Huron River Watershed Council discusses algae bloom on Belleville Lake

At the Sept. 20 presentation by the Huron River Watershed Council at the Belleville Area District Library, those present were asked what they cared about the most concerning the Huron River and its impoundment of Belleville Lake.
The meeting was jointly sponsored by the Belleville Rotary Club and the library. A second meeting is scheduled for 6:30 p.m., Oct. 18, at the library to discuss plastics pollution, which is considered an environmental catastrophe. Al Hodge of Hodge Plastics Group LLC will speak and the public is invited.
At the Sept. 20 meeting, a resident said he was most concerned about the water quality. He said the algae levels in Belleville and Ford lakes really limit the recreational use of the lakes. He also said the lotus plants in the shallow areas has increased tenfold this year in Belleville Lake and there is a lot in the shallow water which has limited numerous people from using the lake.
Ric Lawson of the Huron River Watershed Council said there have been algae blooms this summer.
The resident said the blooms come in August when it is hot and it looks like pea soup. A few days later, it is better.
Lawson said some are harmful algae blooms which release toxic levels. He said if you affect the phosphorus in the lake, you affect the algae blooms, but it is more complicated than that, he said.
He said in 2008, the HRWC looked at use of phosphorus along the river and stared a program to educate people about phosphorus use on their yards. He said most soils in the watershed have enough phosphorus to grow without adding it.
He said they got statewide ban on residential fertilizer, but enforcement is non-existent. He said, however, it has had an impact.
Doug Peters of Van Buren Township said 30% of the people on Belleville Lake are tied up to septic systems. He said a lot of communities have sewer systems, but people don’t tie in. He asked if there is money to cover helping people tie in and Lawson said there was.
“Van Buren Township could go out to them and offer to help,” he said.
“It is a little complicated,” Lawson said, adding the red tape is unusually burdensome in this state.
Peters said Belleville and Van Buren Township could do this and Lawson repeated, “There is money to pay for this.”
Lawson said there is money to help pay for rain gardens specifically for the city of Belleville. He said when they came to the library for the meeting, he saw that the library had a rain garden and a bioswale and he was very pleased.
“Just having native plants instead of grass, trees even, with deep roots has an impact on the river,” Lawson said, they have a goal of adding 1,200 rain gardens.
He said the new grant program will help with rain gardens. He said simply it is a depression you create and water is captured in the depression and there is a process to follow. Water is filtered by the soil.
He said the watershed council is starting a Master Rain Gardener course on Feb. 23 and it runs five weeks. Some of it is virtual and some is visits to rain gardens to see them in person and there may be a site in Belleville. There is some grant funding available and, “We can come to your house to find the best place for one,” he said.
A woman said Dexter and Chelsea passed laws on putting chemicals on the grass to protect the bee population.
Lawson said the HWRC has no position on that that he knows of.
He said they are in favor of replacing turf grass or letting it grow out. He said they worked with Scotts and lawn service people on cutting back on phosphorus and they felt they could make that transition. He said at the time the cost of phosphorus had doubled in price.
John Juriga of Belleville asked who owns the water in the lake. He said the city said the water is owned by the state and people can’t use it, but he waters his grass with lake water and others do, too. Fire departments use the water on fires, too.
Lawson laughed and said this is true, but people can extract water for lawns and gardens because that use is so small. He said there are some extremes however.
“Be careful about using it in gardens or on pets because of PFAs,” he said, referring to toxic per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances.
Juriga asked about the presence of zebra mussels in the lake and Lawson said that was a cycle and he’s not really sure of an answer. He said they are still all around Southeastern Michigan and probably won’t ever be completely gone.
Peters said some fish go upstream to spawn and asked if dams impede this. Lawson replied that some dams do impede it and some fish jump the dam.
Keith Bruder of Willis said French Landing Dam used to have a fish ladder, but he’s not sure if it is still in place.
“Homeowners buy too much fertilizer and have it left over and rather than store it they put it on … thinking more is better,” Bruder said, adding farmers don’t do that because it is too costly.
Lawson said the HRWC gave an incentive to farmers with a program that used less fertilizer when fertilizer suppliers said you have to apply more.
“We proved it can be more profitable for the farmers,” Lawson said, adding that was beside the $35,000 each for two years from HRWC. And, he said, “We kept a ton of phosphorus out of Belleville and Ford lakes.”
Joyce Rochowiak of Van Buren Township said most farmers are planting and not fertilizing to save money.
Lawson said most of the fertilizer is being used for corn, which is the highest-paying cash crop.
Lawson had talked about taking out the Mill Creek dam a few years ago, which was the largest they removed. A resident asked if they were planning to take out any other dams. Lawson said the Ypsilanti City Council approved removing the paper mill dam in Ypsilanti so there are prospects for its removal.
Deb Green of Van Buren Township said there was a problem with a dam removal up north and people suffered because, “it has a lot of moving parts.”
She referred to the three dams on the Boardman River that originates in Kalkaska and flows 28.2 miles through forests, meadows and towns before emptying into Grand Traverse Bay in Traverse City. The river’s watershed drains 295 square miles, including 36 miles designed as “Blue Ribbon” trout habitat.
In 2004 hydropower generation on three of the dams – Brown Bridge, Boardman, and Sabin – was discontinued and after four years of negotiations Traverse City and Traverse County agreed to move forward to remove Brown Bridge Dam, Boardman Dam, and Sabin Dam and to modify Union Street Dam with a new fish ladder. They started with Brown Bridge and the river flooded many downstream residences.
Lawson said he fishes the Boardman River and, “They’re recovering.”
Earlier in the session Lawson spoke of stormwater control and protecting land around the river, which also protects species of wildlife.
He said the Huron has been a working river since very early in the state’s history, with it being used for power or mills. He said a lot of industry was sited along rivers throughout the Midwest.
“That introduced a lot of things we don’t really want,” he said, adding some were dammed up like in Belleville Lake. He said the rivers would change color depending on the processes being used in the plants along its banks.
He called dams a major threat to the river’s water. He said there are 98 dams along the Huron River, clarifying that 13 were on the main stream and the rest in tributaries.
Peters asked if they have a list of dams they’d like to “de-dam” and Lawson said they do have a list of priorities.
Peters asked if the dams on Ford and Belleville lakes are on the list and Lawson said they were not currently on the list. He said they are power-making dams and water used by recreation by the community. Also, he said the dams are in pretty-good shape.
“If we stopped making electricity, would that affect your plan?” Peters asked and Lawson said it could. Lawson said they show the municipalities both sides.
A resident asked if Peninsula Paper Mill Dam removal would affect Ford Lake dam and Lawson said now that dam is a “run of the river” dam and goes in and comes out the same.
Lawson also spoke about non-point and point-source pollution, such as from pipes.
He said Tribar Manufacturing has been a major source of PFAS and recently the hexavalent chromium closed use of the river.
He said PFAS caused the fish consumption advisory all along the river with people warned not to eat the fish. A resident said hexavalent chromium causes cancer and Lawson said they are not able to detect the chemical in the river water and apparently it was caught by the filters and the wastewater treatment plant.
Peters asked if it would sink into the sediments and Lawson said it’s metal so it sinks and it was found in sediment near the source.
Peters asked why Tribar did that and Lawson said the PFAS was when old storage got flushed and it was mistakenly released and it was the manufacturer’s fault.
The hexavalent chromium was intentionally released by a disgruntled employee who went into the plant on the weekend when it was not running and criminal prosecution is under way.
Peters asked if MDEQ is a friend or foe and Lawson replied that the MDEQ is investigating, along with the FBI and city and local officials on how to prevent an employee from doing that in the future.
Lawson said they are blessed to have the Metroparks along the Huron River system, as well as local partners with good ordinances and rules to prohibit certain things from being used.
He said the late Dave Wilson of Van Buren Township is responsible for the coal tar ordinance and Van Buren Township was the first to have it, thanks to Dr. Wilson. He said now 19 communities in Michigan and 17 states also have the ordinance.
At the beginning of his presentation, Lawson explained that the HRWC was founded in 1965 and is the oldest watershed council in Michigan. It works to protect the watershed, which is all the land that drains into the Huron River. He said there is a staff of 15 professionals and more than 1,000 individuals and organizations that are members and more than 500 volunteers. There are 63 local governments and 653,000 people in the watershed.
He said Ford and Belleville lakes are the largest impoundments on the Huron River. He said they don’t have any board representatives from the city of Belleville or Van Buren Township, although in the past they did.
He said they do bug hunts and winter stonefly count to judge the health of the water.
And, 125 miles are considered the Huron River Water Trail and now signs are being put up along the river system to announce where boaters can get out of the river. This is for canoes and kayaks. It got National Water Trail designation in 2016, he said.
He introduced HRWC Program Planner Andrea Paine who holds Bachelor and Master’s degrees in environmental policy and planning from the University of Michigan.
Lawson is HRWC Watershed Planner and holds joint Masters’ Degrees in Environmental Management and Public Policy at Duke University.
Lawson asked the public to contact them with any questions at: [email protected] or [email protected] .