrial world.
Other chemical and industrial plants in, the area
have also made innovations of storage ponds and lagoons to
trap oil and other waste products which, in prior times, had
been randomly discharged into the river. These lagoons and
ponds have been policed by the Water Resources Commission,
and have greatly reduced the sportsmen's complaints against
Trenton industry.
The City of Trenton intends to continue the "forward
look" to prevent any additional pollution to one of our State's
natural resources, and we will cooperate to the fullest to
alleviate any of the existing pollution conditions.
GPO 820819-C-2B
-------
929
This is a written statement, and I have seme
documents to submit. I would like to add a word or two more.
DR. HEUSTIS: Do you wish this on the record?
MAYOR TEIFER: On the record, please. We have been
branded as the maverick community in Wayne County, due to
not seeing eye to eye with the Wayne County Board on this
overall use of the county sewage disposal system. Trenton
has, and we will have a vote on May 8th that will permit us
to go ahead and build our own plants separately and strictly
on our own. We have been with the county for over 27 years.
This condition we have known about locally and we have been
overruled for about ten. We think it is about time we get a
new contractor, and we are going to do our own contracting.
If the City of Trenton had run our own sewage plant for the
last 25 years I am sure we would have been in jail ten years
ago. This is putting the responsibility of operating this
thing strictly on the local level. We do not have 47 or 58
communities to contend with. I am not saying this to say thsb
we should build a wall around the city, or anything else.
We have our reasons for leaving this county system, and if
conference would like to spend a little time here and go out
there, we would be glad to go into it in more detail on the
job.
As you can see from our report it contains a
schedule of construction and engineering and financing as we
-------
930
have proposed It for our new plant.
Mr. Stein, and gentlemen, I appreciate this opportuni-
ty. I had thought possibly I would turn this in ans save you
a couple of minutes, but thank you very much for giving me
the opportunity to read the statement.
THE CHAIRMAN: Thank you very much, Mayor Teifer.
The documents which you have submitted will be made a part of
the record at this point.
(The documents are as follows:
TRENTON, MICHIGAN
Sewage Treatment Plant Schedule
Financing
Bond Election May 8, 1962
Bond Resolution May 22, 1962
Municipal Finance Commission Approval July 10, 1962
Bond Sale July 25, 1962
Money Available August 20, 1962
C on s t rue t i on and Eng ine e r ing
Contingent award on incinerator
and sludge drying equipment May 9, 1962
Advertise for bids
Contract No. 3 for construction
of sewage treatment plant and
Contract No. 4 for constructing
sanitary sewers and control chambers May 9* 1962
-------
931
Authorize engineering for plans and
specifications for incinerator building,
Contract No. 2, and N. Trenton pumping
station & force main, Ct, #5 and general
engineering and resident supervision of
construction for all contracts
Receive Bids Contracts 3 and 4
Award contracts, Contract #1, incinerator
equipment, Contract #3* sewage treatment
plant, Contract #4, sewers
Start construction contracts 1, 3* and 4
Advertise for bids
Ct. #2, Incinerator Building
Ct. #5, N. Trenton pumping station and
force main
Receive Bids Contracts 2 and 5
Award Contracts 2 and 5
Start construction contracts 2 and 5
Have Michigan State Health Department
review construction progress and lift ban
Complete construction and place in operation
Contracts 3 and 4
Complete construction and place in
operation Contracts 1, 2, and 5
May y, 1962
June 28, 1962
July 25, 1962
July 26, 1962
Sept. 29, 1962
Oct. 31, 1962
Nov. 5, 1962
Nov. 6, 1962
Jan. 1, 1963
April 1, 1963
Sept. 1, 1963
McNamee, Porter and Seeley, Consulting Engineers, Ann Arbor,
Michigan, March 27, 1962.
*****
-------
932
From: McNamee, Porter and Seeley
Consulting Engineers
2223 Packard Road
Ann Arbor* Michigan
January 25, 1962
To: Mr. W. J. Friday
Hornblower and Weeks
244 Penobscot Building
Detroit 26, Michigan
Re: Trenton, Michigan
Sewage Treatment Plant
and Incinerator Construction
Dear Mr. Friday:
In accordance with our telephone conversation, we
are pleased to submit to you the following information rela-
tive to the above project:
Construction Cost
The estimated construction cost of this project is
as follows:
Contract No. 1, for purchase of refuse
incinerator and sludge drying equipment - $275,000
Contract No. 2, for construction of in-
cineration building, sludge drying build-
ing and vacuum filter building, including
purchase of vacuum filtration equipment and
crane for charging the incinerator - 482,500
-------
933
Contract No. 3> for construction of the
sewage treatment plant - $400,000
Contract No. 4, for constructing san-
itary sewers and control chambers 102,OOP
Total Estimated Construction Cost - $1,259,500
Contingencies, Engineering, Financial,
Legal, etc., at approximately 20$ of
construction cost - 249,300
Total Estimated Project Cost - $1,509,000
The Incineration equipment will have a capacity of
100 tons of mixed refuse and dried sludge per day. The design
is based on 92 tons of mixed refuse plus 8 tons of dried sludge
from the sewage treatment plant.
The sewage treatment plant is of the primary treat-
ment type with various filtration of the undigested sludge,
then drying of the vacuum filter cake and ultimately charging
this dried sludge into the incinerator where it is burned.
The design capacity of the sewage treatment plant is 3.6 mil-
lion gallons per day with a population load of 32,000.
Plansj Specifications and Contract Documents
In accordance with your request, we are forwarding tq>
you the following plans and specifications and contract docu-
ments which have been completed on the above contracts:
Contract No. 1, Contract No. 3* and Contract No. 4.
The plans and specifications for Contract No. 2 have not as yet
-------
934
been started since no work can be done on these until after a
decision is made on the purchase of the incinceration and
sludge drying equipment.
Estimated Operating Costs
Estimated operating costs for the two facilities
are as follows:
Sewage Treatment Plant
Salaries
Chief operator $6,400
Operator 6,000
Maintenance 5 *750
Total Salaries - $18,150
Power - 2,300
Fuel - 200
Bulk: Chemicals and Laboratory Supplies - 7,000
Maintenance Materials - 2,000
Billing and Collecting - 1,000
Insurance - . 3J?Q-
Total Estimated Operating Cost of
Sewage Treatment Plant - $31,000
Estimated annual operating costs of
the refuse incincerator and sludge
incinerator:
Salaries
Chief Operator - $6,400
-------
935
Operator, Equipment - $6,200
Maintenance - 5,750
Total Salaries - $18,350
Power - 3,000
Fuel - 300
Maintenance Material - 3,000
Insurance - 350
Total Estimated Annual Operating Costs
Based on One Shift Per Day, Five Days
Per Week - $25,000
We trust that this is the information which you
desire, but if there is further data which you need, we would
be more than pleased to furnish it.
Very truly yours,
McNAMEE, PORTER AND SEELEY
By: J. C. Seeley)
THE CHAIRMAN: Are there any comments or questions?
DR. HEUSTIS: I would like to place a letter in the
record now, a letter received from the McLouth Steel Corpora-
tion.
(The letter referred to is as follows:
MC LOUTH STEEL CORPORATION
Manufacturers of
Stainless and Carbon Steels
-------
936
DETROIT
March 19, 1962
Mr. Milton P. Adams
Executive Secretary
Water Resources Commission
State of Michigan
Station B
Lansing 13, Michigan
Dear Mr. Adams:
Thank: you for your Invitation to attend the Detroit
River - Lake Erie Conference on Tuesday, March 27. Unfortu-
nately, I will be out of town during that week and it will be
impossible for me to attend.
I would, however, like to incorporate in the record
the following statement by McLouth Steel Corporation:
As you know, McLouth has been a rapid growth
Company. Our large expansion programs began when we
started operations at our Trenton, Michigan plant In
1947. The initial investment was $30 million and pro-
vided 1800 jobs which had not existed before in the
area. From 1952 to 1956 an additional $110 million
was spent in new plant and equipment and employment in-
creased to 3400 persons. The five years since 1956 have
seen an additional $75 million spent to bring our em-
ployment to 4300 men. This $215 million investment
-------
937
has established McLouth as the llth largest steel
company In the United States with an annual Ingot
capacity of 2,530,000 tons.
Obviously, with such rapid growth we continued
to encounter problems to solve water pollution.
During this period we have enjoyed a close and
cooperative working arrangement with the Michigan
Water Resources Commission and I am sure this
cooperative venture was an important contributing
factor in solving these problems.
Our expenditures of more than $3 million in
new equipment has made McLouth's anti-pollution
program one of the most complete and efficient
industrial programs in this country.
We anticipate a continuation of working with
your Commission on any future problems that may
arise.
Sincerely,
MCLOUTH STEEL CORPORATION
/s/ Robert C. Mclaughlin
Robert C. McLaughlin
Vice President-Publie Relations)
-------
938
DR. HEUSTIS: May I also add for the record a
statement of the Detroit Edison Company, signed by Arthur S.
Griswold, Vice President, dated March 27, 1962.
(The Detroit Edison Company statement follows:)
USE OP DETROIT RIVER AND LAKE ERIE WATER
BY
THE DETROIT EDISON COMPANY
The Detroit Edison Company has six large thermal
power plants located on the St. Clair and Detroit Rivers.
(See Exhibit l) In addition, the Company owns the turbine-
generator facilities of the Enrico Perm! Atomic ^ower Plant
which is located on the western shore of Lake Erie about
seven miles north of Monroe. All of these plants use large
amounts of water for condensing steam for the turbine -
generator sets. (See Exhibit II) This water is returned to
the rivers and lake at a temperature of from four to twenty
degrees Fahrenheit higher than that at which it entered the
plant system. The plants also use a comparatively small
amount of water from the rivers or lake for general service
purposes* such as washing boilers, wetting ash and operating
hydraulic ash handling systems. Most of this general service
water is also returned to the river or lake.
With one exception, all of these power plants obtaiij
potable water for all sanitary purposes from the water system?
of the area in which they are located. The sanitary system
-------
939
wastes are discharged into the local sewage systems. The
Fermi plant, because of the remote area in which it is located,
has its own potable water system drawing water from Lake Erie
and discharges its wastes through a sewage treatment plant
into a large lagoon which ultimately leads to Lake Erie.
The use of water for the condensing of steam in
Detroit Edison power plants creates no pollution whatever. In
eaoh instance river water is drawn through a trask rack and
traveling screens with about 1/2 inch mesh. The solids re-
moved are ultimately discharged back into the river.
Thereafter a small amount of chlorine is added to
the water to inhibit algal growth on the condenser surfaces.
The water is then pumped through the condensers where its
temperature is increased four to ten degrees Fahrenheit or,
during peak generating periods, up to sixteen to twenty de-
grees Fahrenheit in the three largest plants. It is then dis-
charged back into the river. This arrangement is shown by
Exhibit III.
The Company has studied the possible pollution ef-
fects of its use of water many times. In August and September
it conducted extensive tests at the River Rouge Plant to obtaii)
temperature effects which exist at the present time. At the
River Rouge Plant, about 375*000 gpm was used for condenser
3ooling as compared with a total river flow of about 80 million
gpm. The temperature of the 375*000 gpm was increased 18
-------
940
degrees Fahrenheit while passing through the condensers. At
2,700 feet downstream from the point of discharge, the con-
denser water discharge into the river had mixed with the river
flow BO thoroughly that a temperature rise of only about one
degree could be detected. If all of the heat added to the
condenser water was divided evenly in all of the water flowing
in the river, the resulting temperature use would have been
less than one-tenth of a degree Fahrenheit.
A similar result was found at the Conners Creek
Power Plant.
The incidental use of water for general services at
our power plants is very small in amount. This water may pick'
up appreciable amounts of inorganic material such as ash
particles, but these settle out quickly and generally before
the water reaches the river.
At the Enrico Fermi Atomic Power Plant somewhat
special conditions exist. There is no appreciable current
along the lake shore and it was desirable to separate the in-
take and discharge works to prevent recirculation of the water
from the discharge into the intake system. This was accomplish-
ed by drawing the water from Lake Erie and discharging it into
a large lagoon from which It ultimately will reach Swan Creek
and return to Lake Erie.
There will be a small accumulation of radioactive
water in the operation of the nuclear reactor of the Fermi
-------
Plant. Extensive facilities are provided for the collection
and retention of these wastes until they are no longer harmful,.
They will be held in special storage tanks until their level of
activity is very low and then slowly diluted and dispersed
into the cooling water discharged from the condenser of the
turbine. This entire problem has been worked out in detail
with the Michigan Water Resources Commission and has that
Commission's approval. Prom the standpoint of radioactivity,
the waterentering the lagoon would be perfectly safe for
drinking.
Some of our power plants are now equipped with
demineralizers for boiler water purification. Comparatively
small amounts of very dilute acid and alkali are discharged
into the condenser overflow canals when these deminerall2ers
are regenerated. These installations and the discharge of
their wastes have the approval of the Michigan Water Resources
Commission.
In closing, we wish to point out that Detroit Edison
has long recognized the tremendous value of the Great Lakes
water as an industrial resource. The Company has worked
closely with the Michigan Water Resources Commission on all
i
'matters related to the use of those waters and believes firmly
that its operations do not create any significant pollution.
/s/ Arthur Griswold
Submitted by: Arthur S. Griswold
Vice President — March 2?, 1962
(Exhibits I, II and III accompanying the statement
of Detroit Edison follow:)
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DR. HEUSTIS: Mr. Adams says there is someone from
the Detroit Edison Company here. I do not mean to shut anyone
off, but I understood that the written statement would be
satisfactory.
MR. MURPHY: That is oorreot.
THE CHAIRMAN: Would you identify yourself for the
record, please?
MR. MURPHY: A. Gerald Murphy« I represent Mr.
Arthur S. Griswold, who signed the report and wanted to have
It entered into the record.
THE CHAIRMAN: Thank you very much.
DR. HEUSTIS: Thank you, Mr. Murphy.
-------
DR. HEUSTIS: We have a letter from the Izaak
Walton League of America, presented by Fred Noyes, President
of the Michigan State Division.
(The Izaak Walton League of America statement is
as follows:)
THE IZAAK WALTON LEAGUE OF AMERICA, INCORPORATED
March 28, 1962
Chairman of the Conference
Public Health Service
Detroit, Michigan
Dear Mr. Chairman:
On behalf of the Michigan Division of The Izaak
Walton League of America, I wish to formally place on the
record my belief that the hearing conducted in Detroit on
March 27 and 28, 1962 under auspices of the United States
Health Department, Michigan Water Resources Commission and
other agencies has been most illuminating and will accomplish
invaluable results. The position of our National Society
from its inception in 1922 is to bring about scientifically
and orderly the elimination of the pollution of the nation's
inland waters. With the cooperation of the Dominion of Canada
it is logical to assume that this can be brought about.
Should the waste substances and the polutants that
occur were to be left on the surface it would create a
pestilence that could do much to decimate our population.
-------
It therefore Is reasonable to measure with alarm the effect
it is having upon our inland waters and coastal bodies and It
is incumbent, if not inexorable, that all agencies in govern-
mental and civic life band together in converting our waters
into the safe refuge for marine life and for the healthy
consumption of our populace.
I take this occasion to compliment the governmental
agencies, industrial and civic, for their help and continuing
effort in this cause.
Respectfully submitted,
/s/ Fred Noyes
President
Michigan State Division
/s/ Del A. Smith
Del A. Smith
Member State Board
DR. HEUSTIS: Mr. Chairman, my agenda tells me I
have only one person that indicated they should be called on
that I have not called on, which is the Oakland County Depart-
ment of Public Works. Mr. Stein, this completes the presenta-
tion of the State's case, with the one exception that we have
a statement from the Michigan United Conservation Clubs, which
we will submit for the record also.
(The statement of the Michigan United Conservation
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945
Clubs is as follows:)
Statement as presented by Michigan
United Conservation Clubs - Pollution
Conference, March 27-28, 1962
My name is James L. Rouman, Executive Director of
Michigan United Conservation Clubs, a state-wide organization
made up of approximately 340 affiliate sportsmens groups with
a total membership of approximately 60,000.
It is indeed encouraging to note the increasing
interest that has been evident in this new effort to curb
pollution on the Detroit River. This problem has been a major
objective of our organization, Michigan United Conservation
Clubs, for many, many years.
In fact, our organization, in calling attention to
a duck kill on the Detroit River over 10 years ago by placing
thousands of these dead ducks on the Capitol steps in Lansing,
was certainly helpful in the formation of the present Water
Resources Commission.
Down through the years we have reported, objected t^
and condemned the continued pollution, and have reported it
in succeeding issues of our publication, "Michigan Out-of-
Doors".
In subsequent years, periodic duck and fish kills
were noted at various times, with the most notable of these
in April I960, when the headlines read: "Thousands of Ducks
Die in Detroit River Oil Slick". The sub-heading reads:
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946
"Officials Unable to Trace Exact Source".
An editorial In the same issue entitled "Pollution
Points Up Need" concluded by saying that "It is time that the
big industries in the Detroit area become indoctrinated with
the spirit of conservation, even though it might prove to be
an unpleasant experience".
In the May, I960 issue the headline reads: "Death
Of Ducks Blamed On Sewage By-Pass at Detroit", and the sub-
head says that "Human Failures Combine With Weather to Kill
Nearly 12,000".
The editorial in this issue calls attention to the
fact that state agencies knew that raw sewage at the rate of
84 million gallons of raw sewage per day was being pumped into
the river for most of the month of March while repairs were
being made on the Northwest Interceptor sewer.
In October of I960, the Detroit River was again hit
by pollution, when 1,500 gallons of waste oil was discharged
into the water, but in this instance the new monitoring system
of the WRC detected it in time.
This conference is certainly an encouraging sign that
perhaps something will come of continued cooperation between
the Water Resources Commission, the Health Department, all the
industries and municipalities concerned, and all Federal agen-
cies involved.
Our feelings can best be summed up by an editorial
in the December, 1961 issue of "Michigan Out-Of-Doors", entitled
-------
"Needed, A Big Stick":
"There Is a very marked apathy throughout Michigan
on the problem of pollution of the streams and rivers by
industry and by a burgeoning population*
"Generally the people of the state are not aware
that a problem exists, and go blithely on their way, enjoying
the blue waters to the fullest. This is, until pollution
comes to them.
"On the other hand, dedicated conservationists and
outdoorsmen are looking with alarm at the increasing number
of problem areas, as they grow in volume and intensity.
"They read with alarm a statement made by the Water
Resources Commission which says: '...even when all of the
measures are in effect as described herein, no assurance can
be given that a uniform quality of water consistently accept-
able for recreational bathing purposes can be maintained at
the beach (Sterling State Park).1
"They read with some satisfaction the news that
crackdowns are taking place in some areas, such as automatic
laundries, airports, small manufacturers, milk processing
plants and other smaller companies.
"But let's face the problem squarely. The big
problem areas have been problem areas for years, and will
evidently continue to stay that way. Our streams are being
contaminated daily by scores of communities and by big
-------
industries.
"MUCC and other conservation groups have been
accused often of standing in the way of progress. Because
they have locked horns with industry on other occasions a
great hue and cry has gone up that we are keeping industry
out and are biting the hand that feeds us.
"This, of course, is not our intention. We feel that
industry and wildlife can live side by side, providing
industry will do its part in containing wastes.
"Michigan is the leader in the automotive industry.
It is way out ahead in many fields, and from the drawing
boards of this State have come machines that can think,
machines that can fly, machines that can almost speak, guided
missiles, rockets and gadgets that will some day put a man
on the moon, and yet we haven't been able to devise a sound
sewage system*
"What the 'Weter Wonderland' needs is a big stick
and somebody big enough to swing it hard. The time for the
'standing in the corner' type of punishment is past. We must
take firm action to prevent this daily discharge of filth
into our waters' Who's going to do it?" )
* * * * *
(Following are documents received at a subsequent date.)
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9^9
(The Statement of the City of Mount Clemens is as follows:
MOUNT CLEMENS, MICHIGAN
WATER PURIFICATION PLANT
AND PUMPING STATION 36570 JEFFERSON AVENUE
March 28th, 1962
Mr. Milton Adams, Executive Secretary,
Michigan Water Resources Commission,
200 Mill St., Station B,
Lansing 13, Michigan.
Re: Detroit River-Lake Erie Conference
Dear Mr. Adams:
Your letter of March 7th was mislaid in the city
office and not turned over to me until March 26th. By that
time the deadline for written statements had passed. I had a
deadline of March 16th to hand in my departmental budget to the
City Manager, so I was working night and day on that to meet
the deadline. Our lab technician, Mr. William Bennett,
represented Mt. Clemens at the Detroit Conference. I was
disappointed not to be able to make a statement for I am
extremely interested in improvement of water supplies and the
abatement of pollution. However, Mr. Bennett upon tnquiry
found that I could still make a statement if I rushed one off
to you and it would go into the record. This was confirmed by
Mr. Oeming over the telephone. So I hope you will contrive to
help us add our voice to the effort toward cleaner waters.
-------
950
Item 1. In regards to navigable waters. We suffer
considerably, as you may know, from the pollution of our raw
water supply by the Clinton River. Having been dredged, it
is navigable up to the Dickenson Street Bridge in this city
and plans are afoot to dredge it farther back. The pollution
of this river also adds to the pollution of the Detroit River,
which is navigable. You may remember remarks made by the
Superintendent of the Detroit Water System, Mr. Lennardt, aone
years ago, when we were subjected to heavy phenol pollution
from Reichold Chemical Corporation in Perndale, He attributed
approximately half their phenol problems in Detroi t to the
Clinton River, and approximately half to sources near Sarnia.
This is an illustration of how the Clinton River can also
affect Detroit and the total pollution problem there, and the
downriver communities, and the flow toward cities in Ohio.
We are also concerned about pollution of our raw
water by lake steamers and smaller water craft in the vicinity
of our plant intake. The intake is located approximately
4,400 feet from the shoreline in the rear of our Mt. Clemens
plant. It is in a depth of water where many cabin cruisers
venture. There is no marking on this submerged intake. Boats
plying these waters could easily discharge wastes that would
flow directly into our intake. Regulations are needed to
protect our intake from such pollution. Water craft should
not be allowed to discharge wastes indiscriminately in lands
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951
and waterways.
Despite the fact that your agencysuccessfully
controlled the tremendous discharge of phenol from Reichold
Chemical Corporation and ended a nightmare of bad taste
problems, the Clinton River still is a source of heavy
industrial and septic pollution. The past month we experienced
the worst run-off in many years. The past two years we could
not for sure identify a true run-off apart from conditions
experienced by a stirred-up lake from wind conditions. So I
do not believe the river was scoured out for three years.
Normally 4 to 6 run-offs scour out the river and then usually
gives us little more trouble until the next run-off season.
It is usually during the run-off period that we have the worst
trouble with taste and odor complaints from consumers.
This time apparently the accumulation of three years
of sludge in the river came out all at once in the flood
stage of the river — the highest rise in the river since 1947j
There no doubt were many petro-chemicals in this sludge for
we had medicinal-chemical tastes in the city tap water that
were quite characteristic of phenol. We also had the time-
delayed reaction that made control so difficult. Except for
the first day, the water did not taste leaving the plant but
developed a bad taste in the distribution system. None on the
feeder mains, but as the water spread out toward the extremi-
ties of the system the taste became stronger and stronger.
-------
952
We had a huge amount of telephone complaints„ We tried new
chemicals and new coagulants and coagulant aids besides the
standard old standby chemicals including carbon. We tried
many arrangements of chemical feeds to try to put out a
taste-free water. We worked night and day to exhaustion to
cope with this problem, hiring a great deal of extra help during
the run-off to help us out. The large amount of chemicals ancj
extra help runs up a very high bill for water treatment. We
are just "tapering off" now in our excessive treatment. We
are very apprehensive of the next run-off after what we have
gone through.
Item 2. Adequacy of measures. We appreciate the
work your Commission has done in past years. We still believe
there is a great deal of work to be done. Especially as this
area builds up and more and more wastes are discharged into
the Clinton River. Treatment of wastes should be required
where none exist. Improvement of inadequate treatment should
be instituted. Mt. Clemens has complete treatment of their
municipal wastes„ We note that many communities have none, or
!
intermittent, or only primary treatment. If small communities
like Mt. Clemens are required to have primary and secondary
treatment why should not all communities be required to have
the same? And if this treatment is still inadequate then
research is needed to find ways of putting out even better
effluents from all sewage treatment plants. With tremendous
-------
953
growth of population and great industrial expansion, certain-
ly we must do more and more to protect the water supplies of
this State and this Nation. Is it reasonable to expect
centers of populations to extend pipelines farther and
farther back toward virgin waters in order to continue to
exist? Must future generations extend pipelines to Lake
Superior as the last stronghold of virgin waters to guarantee
pure waters to their consumers? And what happens in the
meanwhile to the downstream communities? Those especially
who cannot, because of geography, extend their intakes to
similar pure waters? Must they be satisfied with a poor
grade water that grows steadily? We must think of the future.
Why should we carelessly ignore it and let our descendants solve
the mounting problems we would leave with them? I believe
we should face the problems we are currently helping to
create, to hold the line, to improve the bad conditions that
now exist. For we are surely cowards if we do not« That,
or extremely selfish or inconsiderate individuals.
I firmly believe that Federal control of water
pollution is a vital thing. Problems cannot always be
solved entirely within each State. This nation is a family
of States. State agencies for water resources control are
essential to each State. Federal control between States is
also essential.
It is said Michigan is losing industry to the South.
-------
Wages no doubt are a factor. But so Is the savings effected
by industries in not treating their wastes. Little thought
is given to this in areas that have had very little industry.
But as Industries multiply, then so does the pollution problem,.
Eventually pollution control becomes just as vital in newly-
opened areas for industrial development as it is now in the
older established areas. Here is where Federal control can
be very useful also. To save the clean waters of the States
now enjoying such privileges by requiring waste treatment of
all industrial wastes -- anywhere in the nation.
Economically, also, this is the only fair thing to
do since the price of any product from any industry anywhere
would include the cost of waste treatment. It would remove
unfair practices and unfair competition. It would prevent
irresponsible people from inviting industries to come in and
exploit their natural resources to the detriment of them and
of the entire picture of the nation's natural resources. For
it tends also to bring about a "softer" approach in the areas
now trying to approach good control for fear of losing more
and more industry. The nation as a whole is the loser. Good
Federal control can completely change this trend.
Item 3. The nature of delays. The "seed" of delay
is in what I have stated in the foregoing several paragraphs.
Are we in for a "softer and softer" approach in this State
because of these facts? Or are the officials and elected
-------
955
representatives In the national government going to see their
responsibility and take the necessary action to protect this
nation's resources and economy as a whole? The decision is
in their hands. We have gone a long ways. We have continued
trying to the point where it begins to "hurt." We need
their help. We are asking for their help. The problem goes
so much farther than what we can do locally. We have "helped
ourselves" with our problems to the limit and we must now
look to a higher authority as a base for future greater efforts.
This plant serves the City of Mt. Clemens which
built this water treatment plant. But we also serve three
townships and Selfridge Air Force Base. A total of 65,000
people. Our responsibilities to those people are very great
and we realize them fully. We will continue to do whatever
may help to bring a quality water supply to them, as much as
they need, and whenever they require it. Abatement of pollu-
tion is always a challenge and one which we will never shirk.
There is one thing that I feel could be done quite
simply to help the quality of our water supply. There is a
citizens group that feels the same way. We have had no
success in our efforts to date. That is removal of the
spillway dam. About 11 or 12 years ago the Army Engineers
dug a big ditch — the spillway — from the Clinton River at
Shadyside Park in Mt. Clemens to Lake St. Clair. It was for
flood control. A weir or dam was placed in it at the Clintort
-------
956
River Junction. To the surprise of many the river often
reversed Itself and flowed backwards from the mouth of the
Clinton to the spillway and out to the lake. Since the
river in the summer is almost stagnant and covered with green
algae, often smelling badly as well, this was a welcome
sight. It inspired many to believe that if the spillway dam
were removed then the river would flow backwards most of the
time, to the spillway, and would bring in clean lake water*
This would be a boon to watercraft which could make good use
of this scenic boat drive as the river has been dredged back
to the Dickenson Bridge. It would encourage the usetof this
section of the river for recreation for thousands of people.
The River Beautification Committee of Mt. Clemens is very
interested, and there is a coming appropriation for improved
dockage facilities in this part of Mt. Clemens.
I have been interested Jn this project for it Is my
own personal belief that without the spillway dam most of the
water during a run-off period would shoot directly out the
spillway at this turn in the river, and the effluent of the
spillway goes in a southerly direction. Thus, our intake,
which is north of the spillway effluent, would escape the
heaviest portion of river pollution. What river water did
come out the mouth of the river might then be diluted by lake
water instead of coming over our intake in full concentration.
Our Intake Is south of the Clinton River mouth. The flow in
-------
957
the lake In this area is roughly southerly. A map would
show you better what I mean.
A group of eight men interested in this project
recently went up in a helicopter to witness this flow pattern
and take pictures of it. All the official agencies that I
have consulted have more or less handed the problem back to
us. The burden of proof is upon us. Colonel R. C. Pfeil,
head of the Corps of Engineers in Detroit says he can do
nothing about this problem since he nas nothing in his budget
for that purpose. Agencies have been concerned about the
dilution of effluents from sewage treatment plants of Mt.
Clemens, Clinton Township and Selfridge Field. However, we
now have maximum conditions affecting these plants. Often
there is no flow of the river in either direction. How could
the problem be made worse? Wouldn't the encouragement of flow
in any direction be better than none?
Why should the burden of proof be upon us? It is a
problem involving many agencies. Why cannot an appropriation
be given to the Corps of Engineers to make a thorough study of
elevations and the flow pattern in the river and in Lake St.
Glair where our intake is Involved? The Great Lakes Institute
has facilities and would be able to make these studies also
if there is an agency willing to pay the costs. We were
never consulted when the dam was installed originally.
Controlled gates would have been far better. Even the
Metropolitan Beach may very well be benefited with better
GPO 82081 9-C— 30
-------
958
water by removal of the weir, NOne of us have been satisfied
with any statements made to date on the weir. Why shouldn't
the burden of proof be on the Army Engineers and Corps of
Engineers who designed and installed it? Cannot an appro-
priation be included in thir next budget to make a thorough
study? Or Should an impartial outside agency do the work?
Such as the United States Public Health Service?
This is the third "time around" for me on this
spillway dam proposition. Back when it was first opened up
City Water Commissioner Spencer Penton asked me to see if we
could get the Army Engineers (then still in charge) to remove
this weir. No success. And former City Manager Robert Heitsqh,
about in 1956, asked me to make a study of this weir problem
again. Now a citizen's committee with many members is
strongly interested in Ms project from the standpoint of a
large Increased recreational use of the river, and the River
Beautification Committee, which is striving to improve the
attractiveness of the Clinton River for greater enjoyment by
all citizens. They have worked hard and put many hours into
this effort. A great deal of public interest has been aroused.
So far it has reached only a stand-off relationship with all
agencies involved, and no prospect of carrying the matter to a
conclusion.
Will you please give this matter your earnest
consideration? Please try to work out an engineering or
-------
959
scientific survey of river and lake flows and elevations so
that a good decision can be made and a satisfactory answer
given to all questions. If such a study were made I am sure
that everyone concerned would be happy to abide by whatever
decision would result from it. Would you please consider
attempting to obtain funds for a thorough study? For either
the United States Public Health Service, or for the Army Corps
of Engineers?
Thank you for taking the time to read my statement
and for the consideration of the material I have presented.
I am grateful to all concerned for bringing this meeting about
and I have great hopes that much good will come from it for all
citizens of Michigan and of the United States. Thank you
again.
Respectfully yours,
(Signed) Robert E. Hansen, Superintendent
Water Purification and Pumping,
City of Mt. Clemens Water Department,
Mt. Clemens, Michigan.)
*****
(Telegram from Mr. Lifton of the Outboard Boating Club of
America to Mr. Poston, dated March 28, 1962, Is as follows:
WESTERN UNION
3/28/62
-------
960
H. W. Poston
U.S. Public Health Service
Banquet Room, Veterans' Memorial Building
Detroit, Michigan
The Outboard Boating Club of America representing the sport
and the industry strongly endorses and supports all appropriate
measures to minimize pollution from all sources of the
Detroit River and connecting waters. The pleasures and
opportunities of boating are severely diminished by polluted
waters.
Pleasure boaters themselves cause only minimal pollution.
Nevertheless the industry has forcefully pursued all avenues
toward eliminating this minor irritant.
We believe all steps should be taken to enhance the recreational
quality of the waters serving Detroit metropolitan area. We
have cooperated in the past with State officials who seek
these same goals and are certain their fine efforts will be
continued.
Sincerely regret staff illnesses precluded personal attendance
at conference.
Fred B. Llfton, Director, Government Relations
Department, Outboard Boating Club of America
307 N. Michigan Avenue
Chicago 1, Illinois.)
* * * # *
-------
961
SUMMATION BY CHAIRMAN
THE CHAIRMAN: With that we will attempt to
summarize and my oral summary, of course, will be subject to
any modifications or suggestions that the conferees may wish
to make.
First I would like to indicate that I think we
have provided, and you people have provided, an excellent
record here. Once the transcript comes out, I think by
referring to it we will have a fund of Information available
in one area, where perhaps such information was not avail-
able before.
Through the years we have been sort of sparring
around and doing business with Mr. Milton P. Adams. Whenever
any foreign visitor came to Washington they always asked us
what is one of the better State programs to look at, and
invariably we sent them to Michigan. I think that the record
here, both the report that our Department prepared, and the
report we got from the State and others, indicates that this
is so. I don't think that we could have developed the record
and gotten so much data at a first session of a conference
in practically any other area. At least to my experience
this has not been done, particularly in an area where we
have as complicated and as sophisticated a situation as we
have in the Detroit metropolitan area.
Now, before we get into the specifics of the
-------
962
summary, I would suggest that at least to my way of thinking
we and all parties here seem pretty, pretty close together.
I suggest when you get home, and some of this wears off, and
the record comes out, that you look at this with an objective
and unjaundiced eye to see what can come out of it. I think
that there are two main trends: one has been a description
of the conditions in the river. We have heard the people
talk about that, and we have heard the Public Health Service
report on that.
The other has been exemplified by a detailed
cataloging of the construction and proposed construction that
should go on, and that necessarily has to go on in the area.
Although these two aspects of the problem have to be resolved
in every case, I think that the people who think on one side
or the other necessarily have to think in terms of the total
picture. On the one hand, the people who get out on the
river and see what is happening in the river have to think
in terms of governmental organization, financing, municipal
problems and inter-municipal problems. On the other hand, thjs
people who are building the plants not only have to think in
terms of construction of plants and providing pipelines and
new plants, but the point that they have to determine is,
what is this doing to the water quality in the river. What
do we use the Detroit River for now, perhaps, that we didn't
use it for ten years ago?
-------
963
I think if all parties approached this record with
these views in mind and attempt to conciliate these views,
I think we will be a long ways toward a solution.
I think it is pretty clear that the waters of the
United States on Lake St. Clair, the Detroit River, and
western Lake Erie, and its tributaries in Michigan in the
Detroit area, are navigable waters within the meaning of the
Federal Water Pollution Control Act. I think also in the
aggregate it is shown that combined municipal and industrial
wastes from this area have created a condition of pollution
subject to abatement under the Act, and that it causes
deterioration of water quality so as to interfere with the
domestic and industrial water supply, recreation, fish and
wildlife, esthetic values, and navigation.
I think on the basis of the record here it is
probably too early to make an adequate Judgment of the
adequacy of the measures taken toward abating pollution. I
think cognizance should be taken of the excellent work and
programming of the Michigan State authorities; the fact that
ilmost all the wastes in this area are being treated, and
the fact that many of the industries and communities have
gone ahead with plans and have active programs to go ahead
with plans, and have in almost all cases installed waste
treatment facilities, and are very much aware of the program,
Again, I do not think that a really valid Judgment
-------
964
can be made of the adequacy of the measures until we take
Into account the proposals. We have heard here from the
various groups for expanding and improving their plants.
Prom a logical point of view I think that we can break this
down into three parts: As I pointed out earlier, I think
after the first presentation, we have a very, very complex,
subtle and sophisticated problem in this area. We do not
have massive discharges of raw wastes that you can spot and
which need correction. First, I would suspect many of the
areas, or many of the persons discharging wastes, may very
well at the present time have adequate treatment plants in
effect. Others may have adequate plants in prospect. Still
others' plants may not be adequate. However, what we do
know in the aggregate is, while we cannot say that any single
municipality or industry at the present time, at least on
the basis of this record, is not providing adequate treat-
ment, we know in the aggregate the municipal and industrial
wastes in this area are causing a pollution situation which
is not indicative of adequate treatment.
The only question here that has to be resolved is
whether if, in the nature of things, with the new plants
going into effect, this will still be adequate treatment. I
think we have to keep in mind the prime fact that just the
detailing or the building of new plants and going forward
with plants over the years does not achieve very much if,
-------
965
over the years, the people who are using the river experience
a degradation in water quality. And this is something I
think again that we have to keep in mind.
Then we come to the next point, which is the
nature of the delays, if any, being encountered in abating
pollution. I think we can go into a great deal of detail
on that. I think the nature of delays here can only be
categorized by saying that Detroit is facing the same kind
of situation faced by almost all, or, I might say, all the
large cities of this country. Where we have a municipal and
an industrial complex concentrated in an area with a limited
water resource, where the wastes treated or untreated are
being discharged into the resource, the problem becomes one
of approaching this on a coordinated area-wide basis and
putting in adequate treatment facilities.
As a matter of fact, I do think that Detroit probabr
ly is better off than many, many of the other large cities
which in large measure are providing no treatment, because
these places truly have to employ heroic measures. I am not
sure that in Detroit a reasonable, progressive, political
and engineering plan won't be sufficient to deal with your
problem.
Again I think that you have the very vexing problem
that many of the older cities are connected with. This is
the problem of storm water overflows. This problem, as we
-------
966
know, can be among the most difficult of solutions, and one
not really amenable to very glib answers. In this case I
think that, as Mr. Oeming pointed out, you are approaching
this on a case-by-case basis. The problem of dealing with
storm water overflows is going to call for — if it is a
problem, and if it is decided it has to be eliminated for
the benefit of the water quality in this area — it is a
problem that has to be approached with some real imagination.
This is a problem that we are coping with in most of the
large, major cities. The solutions, or the proposed solu-
tions — and all of them are not very simple — are such that
we have come up with some ingenious plans in some cities;
and I am sure that the people in Detroit, if It is considered
that these problems have to be taken care of, can come up
with some type of solution to this short of ripping up every
street in the city and tying up traffic and prohibiting an
automobile from going through the city for the next fifteen
years. That does not seem to me to be a reasonable alter-
native.
I think also that we should take cognizance of this
six counties study, and the Public Health Service and the
Department have supported that by giving it a grant. I think
again that this kind of grant was made because we like to
see the development of an intergovernmental operation which
can handle the problem on a coordinated basis.
-------
96?
Again I think that this program is largely going
to deal with providing a master plan, a governmental
organization to decide what kind of treatment is going to be
provided, and jhow you are going to provide the service, and
where you are going to provide the service. However, in
addition to that, there is this other problem which is to us,
in a sense, the key one, namely, what is happening on the
river.
On this point, as has been indicated by the state-
ments here, we have a fairly good notion of what is happening
on the river in a broad sense. We know that there is
pollution because it interferes with these water uses. How-
ever, there are very, very many gaps in our knowledge, and it
would seem to me we would be well advised to try to under-
stand what the situation of the river is, and what is causing
it, and how this situation could be improved. I think data
from a study of this sort would be invaluable to the six-
county group, or any other group, in planning water resource
development or waste treatment in this area. Once we get
that knowledge I think we will be able to go forward. We
look on this type of data-gathering, information-gathering
procedure, as a device which will form the bulwark and
support of the other activities. On the basis of some of
the information given here, particularly the effects on Lake
Erie, I think that perhaps we, as the Federal Water Pollution
-------
968
Control Agency, may very well have an obligation to investi-
gate that, and to provide the answers to it. I do not think
we could very well go along without it.
However, what I would propose is that this investi-
gation, in the tradition of our Department, be done in
closest cooperation with the State agencies concerned, and
that we get together with you in talking about priorities,
scope and methodology of the investigation, and we try to do
this in the closest cooperative way, with the State agencies,
and that the details of the investigation be left up to the
technical staffs of the Public Health Service, the State
Health Department, and the Water Resources Commission of the
State of Michigan.
Now, I am also authorized to say for our Department
that in recognition of the complexity of this problem it very
well may be anticipated that a study of this kind would hw*
Just require a crew out from our Cincinnati laboratory to
visit the area with a few short dip buckets for two or three
weeks. What may be required is a resident year-round group
here to provide the technical backup for such an investiga-
tion. I think we are authorized, if this should be the
conclusion of the conferees, to pledge the Federal financial
support and Federal personnel and equipment to handle a
complex problem of this kind. Even in Federal terms the cost
is fairly high.
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969
I would again suggest that, if it is agreeable,
our Department take it upon themselves to provide a synopsis
and a report on progress every six months, which we will make
available to the State agencies, and this will be done in
conjunction with the State for distribution to all concerned
until we have enough results where it might be productive to
go forward. Also, that we might consider this the first
session of the conference and have future sessions of the
conference on call of the Chairman, with the concurrence of
the State, if these are deemed to be desirable.
Are there any comments, or questions, or modifica-
tions?
DR. HEUSTIS: None at all.
MR. EDDY: Very good.
THE CHAIRMAN: If that is agreeable, we hope that
our technical staffs will get together in the near future and
try to put this show on the road.
I want to thank you all for coming and bearing
with us. I think we are much further ahead in the program.
I think I understand it better, and I think we have learned
a lot. We would like to thank you all for coming and we
stand adjourned until next time. Thank you very much.
(Whereupon, at 5'30 o'clock p.m., the conference
was adjourned, subject to call. )
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970
I hereby certify that this Is a true and correct
transcript of the stenographic notes of the proceedings of
the above-described conference.
"// JACK RUND
Certified Shorthand Reporter
820819-C-3I
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U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Region V, Library
230 South Dearborn Street
Chicago, Illinois 60604
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