Posted on

Great Lakes Scientist says, “If We Lose The EPA, We Lose Lake Erie”

Great Lakes Scientist says, “If We Lose The EPA, We Lose Lake Erie”

At the 8th Binational Meeting of the Lake Erie Millennium Network, 125 scientists gathered at the University of Windsor in Ontario to hear experts weigh-in on the health of the southernmost, warmest and shallowest of the Great Lakes.

They presented research on everything from climate change, water quality, phosphorous, agricultural run-off, cyanobacteria (blue-green algae), hypoxia (deficiency in oxygen), cladophora (green algae) to ice, invasive species, sediment concentrations, and much, much … [more…]

Posted on

Pain, cancer, death: Michigan families devastated by toxic chemicals in their water

Pain, cancer, death: Michigan families devastated by toxic chemicals in their water

Sandy Wynn-Stelt at home in Belmont. ‘I’m sitting here full of this stuff and not knowing what it’s going to do to me five years, 10 years from now.’ Photograph: Tom Perkins

In the years before 2017, Sandy Wynn-Stelt and her husband had suspicions about the water they drew from a well on their House Street property in the Michigan town of Belmont. She attributed the bad taste to it … [more…]

Posted on

State chips in money for project to try to “destroy” PFAS in wastewater

State chips in money for project to try to "destroy" PFAS in wastewater

Photo: The sample room at the Grand Rapids wastewater treatment facility. DUSTIN DWYER / MICHIGAN RADIO

The swirling liquid rushes into concrete channels behind a black chain-link fence.

“That is what sewage looks like,” says Nicole Pasch, who works in Environmental Services for the city of Grand Rapids.

Pasch is showing off the wastewater treatment facility, along with the various stages the sewage has to pass through before it can … [more…]

Posted on

Uranium-contaminated site collapses into Detroit River

Photo: uranium-contaminated materials spilled into Detroit River (November 2019)

A Detroit property contaminated with uranium and other dangerous chemicals partially collapsed into the Detroit River on Nov. 26, the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy has confirmed.

The news is especially concerning because the Detroit drinking water intake lines are nearby downriver.

Located next to Historic Fort Wayne and leased by Detroit Bulk Storage, the site known as the Detroit Dock allegedly collapsed under the weight of … [more…]

Posted on

Frontline reports Flint water plant foreman warned in 2014: ‘People are gonna die’

Frontline reports Flint water plant foreman warned in 2014: ‘People are gonna die’

The sun rises over the Flint River on Saturday, Aug. 24, 2019 in Flint. Jake May | MLive.com

FLINT, MI — A foreman at the Flint water plant warned his sister that the city was not prepared to treat Flint River water in 2014, telling her, “It’s not safe. We’re not ready. People are gonna die,” according to a new report from the PBS program Frontline.

In a story published … [more…]