Michael Howard, county employee, monitors the filling of the Bay County Community Center pool last Wednesday. Can't Swim in the Bay? Try the Community Center Pool -- It's Ready to Go!
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The Bay County Health Department has issued an advisory against coming into contact with "muck" on the Saginaw Bay shoreline.
For now, at least, another option for swimmers is the Bay County Community Center swimming pool that was filled last week and opened Monday. Hours are noon to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday and noon to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.
The health advisory was issued last week after preliminary results of water, algae and muck tests by a Michigan State University water microbiologist showed E. coli bacteria in the muck on the bay shore.
People who come in contact with the muck are urged to wash immediately with soap and water.
Joel Strasz, public health services manager for the health department, told The Bay City Times on Friday that "pretty elevated levels" of contamination were found along the shore and that officials were "taking this very seriously" and continuing monitoring through the weekend.
Dr. Joan Rose, a Michigan State University researcher, who was here doing testing of the Saginaw Bay water last week, is proposing to expand and continue the local study using a $600,000 grant from the federal government.
Meanwhile, a resolution urging Congress to appropriate $520,000 for a pilot project to identify the sources of algae and E. coli bacteria washing up on shorelines was passed by a Michigan Senate committee. The resolution, sponsored by State Sen. James A. Barcia, is expected to be adopted by the Senate this week and the House shortly afterward, according to Jeff Kart of The Bay City Times.
Other purposes of the funds would be to promote regional tourism, protect and restore high quality wetlands, control invasive plants, assist with dredging to restore the Saginaw River corridor and seed a voluntary effort to reduce phosphorous in the bay.
The federal funding would go to the Saginaw Bay Coastal Initiative, a regional group created by the state Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ).
A group of activists working with the Save Our Shoreline group is hopefully awaiting further testing in hopes conditions change. The group has purchased a $28,000 beach grooming machine and has put immense effort into making the beach at Bay City State Recreation Area attractive for swimmers and sunbathers.
The local group, headed by county commissioners Ernie Krygier and Kim Coonan, aided by county and state employees and union volunteers, won approval from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to clean the beach several years ago.
The group of volunteers is laboring hard and continually to keep up with the muck that washes up, scooping it with front-end loaders and burying it in safe spots on the beach. Their efforts have won editorial praise from The Bay City Times and scores of outdoor lovers who use the beach.
A 1,200 foot section has been restored to near pristine conditions but the muck continues to foul the shoreline. To allow swimmers safe access to the water the group has installed floating docks bridging the muck.
The Saginaw Bay Science Committee together with the Michigan Department of Community Health has developed a human health survey to help capture possible illnesses associated with recreational and drinking water exposures in the Saginaw Bay area (Arenac, Bay, Huron, Iosco, and Tuscola Counties).
The survey, named WaterWatch is located on the web at www.michigan.gov/healthwatch. At the website, participants should select the survey called 'WaterWatch - Saginaw Bay Water Survey'. The website will be available 24 hours/day and can accommodate hundreds of visitors simultaneously.
The survey will be available to anyone who visits and recreates in the Saginaw Bay area and will focus on water exposures occurring within by allowing users to self-report illnesses believed to be associated with exposure to water, sand, or muck.
Persons are encouraged to report regardless if they are not ill enough to seek medical attention or have confirmed cases of illness with an associated water exposure. The survey will ask questions pertaining to illness onset, symptoms experienced, duration of illness, exposure location, duration of exposure, type of exposure (recreational or drinking water), water activities, weather conditions, odors present, debris present, wildlife observed, etc.
MDCH epidemiologists will be monitoring the data routinely, analyzing the data for trends over time and relaying de-identified human illness/reported exposure data to toxicologists at Michigan Department of Environmental Quality. MDCH and MDEQ together will determine and implement the appropriate public health intervention should the data indicate action.
The intent of WaterWatch is to increase public health surveillance for waterborne diseases, both sporadic cases and potential outbreak situations. MDCH and MDEQ will work together to coordinate illness data and environmental data in hopes of detecting potential health risks in the Saginaw Bay area and implement an appropriate public health intervention.
For more information on the Saginaw Bay Science Committee or recreational water illnesses, please visit the Bay County website at http://www.baycounty-mi.gov , the Huron County Health Department website at http://www.huron.localhealth.net or the Tuscola County Health Department's website at http://www.tchd.us. ###
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