Although pollution is threatening the . 301-500. And, in 2008, as president and CEO of the Alliance, Davis was back testifying before the same subcommittee, again working closely with Reps. Ehlers and Oberstar, making the point that only one of the American AOCs had been cleaned up. Were all trying to fry other fish right now.. In Evanston, reducing plastic pollution is part of CARPs zero-waste goal by 2050, but the city has yet to take concrete steps in that direction. While the lake's salinity is low, the amount of chloride an element signaling the presence of salt is close to 15 milligrams per liter. 2022 Appendices available upon request in pdf or Excel format, or for additional information, contact GoodwinK@Michigan.gov or 517-290-4198. The extent of the problem is, unfortunately, far from being clear. Lee Botts founded the Lake Michigan Federation in part to demand an end to the contamination of the watershed, and to force the cleanup of past toxic pollution. Inland Lakes Monitoring. More than 1 million metric tons of salt is flowing into Lake Michigan each year, according to a new study from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Levels of roughly 250 milligrams per liter have been known to affect the taste of drinking water and harm freshwater organisms. freshwater. So something like a plastic bag, or even something like plastic textiles, so synthetic clothing, which is in a lot of our carpeting. He said hed start investigating to see what should or could be done at his brewhouse. 91.7 Ann Arbor/Detroit 104.1 Grand Rapids Nearly 22 million pounds enter the Great Lakes each year more than half of which pours into Lake Michigan, according to estimates calculated by the Rochester Institute of Technology.. Toxic Contamination Past and Present: Creating a Legacy. Maine and Oregon each passed bills this summer to force producers to manage and recycle more plastic waste. Landfills are harsh conditions for plastic and accelerate breakdown, say researchers. Use of and/or registration on any portion of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement (updated 4/4/2023), Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement, and Your Privacy Choices and Rights (updated 7/1/2023). Unfortunately, Holland is far from the only Great Lakes town with a beach awash in plastic. Accumulation of plastics isnt only contained within aquatic ecosystems. Lawmakers announced a bill this spring that would prohibit discharge of nurdle pellets and other pre-production plastic into waterways. Consistently, we see that about 85 percent of the litter picked up at Adopt Beach cleanups is made up of plastic, explained Jennifer Caddick, the spokesperson for the Alliance. Consider supporting ScienceX's mission by getting a premium account. They span miles and can be seen from satellites in space and they are really a serious problem because when the blooms die they suck water out of the lake and the bottom of the lake become this sort of dead zone," he said. Your support will help protect the Great Lakes and preserve their legacy of clean water for generations. PFAS is much scarier to the average citizen than microplastics, said Rich Hobrla, head of the Great Lakes Management Unit in the water resources division at the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy (EGLE). Theyre heading out on a research trip to sample plastic pollution in all five, Microplastic pollution has been building up in the Great Lakes for at least four decades, but our understanding of its impact on fish and other aquatic, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administrations Marine Debris Program, 2 MI Supreme Court justices says Legislature should revisit felony firearm laws. Copyright 2023 WLS-TV. Scientists say this plastic threatens the lakes wildlife and ecosystems, as well as the over 10 million people who rely on it for drinking water. Marshes are periodically flooded with water and have vegetation adapted to wet soil. Our analysis indicated two . Environment 3 Chicago-area oil refineries that dump toxic chemicals into Lake Michigan and other waterways are among worst polluters in US, study shows By Michael Hawthorne Chicago Tribune . But the process was still frustratingly slow. What is clear is that rivers are bringing plastics from various sources to the lakes and, along the way, fish in those rivers are eating them. "I think it's not going to fix everything but it's a step in the right direction," May said. Lake Huron gets about 1.3 million pounds and Lake Superior gets about 70,000 pounds. About 22 million pounds of plastic enter the Great Lakes each year, most of it in Lake Michigan, according to the Rochester Institute of Technology. High pellet numbers were also found at Bronte Beach in Oakville, Ont. The sky is blue and the Lake Michigan water is beautiful, but its windy and a bit chilly. 2023 Alliance for the Great Lakes. All rights reserved (About Us). (Joel Bissell | MLive.com), A 15-minute survey of plastics on North Beach in South Haven produces a handful of "nurdles," industrial plastic pellets used for making products. Download the complete and final 2022 report. PM2.5 are tiny particles in the air which reduce . They want the public to put pressure on businesses that make and sell single-use plastic products. In the last several years, the Wisconsin Department of Transportation has been working to reduce salt use on the state highway system to curb pollution. Green Bay, Wisconsin, and the Fox River that leads into it were rife with PCBs and other contaminants from paper mills, particularly from the making of carbon-free copy paper. Fine Particulate Matter PM2.5*. This plastic can come from seafood, such as fish with plastic accumulated in their bodies, but its also present in water systems. Relatively few studies have examined the environmental risks from either micro or macro plastics in freshwater systems like the Great Lakes compared to the oceans, even though such lakes and river systems tend to be the first waters that industrial or consumer plastic debris reaches. Read the second, third and fourth stories here. In the decades since synthetic polymer manufacturing advances begat the rise of mass-produced plastic in the 1950s, more than 8 billion metric tons has been made worldwide. Summer has a reputation for being the most violent time of the year. And it might give a greater piece of mind when stepping into the water on hot summer days. We had all the right policies in place, we knew what we needed to do scientifically, we just didnt have the resources to kick these cleanups into high gear., As the country headed for the 2000 presidential elections, Davis remembers, public support for Great Lakes cleanup was accelerating. There's definitely a lot of wildlife rescue centers that repeatedly get calls for wildlife that may be entangled in fishing line or plastic rings, but for the small stuff, the microplastic debris, the primary focus there has been on the wildlife eating the microplastic debris, said Sarah Lowe, the Great Lakes regional coordinator for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administrations Marine Debris Program. Read the rest of the series here. Man charged after 64-year-old man shot, critically injured on NW Side, Retired Cook Co. Judge Michael Toomin dies at age 85. The question was if it made any sense to suspect the bags used to ship grain. The large lakes are Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, and Ontario. News A new pollution worry for Lake Michigan: Tiny plastic fibers By Michael Hawthorne Chicago Tribune Feb 01, 2015 at 7:11 am Expand Researcher Sherri "Sam" Mason inspects plastic samples. At Griffn Claws brewery in Rochester Hills, the head brewmaster and head distiller Dan Rogers hadnt heard about plastic in the water or the beer. Single use plastics are pervasive. This document is subject to copyright. An April 2018 photo shows traces of chemicals in the water in Van Etten Lake in Northern . Michigan Department of Environmental Quality. Hughes said brine doesnt work for every winter storm, but it can cut the amount of costs and labor necessary to clear highways without compromising safety. Dobson said recycling isnt a foolproof solution to plastic waste. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no In general, people tend to respond more fiercely if they think something very directly affects their health. When it rains, those particles can move from soils into streams. Such efforts are, perhaps unsurprisingly, opposed by industry. 151-200. Consequently, discharge data may not be displayed during periods of ice effect. Episode 50, 7/24/23 Persistent Pollution: Researchers Investigate the key to E. coli Bacteria Survival in Lake Michigan Beach Sand and Water Transcript Sea Grant-funded researchers Sandra McLellan and Gyaneshwar Prasad, both with the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, are building on previous research to find ways to decomplicate beach managers' lives by determining what factors could limit Over time, natural wear and abrasion, sunlight and ultraviolet radiation break larger pieces down into smaller fragments. Madison, with Wisconsin Saltwise, promotes a method of shovel, scatter and switch., Shovel first. Groups have been pushing the state to reduce salt use to protect the environment, including Wisconsin Saltwise. But Anna-Lisa Castle, a water policy manager at the Alliance, said beach clean-ups arent enough to solve the problem. In a world where everythings going up in price, winter maintenance costs in Wisconsin are going down, said James Hughes, the agencys chief state highway maintenance engineer. 91.3 Port Huron 89.7 Lansing 91.1 Flint. So the work that I've been doing has been around choosing and implementing conservation practices that farmers can use to minimize those impacts by keeping fertilizer in their soils on their fields instead of running into adjacent waterways.". Research has also shown that microplastic fibers can spread through the air, depositing in remote or rural areas that lack concentrated sources. The content is provided for information purposes only. Thats a data point weve been able to extract pretty consistently.. And (I) found no correlation between the amount that was in the tap water and the amount that was in the beer from, say, the same cities.. In 1987, as part of that agreement, the U.S. and Canada designated 43 Areas of Concern (AOCs) in the Great Lakes that held dangerous pollutants and could not support recreation, or habitat for wildlife. The next highest load is to Lake Erie, which . FREE shipping Milwaukee Harbor 1984 - Lake Michigan, Wisconsin - Nautical Map Reprint 10,000 scale - Great Lakes #7 - 743 (2.8k) $41.00 FREE shipping School Section Lake Michigan | Lake House Dcor | Cabin Art | Custom Map Gifts | Paper Print Map Art (1.6k) $22.00 FREE shipping Great Lakes Digital SVG Cricut File (484) $0.99 Is an air pollutant that is a concern for people's health when levels are high. It was filed by the U.S. Department of Justice and the Environmental Protection Agency. At Waukegan Harbor, more than 100,000 cubic yards of PCB-laden sediment was dredged up at the site of the former Outboard Marine Corp. PCBs, or polychlorinated biphenyls, are linked to cancer, among other serious health effects, and can stick around long after they're released into the environment. The information you enter will appear in your e-mail message and is not retained by Phys.org in any form. But something was off. The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality is committed to protecting and preserving Michigan's water resources. J.B. Pritzker signed a law mandating the state EPA examine the impacts of plastics in water on human health. Beyond policy solutions, many advocates said that addressing plastic pollution requires a fundamental transformation of cultural norms about waste. PFAS and microplastics in drinking water drive home that our dependence on the Great Lakes doesnt stop at the waters edge. Wetlands are also often referred to as nature's kidneys, filtering nutrients and sediment out of the water before it winds up in larger waterbodies. (Joel Bissell | MLive.com). "For so many years, corporations abused the lake in Waukegan to the detriment of the people who live in Waukegan and the general area," said Illinois U.S. Rep. Brad Schneider. But I think is going to is going to benefit everyone and I do feel like farmers in the Midwest are going to be part of that solution," she said. Tank's vital research done in partnership with area farmers is helping change the future of the agriculture industry. On the fields where farmers want them, not in the adjacent waterways.". We as a people consume more plastic, and most of that plastic is single-use plastics.. In the Grand Calumet, work could be complete between 2027 and 2030, according to Thursday's announcement, making the site one of 22 out of the remaining 25 in the United States to reach that milestone by the end of the decade. There are efforts to crackdown on such pollution. The Grand Calumet, which includes the Indiana Harbor and Ship Canal, still hosts sediment containing likely carcinogens, heavy metals and various toxins that threaten humans and wildlifeand flows. Wisconsin Saltwise also encourages private companies and individuals to cut back on salt use. The 2022 Integrated Report was submitted to the USEPA on May 16, 2022. Were making progress on cleaning up the toxic legacy of the past, when the Great Lakes fueled the industrial heartland. Alliance for the Great Lakes is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Wegner said that plastic ingested by wildlife causes internal damage and can introduce toxins into the food web. Its quite impactful. are being found in surprisingly high quantity on beaches in every Great Lakes state, Nurdle pellets litter Great Lakes beaches. The more researchers learn about the health effects of particle pollution, the more dangerous it is recognized to be. The findings come as the state has been making significant strides to reduce salt use on roads to curb pollution. Her stream team at Notre Dame is actively monitoring and sampling streams, ponds and wetlands. Sooner later, humans are ingesting them. Researchers say various stewardship efforts arent making much dent in the flow of plastic of any size into the lakes, where items can travel long distances before sinking to the bottom, washing ashore somewhere or breaking down and being eaten by birds, fish or insects. Even in our current highly polarized political environment, the initiative has continued to enjoy strong bipartisan support from Congress, with funding of more than $3 billion since inception. Full decomposition takes hundreds of years for even simple, single-use items such as plastic bottles or straws. Particle Pollution - 24 Hour. Final Approval of the 2022 303 (d) list was received from the USEPA on June 14, 2022. If plastic breaks down into even smaller pieces nanoplastics it can enter the bloodstream of fish and of humans. Ryan Baker stood on his friend Herb Theodores fishing boat and shook his head at the patch of trash clumped together in the Kalamazoo River log jam a few feet away. So, there are big challenges out there, but we're really glad to be part of those solutions," he said. More detailed information on project funding is expected in the coming months. Its our waste management systems and our wastewater systems and, ultimately, probably, our consumer culture.. Our award-winning journalists offer a look at the day's most important and interesting stories from across Michigan. The Grand Calumet River will be a heavier lift. Its trash. If we could successfully tackle decades of contamination that happened before society was even aware of the dangers, then we can address threats emerging in real time. Then, July rains came and washed more trash from several urban creeks and an upstream homeless encampment into the river. Sign up to receive our email newsletter in your inbox. That's how you solve the problems.". Its a smorgasbord of junk.. The heaviest concentration was at Baxter Beach on Lake Huron in Sarnia, Ontario. Researchers are now finding plastic microfibers so small, theyre actually in the tissue, the flesh of fish. But because of the volume of Lake Michigan, that concentration is still pretty low.. Lester Graham reports for The Environment Report. We keep our content available to everyone. "The work that that, especially Tim Hoellein been doing at Loyola has shown us that they're there. Overview The Torch Lake Area of Concern (AOC) is one of the 31 U.S.-based AOCs across the Great Lakes designated under the 1987 Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement. It could have some repercussions that were not fully aware of yet.. It spans the entire west coast of Michigan's Lower Peninsula, and it is the only one of the five Great Lakes that is located entirely within the United States. Lead pollution in drinking water is another serious health threat, and a pressing environmental justice issue, in cities across the Great Lakes, most notoriously in Flint, Michigan. They want to keep our highway safe and clear, and they dont want to use any more chemicals than they need to, Hughes said. In 2004, with unanimous approval of the board of directors, Davis transitioned the Lake Michigan Federation into the Alliance for the Great Lakes. So, I would say all this grain touches plastic, Rogers said. But, there were pallets of plastic sacks of grain and larger so-called super-sacks or bulk bags in the brewery. Among them, microplastics plastic from straws, bottles and other items that break down into tiny pieces are being consumed by bottom-dwelling organisms and fish. The citys agenda for 2021 includes proposing an update to the 2015 Shopping Bag Ordinance as well as propositions for universal composting and recycling, Redfield said. Bordered by the states of Michigan (east and north), Wisconsin (west), Illinois (southwest), and Indiana (southeast), it connects with Lake Huron through the Straits of . Waukegan Harbor, Illinois' only area of concern, is being monitored following a 30-year, $150 million cleanup effort. Posted by Wisconsin Public Radio | Jan 25, 2022. "This investment will be a game-changer in the effort to clean up pollution that has poisoned local drinking water and threatened the health of communities," Laura Rubin, director of the Healing Our Waters Great Lakes Coalition, said in a statement. "The estimate is about 22 million pounds per year of plastic, which I know sounds like a lot of plastic," Hoellein said. He was previously with The Environment Report at Michigan Radio from 1998-2010. Some, such as medical devices, are necessary. Particle pollution is a deadly and growing threat to public health in communities around the country. With the midterm elections ahead, President Joe Biden highlighted the Great Lakes funding during a Thursday visit to Lorain, Ohioa state with three areas still listedwith EPA Administrator Michael Regan. They're potentially getting into the Great Lakes," Tank said. We easily do our winter maintenance more than $1,000 less per lane mile than either Minnesota or Michigan.. Some fleeces and other clothing are made of plastic and shed microfibers. In 1987, the United States and Canada designated 43 sites as "areas of concern," with 31 in the United States. They're a resource we must protect. Not only is it unsightly trash on Great Lakes beaches, but the plastic can hurt wildlife. They insist we have to find ways to prevent those millions of pounds of plastic getting into the Great Lakes and your water, and your beer. [11] "That's my hope.". The organization was poised to channel that frustration into accelerated progress for the Great Lakes. And some of the bags we have, theyre paper, but on the inside, there's a plastic liner for like a moisture barrier. The EPA said the $1 billion will be distributed in line with the Biden administration initiative to deliver at least 40% of benefits from major federal investments to underserved communities. Evanston Environment Board member Michelle Redfield said a ban on single-use plastics is being considered at the city level, but not officially on the citys agenda. Scientists are finding some plastic is even becoming part of the fish. "Fresh water and agriculture in the Midwest are sort of sitting hand in hand right next to each other and fertilizer is a natural part of productive agriculture. "Great Lakes are a huge source of fresh water, and so the fact that we have so much of it here means I think that we have an obligation to be good stewards of that incredible resource," Tank said. Browse 68 lake michigan pollution photos and images available, or start a new search to explore more photos and images. education. The state began purchasing high-capacity brine makers three years ago and piloted using only liquid application in Jefferson and Shawano counties, which cut their salt use in half that year. Lake in the US state of Michigan. January 28, 2021 As advocates push for clarity within Evanston's Climate Action and Resilience Plan, local researchers and advocates are raising alarm about the growing social and ecological. Michigan Surface Water Overview. Thats a big game changer.. The boundary of the Torch Lake AOC includes Torch Lake and its immediate environs. Some representatives contended that the country couldnt afford to fund the bill because there wasnt enough money. Neither your address nor the recipient's address will be used for any other purpose. near Toronto, and in Rossport, Ont. 2023 Advance Local Media LLC. We need our economy to work in a way that things get reused and that pollution is not just an acceptable externality., Invasive species, extreme weather pose threat to Lake Michigan, report finds, Pandemic plastic: How PPE litter is harming Evanston, Institute for Sustainability and Energy launches Program on Plastics, Ecosystems and Public Health Program. Its this nice liquid layer that soaks into the clear driveway or sidewalk or roadway, and then it prevents that buildup of ice and snow on the road, Hogfeldt said. New types of toxic pollution are threatening the Great Lakes today. These Great Lakes helped deliver this country through two World Wars, through different economic downturns, fueling industry and providing jobs that benefitted the whole country, Davis muses. Unfortunately, a lot of it also ends up in oceans, lakes and rivers. If there was some tie that suggested people who consume fish that ingest microplastics are more or highly susceptible to cancer, thats the kind of thing that would really elevate the problem.. The Great Lakes News Collaborative includes Bridge Michigan; Circle of Blue; Great Lakes Now at Detroit Public Television; and Michigan Radio, Michigan's NPR News Leader; who work together to bring audiences news and information about the impact of climate change, pollution, and aging infrastructure on the Great Lakes and drinking water. Davis volunteered to work with Congress to craft a plan. Cleaning up toxic sediment is a laborious and expensive job, involving expansive testing to find where pollution is worst, then physically removing massive amounts of contaminated sediment, drying it and transporting it to and storing it in secure facilities. In fact, wetlands are one of the most cost . YouTubes privacy policy is available here and YouTubes terms of service is available here. But toxic algal blooms are threatening the health of our Great Lakes. Its an important problem, but EGLE has to prioritize, said Hobrla. 80-90% of human exposure is a result of ingestion through the food chain. You can't make a living on a farm without applying fertilizer to get healthy corn, or soybeans, or whatever you're growing, healthy yields," she said. The versatile material revolutionized society. part may be reproduced without the written permission. The Great Lakes hold 20% of the world's fresh water, and about 85% of North America's. But researchers who are tracking plastic pollution in the Great Lakes say the problem goes deeper than beach litter.
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