Testing finds high levels of contamination in Michigan lakes (but not in Iosco County)

The Bay City Times summarizes the contamination conditions of the Great Lakes. Although the report points to many problems, it also has some positive things to say about water testing in Iosco County:

Michigan's standards state that E. coli testing should not find an average of more than 300 colonies per 100 milliliters of water in a given day.

Fourteen percent of all monitored public beaches in Michigan have failed to meet acceptable water quality standards this summer. And the majority of public beaches on the Great Lakes are not monitored. Inland lakes are especially prone to contamination; with less water circulation than Great Lakes, E. coli bacteria linger longer in the placid waters.

Iosco County was able to start a successful beach monitoring program two years ago, said Don Rousseau, a sanitarian from District Health Department No. 2, which monitors nine areas on Lake Huron.

"This is our second year in the monitoring program, and last year and this year the results are really good," he said. "We had always sampled the beaches based on either environmental concerns or on a complaint basis. But then the DEQ established grants and we thought it would be beneficial for us to pursue."

Test results from the nine beaches, including the popular Tawas Point State Park, have consistently showed very low levels of E. coli.

Good news. It's nice to see that Iosoc County has been on this for the past two years.