Environmentalists discuss health of Huron River at Ypsilanti conference
The Huron River in Ann Arbor.
The State of the Strait conference takes place every two years. During the one-day event,environmentalists assess the status of the Erie-Huron corridor, which stretches from Port Huron to Lake Erie's southern shore, and talk about how to improve research, monitoring and management of one of the busiest navigation centers in the United States.
According to an EMU release, each year more than $80 billion in trade between Canada and the U.S. is carried out across the corridor. More than five million people live within a one-hour drive of the corridor, which is a major source of drinking water for Michigan, Ohio and Ontario.
Officials and researchers at the summit will discuss chemical pollutants and run-off damaging the river and making it uninhabitable for some species of fish. They will also discuss how the introduction of exotic fish have unbalanced the river's natural habitat, putting natural fish species at risk.
Much of the discussion will surround remote sensing tools and geographical information systems that help manage the rivers environment.
In Ann Arbor, the Huron River Watershed Council is already working to significantly reduce the filtering of dangerous chemicals into the river. Additionally, the University of Michigan has committed to reducing its runoff by 30 percent in coming years.
Kellie Woodhouse covers higher education for AnnArbor.com. Reach her at kelliewoodhouse@annarbor.com or 734-623-4602 and follow her on twitter.
Comments
woodyk
Thu, Nov 3, 2011 : 3 p.m.
On North Campus, between the Engineering Research and the Art & Architecture buildings, there are a series of man-made storm water run-off pools. Some percentage of the storm drains on NC go into it. It's a good example of how to manage this problem, if land can be dedicated to it. They could have put a new building there, but choose to use the land to reduce run-off into the Huron. Don't know, but be interested to learn, where it went before this was built.
Kai Petainen
Thu, Nov 3, 2011 : 4:23 a.m.
I'd like a bit of clarification, please. According to the article above: "Additionally, the University of Michigan has committed to reducing its runoff by 30 percent in coming years" According to the HRWC website (@epengar, thanks for the link) <a href="http://www.hrwc.org/2011/09/university-of-michigans-commitment-to-the-huron/" rel='nofollow'>http://www.hrwc.org/2011/09/university-of-michigans-commitment-to-the-huron/</a> "ensure that at least 30 percent of our stormwater runoff does not flow into the Huron. " One states that they want to reduce runoff by 30%, the other states that they want to ensure that 30% does not flow into the Huron. If I put the 2 sentences together, am I to imply that 100% currently runs into the Huron River? That there will be a reduction of 30% and that 30% does not flow in the river?
Epengar
Thu, Nov 3, 2011 : 1:41 a.m.
Here is the website of the Huron-Erie Corridor Initiative (formed to focus research in this area) has more about the conservation research going on there, including the restoration of whitefish and other native fish spawning in the rivers. <a href="http://huron-erie.org/index.html" rel='nofollow'>http://huron-erie.org/index.html</a>
Kai Petainen
Thu, Nov 3, 2011 : 2:33 a.m.
thanks for the link. neat.
Kai Petainen
Wed, Nov 2, 2011 : 10:17 p.m.
"Additionally, the University of Michigan has committed to reducing its runoff by 30 percent in coming years" That sentence is scary. It implies that the university KNOWS how much it has in runoff right now. You can't measure progress unless you know what the situation is right now. Is there something that can be FOIA-ed or released to the public via the Environmental Protection Community Right to Know Act, that tells Ann Arbor what they KNOW is running off into the Huron River? HRWC? Sierra Club? Any environmental group out there that cares? Last time I checked, I think 88 outfalls belong to UofM, and so what flows through those outfalls is incredibly important. And from my experience, I know 1 event that happened to 1 of those.
Dog Lover
Wed, Nov 2, 2011 : 7:30 p.m.
The county drain commissioner sampled the water years ago and found that the high rate of e-coli in the water is due to feral cat poop. Maybe someone should look into addressing this as well.
81wolverine
Wed, Nov 2, 2011 : 7:08 p.m.
I'd guess most of the pollution problem in the water today is due to runoff - not much in older industrial pollution, although that may still be in the sediment in the deeper parts of the river. Controlling runoff is very difficult given the huge number of properties bordering the river along its course. And of course, the river is almost always in a low elevation area, so storms and snowmelt tend to wash all the nasty stuff downhill into the river. It's good to discuss ways to reduce it, but from a practicality point of view, it's going to be very hard to prevent a lot of it. Just one example is the large number of paved lots near the river that shed all kinds of oil and other chemicals from vehicles everytime it rains hard.
Kai Petainen
Thu, Nov 3, 2011 : 1:24 a.m.
that's neat... about the HRWC and infrared stuff. cool stuff. didn't know about it.
Epengar
Thu, Nov 3, 2011 : 1:03 a.m.
There are still a lot of things we can do cheaply to improve the situation. For example, there is good evidence that the city's ban on the sale and use of fertilizers with phosphorus/phosphates has led to a significant reduction in phosphorus compounds in the river. Local soils generally have plenty of phosphorus, so this was not a problem for property owners. The reduction of phosphorus means less algal blooms in the lakes downstream, and helps us comply with Federal clean water regs. The state followed Ann Arbor's lead on this, and new fertilizer limits will be in place across the state next year. <a href="http://www.hrwc.org/2010/01/phosphorus-continues-to-decline-in-middle-huron/" rel='nofollow'>http://www.hrwc.org/2010/01/phosphorus-continues-to-decline-in-middle-huron/</a> <a href="http://www.hrwc.org/2010/12/michigan-protects-rivers-lakes-with-new-fertilizer-legislation/" rel='nofollow'>http://www.hrwc.org/2010/12/michigan-protects-rivers-lakes-with-new-fertilizer-legislation/</a> Another example: the Watershed Council is working with the state and county on a project that is testing the use of infrared aerial photography to identify failing or near-failing septic tank systems. Failed septics leak pollutants and disease organisms into surface waters, but it is expensive to find them from the ground. This project has real promise for spotting problems much faster and for much much less money. <a href="http://www.hrwc.org/our-work/programs/failing-septics-identification/" rel='nofollow'>http://www.hrwc.org/our-work/programs/failing-septics-identification/</a> As to runoff from pavement, that is a problem, but permeable/porous pavement can help. It's still too early to say whether its something we can use on a large scale, but it looks promising. It's more expensive to install, but you get reductions in related stormwater construction around it (fewer/smaller storm drains) and they often need much less snow and ice clearance.
whatsupwithMI
Wed, Nov 2, 2011 : 10:09 p.m.
Have you seen the difference in river flora and fauna above vs. below the AA sewer outflow?
lumberg48108
Wed, Nov 2, 2011 : 6:38 p.m.
maybe the group can head to Riverside Park in Ypsi and remove the picnic table that is in the river ... seriously people, why would someone do this? The tables in the park are mounted so someone had to bring in their own table to throw it in the river? no better use of time?
Kai Petainen
Wed, Nov 2, 2011 : 5:01 p.m.
"In Ann Arbor, the Huron River Watershed Council is already working to significantly reduce the filtering of dangerous chemicals into the river. Additionally, the University of Michigan has committed to reducing its runoff by 30 percent in coming years" It's good that they're going to reduce it, but they should also solve the spills that flow through their territory. My avatar photo is of the stuff that was collected in the huron spill last year. That photo.... I got that photo one year later from a different source. It was not given to me when I filed a FOIA request with UofM. It's a photo taken by UofM of the stuff that flowed out of the outfall that runs through their property. I'm not blaming UofM (as we don't know the source nor the cause). It's good to work on reducing runoff, but its also important to solve spills that do occur. This spill was not 'runoff' from a rain event as it happened without rain. It was not a 'permit spill', as I have not seen a permit. It was not an 'accident spill', as I have not seen an accident report. Unless I can legally dump stuff in the Huron River, that was a criminal spill and should be fined/charged/punished to whomever did it. Fortunately, for the one who dumped it, authorities are rather weak at pursuing environmental crimes and solving them. You can kill a duck and get in trouble, but spill oil in the river -- does anyone care?
Sallyxyz
Wed, Nov 2, 2011 : 4:36 p.m.
"In Ann Arbor, the Huron River Watershed Council is already working to significantly reduce the filtering of dangerous chemicals into the river. Additionally, the University of Michigan has committed to reducing its runoff by 30 percent in coming years." I'd like to know exactly what kind of runoff is currently being committed by the UM into the river. I'd also like to know which dangerous chemicals are "filtering" into the river, as well as their source. These statements in the article are too general and need much more detail to be helpful. Where can the detailed information be found? Is UM hiding information from the public about what "runoff" they are allowing into the river? It's a public institution and this information needs to be available to the public.
Epengar
Wed, Nov 2, 2011 : 9:41 p.m.
Why not take a look at the Watershed Council's website. Tons of good information there: <a href="http://www.hrwc.org" rel='nofollow'>http://www.hrwc.org</a>