QUESTION: ARE THERE STATE OR LOCAL REGULATIONS THAT GOVERN THE OPERATION OF BUBBLER SYSTEMS FOR PERMANENT DOCKS? WHAT ARE THE POSSIBLE IMPACTS OF USING BUBBLERS?
ANSWER: For bubblers that are attached to permanent docks and not placed on bottomland, a permit would not be required by the State of Michigan. However, some local municipalities have regulations that ban bubblers. Riparians should be aware that they are taking on considerable personal liability should death or injury result from their use of a bubbler to de-ice an area. Additionally, bubblers should not be used in such a way as to impede navigation by people who are entitled to use the lake. (For example, using a bubbler to block ice fishermen from accessing the lake). Navigation and fishing are public trust rights and enforcement may occur if these rights are infringed upon. Other devices, such as decorative fountains, bottom diffusers, lake aeration, and any device that moves sediment, such as aqua thrusters/aqua blasters, are regulated activities and would require a permit. Aqua thrusters/aqua blasters and similar devices cause a dredge and uncontrolled fill of lake bottomlands which can have negative impacts on the public trust, riparian rights, and the environment. One of the problems with these devices is that due to wind and currents, the operator is unable to control where the muck and debris will be redeposited. There have been instances of the muck that was blasted off of one property drifting and redepositing onto neighboring properties, which makes these devices difficult to permit. Permit applicants should explore alternatives when considering aqua thruster/aqua blaster devices that allow for them and their neighbors to exercise their riparian rights responsibly while having a minimal impact on the lake environment. ERIC CALABRO | INLAND LAKE ANALYST, EGLE WATER RESOURCES DIVISION
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This article was taken from the Michigan Waterfront Alliance Update email of 2/15/23. Good stuff to know. . . Hundreds of Thousands of Failing Septic Systems Contribute to an Ongoing Major Public Health Issue in Michigan Groundwater, and the Waters of our Fragile Lakes, Rivers, and Streams are Subject to Contamination by Failing Residential Septic Systems by Scott Brown MWA E- Newsletter Editor Attributed to the fact that Michigan continues to be the only state within the United States of America that has not yet enacted a state-wide law requiring regular septic system inspections, and to the fact that only eleven out of eighty three, or 13% of counties in Michigan have enacted local regulations that require regular septic system inspections, hundreds of thousands of failing septic systems continue to be a major source of e-coli and human fecal bacteria laden raw sewage that contaminates ground water, and renders the waters of many our lakes, rivers, and streams unfit for total contact water sports such as swimming or snorkeling. The steadily escalating environmental and public health associated problem is derived from that fact that approximately 20%, or 280,000, of the 1.4 million septic tanks that were constructed in the 1950’s and 1960’s throughout Michigan are now failing. The problem has also been exacerbated by the fact that many Michigan homes, and their now severely antiquated septic systems were built prior to the construction of sewer systems that now serve even the smallest of towns and villages.
Septic systems, otherwise known as on-site waste water disposal systems, are designed and installed in order to manage and treat the waste generated by toilets before it reaches ground water. In a properly designed septic system, the septic tank serves to remove larger solids from wastewater. Wastewater that flows out of the septic tank is saturated with contaminants that must be removed before the water can safely be combined with surface and/or groundwater. Public health issues stem from the fact that septic tank effluent contains large concentrations of toxic micro-organisms that are capable of making people sick. Moreover, the organic matter present in wastewater effluent creates bad odors, and contains algae growth stimulating nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus) that can have a negative impact on aquatic ecosystems. Properly designed septic systems include a disposal field comprised of a mixture of sand, silt, and clay that are often referred to as loamy soils that act to successfully treat bacterial and inorganic compounds. Phosphorus that is produced within the household that passes through the septic tank is also captured within a properly designed disposal field’s soil. On-site waste water disposal systems continue to be installed in support of residential and commercial development that occurs in rural settings where sanitary sewer systems are not available. According to Michigan State University Extension, when an on-site waste water disposal system is correctly located, properly designed, carefully installed, and properly maintained, they are capable of serving as effective waste disposal systems that are economical and that do not pose a threat to public health or to the fragile ecosystems of surrounding streams, rivers, and lakes. Michigan’s on-going failing septic system crisis is best exemplified by Kent County where a volunteer only septic system inspection program allows an estimated 11, 250 failing residential septic systems distributed throughout the county to leak approximately one million gallons of raw sewage into vulnerable groundwater supplies each day. In inland lake inundated Oakland County, as another prime example, where public health threatening cases of e-coli contamination of rivers and lakes are reported on a more and more frequent basis, and where county officials have also yet to establish a program that would mandate regular septic system inspections, approximately twenty-five to thirty percent of the 100,000 septic systems located in Michigan’s most affluent county are known to be leaking. The gravity of the situation is also effectively illustrated by the fact that the results of a 2015 study conducted by Michigan State University researchers on sixty-four Michigan rivers revealed that concentrations of e-coli that were higher than U. S. Environmental Protection Agency permitted water quality standards. The significance of the issue is also amplified by the fact that the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lake, and Energy (EGLE) reports that approximately one half of Michigan’s thousands of miles of rivers and streams suffer from concentrations of toxic e-coli that exceed minimum water quality standards. Representing a major environmental and public health issue that promises to escalate in significance as increasing numbers of septic systems fail and begin to leak with the passage of time, past efforts to enact legislation that would have established a meaningful statewide standard for how septic tanks are designed, built, inspected, and maintained have sadly disintegrated in the face of arguments suggesting that in addition to treading on individual property rights, regulating septic tanks in a manner that would require regular inspections and maintenance would be too costly for homeowners, over burden local health departments, and make it more difficult to sell homes. It is important to note, however, that Michigan Governor Whitmer recognized the significance of the on-going problem and declared the week of September 20-24, 2021 as Septic Smart Week that encouraged homeowners and communities to properly maintain their increasingly vulnerable septic systems. In addition, Governor Whitmer and Senator Jon Bumstead proposed dedicating $35 million of the 2022 state budget to enable the establishment and funding of an EGLE administered program that would make low interest loans available to homeowners seeking to repair, replace, or eliminate leaking residential septic systems. The latest attempt at passing legislation that would require septic tank inspections was introduced as House Bill 6101 on May 17, 2022 by Representatives Yaroch and Rendon, and was referred to the House Committee on Natural Resources and Outdoor Recreation. Known as the "septic tank inspection at time of sale act", due to an upcoming election, and perceived wide spread opposition to the legislation, neither the Michigan House of Representative or the Michigan Senate took any sort of action on the bill. Only time will tell if Governor Whitmer and the leadership of both houses of the Michigan legislature will pursue a viable solution to an on-going environmental crisis by enacting a state law requiring property owners to inspect and maintain their septic systems on a regular basis. For more information on how failing septic systems are capable of degrading our precious freshwater resources, visit the U. S. EPA’s web page entitled “How Your Septic System Can Impact Nearby Water Sources” . The always wise, inland lakes preservation focused folks from northwest Lower Michigan’s Glen Lake Association have also created a septic smart webpage that contains valuable information regarding the proper maintenance of septic systems. This article is taken from the MI Lakes & Streams February 2023 Newsletter Editor's Note: This is from a letter shared with us by Shavehead Lake regarding the permit for their round up program, thank you to the board of Shavehead Lake Association for sharing this information. The USDA and DNR provided additional information as well. Last year, the Canada Goose Round Up Program was cancelled because of the detection of High Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) H5N1 in wild birds in the state. The disease has continued to persist in wild birds and mammals throughout the state and there continues to be cases in backyard poultry flocks. Avian influenza is a virus that can infect wild birds and both free-ranging and domestic poultry such as chickens, turkeys, quail and geese.
With HPAI still present in the state, it presents a clear and important threat to wildlife and domestic poultry facilities. The Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is cancelling the Canada Goose Round Up Program for 2023 because of the risk of transporting HPAI around the state with the relocation of Canada geese. The DNR has notified Canada goose contractors and past Round Up Program participants of the cancellation. Any Round Up (Capture) and Hold Canada Geese Permit Applications and associated fees that have already been submitted will not be processed. Similar to 2022, the DNR will make very limited exceptions for round up in approved situations where there are elevated human health and safety concerns, however any birds rounded up under these exceptions will be euthanized. The DNR continues to encourage Canada goose nest and egg destruction to resolve conflicts and is again waiving geographic eligibility requirements. Permits are required for this activity however there are no fees associated with these permits. Please be aware that nest and egg destruction does require online training to be completed. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention continues to consider the risk to people from HPAI viruses to be low. The DNR continues to work closely with the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development; Michigan Department of Health and Human Services; U.S. Departments of Agriculture, Veterinary Services (USDA, VS) and Wildlife Services (USDA, WS); and Michigan State University to monitor health of poultry, livestock, wildlife and residents in Michigan. If you notice the death of three or more wild birds, please report it to DNR through the Eyes in Field App or at 517-336-5030. If you have questions, please contact MI.goose.permits@usda.gov. You may also direct questions about the Canada Goose Program to Barbara Avers, Waterfowl and Wetland Specialist, at aversb@michigan.gov. For more information, please visit: Michigan.gov/AvianInfluenza or Michigan.gov/AvianDiseases. MDNR – Ice Safety Tips
One can also be liable for such injuries or death based on Michigan premises liability law. Here a lakefront home owner or the possessor of the land who uses a bubbler may be held responsible to any social guest (your friends and relatives) by a showing that the land owner or possessor knew or should have known of the condition caused by the bubbler and should have realized that it involved an unreasonable risk of harm, that the guest would not discover or realized the danger until it was too late and that the guest should have been warned. There is a special rule imposing a higher degree of care when any of the social guests are children. Under Michigan law a trespasser may even hold a lakefront homeowner or possessor liable for a bubbler. To impose liability here for injuries or death of a trespasser, the trespasser or the surviving family must prove that the riparian or possessor knew or should have known that trespassers constantly intruded in the area of the dangerous condition and that the riparian owner or possessor was actively negligent or created the dangerous condition caused by the use of the bubbler. Additional theories of liability under Michigan law where a riparian homeowner or possessor may be held liable for injuries or death arising out of the use of a bubbler include a public nuisance, a nuisance per se, a nuisance in fact and a negligent nuisance. A public nuisance is an unreasonable interference with a right common to the general public. Unreasonable interference includes significant interference with public health, safety, peace, comfort or convenience, prescribed by law and of a continuing nature that produces a permanent or long-lasting effect. A nuisance per se is an act, occupation or structure that is a nuisance at all times and under any circumstances. A nuisance in fact is a nuisance by reason of circumstances and surroundings. An act may be found to be a nuisance in fact when its natural tendency is to create danger and inflict injury on person and property. A negligent nuisance in fact is one that is created by the possessor’s negligent acts, that is, a violation of some duty owed to the plaintiff that results in a nuisance. A nuisance in fact is intentional if the creator intends to bring about the conditions that are in fact found to be a nuisance. Lastly, Michigan law allows for liability of a bubbler under attractive nuisance law. To sustain an attractive nuisance case the injured person or family of the deceased must show that the riparian or possessor knew or had reason to know that children were likely to trespass; that the children (being minors) did not realize the risk involved; that the bubbler’s utility to the riparian and the burden of eliminating the condition were slight compared with the risk to children; and, that the riparian failed to exercise reasonable care to eliminate the danger caused by a bubbler. Your LOWIA board wishes everyone a Blessed Christmas and Happy New Year. Ice should be forming any day now, but we do have the warm weather coming next week. Be safe out there when ice fishing and beware of the bubblers that some homeowners use to keep the ice open by their property. We will be posting the latest water quality report from our lake here on our website. Here is a short understanding of the report from PLM.
In short, there are no big red flags. Dissolved oxygen and E.coli were both good. The only things that were a little elevated were phosphorus (both spring and late summer) and nitrogen (spring). The phosphorus was not bad, just a little bit elevated in the spring. The late summer phosphorus was sampled from near the lake bottom so it is expected to be higher. Regardless, both were not bad numbers…. Just slightly elevated. The spring nitrogen was only slightly elevated but was back to normal in the late summer. Ho, Ho, Ho from your board. Understanding and Monitoring Your Well to Make Sure Your Water Is Safe!By: Ashley Mark, MDHHS; Sara Pearson, EGLE; Lon Nordeen, MLSA
There are over 1 million private residential wells in the state of Michigan, serving over 2.6 million people statewide. That is over 30% of Michigan residents! A private residential well supplies water to a single-family home. Water is pumped from groundwater using a water well. To learn more about the types of private wells, well components, and well construction visit the United States Environmental Protection Agency website. As a private residential well owner, you are responsible for the quality of your drinking water. It is important to monitor your well system and your drinking water to protect the health of you and your family. Maintaining your well involves regular inspections, testing, and if required, treatment. For more information about how to properly maintain your private residential well system, view the Drinking Water Well Maintenance Fact Sheet. Proper well maintenance is a great way to protect the quality of your drinking water. However, testing your drinking water for contaminants is the only way to know for sure what is in your drinking water. The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) recommends testing annually for Coliform Bacteria, E. coli, Nitrate, and Nitrite. Visit the Care for MI Drinking Water Drinking Water Testing page for more information about what to test for and how to have your drinking water tested. In addition to MDHHS recommendations for testing, sometimes it is appropriate to consider testing for other contaminants. If you are a private residential well owner, it is important to understand what natural and human-made contaminants may be in the groundwater that you use for drinking water. For example, if your home is near a potential source of contamination, you might consider expanding what to test for. Learn more about what might be in the groundwater you drink, or contact your Local Health Department to learn about local concerns or recommendations. Still have questions or want to learn more? The MDHHS Care for MI Drinking Water website is where you can find more information about drinking water contaminants, testing, how to understand test results, treatment options, and more. Here you can also subscribe to receive the Drinking Water and Health newsletter in order to stay up to date on new initiatives happening through the MDHHS Division of Environmental Health’s Statewide Drinking Water Campaign. In addition to understanding how your well works, maintenance needs, and monitoring that needs to be done to ensure that your well is properly functioning and provides safe drinking water, protecting source water is another important part in maintaining the quality of your water. Water is constantly being recycled as it moves through the hydrologic cycle. The water in rivers, lakes and streams evaporates and condenses in the atmosphere to become clouds that eventually release the water back to the ground in various forms of precipitation. Precipitation replenishes our lakes, rivers and streams and also seeps into the ground recharging the groundwater supply. Groundwater discharges into some surface water bodies and some surface water bodies recharge the groundwater. This is a very generalized description of the hydrologic cycle as there are many ways that the water may be used throughout this cycle. For example, rainwater may be collected and used for watering a garden surface water and groundwater may be used in homes, businesses, and industries for many purposes. In your home it is commonly used for drinking, cooking, and washing. Once the water is used for these purposes, it is discharged either to a sanitary sewer system for treatment or to a septic system. The septic system is designed to collect solids in the tank and discharge the liquids to the ground. The soils in the subsurface act as a filter removing bacteria like coliforms from water as it moves through the soil and eventually recharges the groundwater. Groundwater may discharge to a surface water body, it may be drawn into a well for use again, or it may remain in the aquifer for quite some time. Overall, it is constantly reused for many purposes. Therefore, Michigan’s Public Health Code and local sanitary codes specify minimum separation distances between a well and a septic tank, septic tanks and wells from surface water bodies and floodplains, and specific construction materials and specifications for both wells and septic fields. A well that is too close to a septic tank may draw in water that is not adequately filtered and pose a health risk from the presence of bacteria. Septic tanks that are too close to surface water bodies can result in unfiltered waste being discharged to the water body causing a health risk to swimmers from elevated coliform bacteria and can also result in the growth of harmful strains of algae that can be lethal. Wells that are too close to surface water bodies may draw in surface water that is not as well filtered as the groundwater and is likely to have other types of harmful bacteria and parasites like Giardia that cause illness in people and pets. As water is used and is constantly being recycled, it may be mixed with detergents, hazardous substances, or may even be in contact with naturally occurring hazardous substances like arsenic. Water mixed with some of these substances can be odorless, tasteless, colorless and require more treatment than the typical septic or sanitary treatment offers. Therefore, source water, which is the water that you drink, protection practices become important. Contaminants released to the ground have a high probability of affecting the groundwater and surface water bodies which is why proper disposal of wastes is critical. Some everyday actions that can be taken to protect surface water and groundwater. The US Environmental Protection Agency offers some great suggestions you can take to protect your water. This person has a second or summer house on Lake of the Woods, and have cameras on their house in another state, if they saw someone breaking into that other house or doing something that needed the police to show up, they tried calling 911 while here in Decatur and asked 911 to pass their call onto where the other house is. While in Decatur, our 911 call center does not have the capability to forward your call to another location. You will have to get a hold of your local law enforcement through other means. Also if you have cameras on your house here on LOW, and saw something while not in Decatur, you can call the Van Buren county Sheriff at 269-657-2006, if you are in the town of Decatur the police department phone number is 269-423-2171. When you see something happening on your cameras is not the time to figure out what number to dial for law enforcement, have it figured out ahead of time and written down. Also do not forget about the Van Buren County Sheriff house watch program that is available at no charge. Just go to the Van Buren County Sheriff website to sign up for this service. Below is some information on this service.
Security checks are available to Van Buren County citizens who will be away from their homes, businesses, or other facilities for extended periods of time. Deputies will periodically check the exterior of the premises. This service is offered to deter potential burglars while your premise is unoccupied. If your plans change and you return home ahead of schedule, please notify the Van Buren County Sheriff's Office at 269-657-2006 so the home security checks can be stopped. Have a safe and enjoyable Thanksgiving. LOWIA Get the rods and reels ready! We were just notified that this afternoon Michigan DNR stocked LOW with Walleye. There were 1100 fish, each averaging 5- 7 inches dropped in our lake. The fish were about six months old and should grow an inch or more by this fall. These walleye should be legal limit size around spring 2024, and females do grow faster, so sooner for them. Ibbys bait shop in town always has leeches for sale too. Walleye love leeches and nightcrawlers.
LOWIA Article from Michigan Lakes and Streams newsletter Sept 1, 2022. Editor's Note: This article focused on freshwater jellyfish originally appeared in this newsletter in the fall of 2019 - several reports of the appearance of the unique creature
in Michigan lakes over the course of the past couple of weeks have prompted us to re-publish for the sake of our many new subscribers. Story and Photos by Scott Brown, MWA Board Member / E-Newsletter Editor Evoking expressions of surprise and delight, the initial experience of observing an only sporadically occurring swarm of undulating freshwater jellyfish gracefully propelling themselves through the late summer warm waters of your favorite lake always seems to be a joyful one. Commonly referred to as “peach blossom fish” in their native China, words such as fascinating, graceful, elegant, ephemeral, and mysterious are often deployed by authors in their attempt to aptly describe the exotic freshwater jellyfish species known as Craspedacusta sowerbii that only occasionally appears in Michigan’s inland lakes. A native of China’s Upper Yangtze River basin, the exponentially increasing pace of international trade that has occurred over the course of the past century has inadvertently led to the fact that C. sowerbii has now been successfully introduced to every continent except Antarctica, and has become the most widely distributed freshwater jellyfish on earth. C. sowerbii and the nineteen other species of freshwater jellyfish in existence are classified as hydrozoans, a class of small colonial or solitary predatory animals that are related to sea anemones and corals. C. sowerbii belongs to the Cnidaria, a diverse phylum of hydrozoans that contains over 11,000 marine and freshwater species whose exotic physical appearance is primarily defined by a unique umbrella-like radial symmetry. Catalogued in England by naturalists in the 1880’s, C. sowerbii was first observed in Michigan waters in the 1930’s. Representing an extremely delicate and highly elastic gelatinous creature that is intolerant of intense wave action and fast-moving waters, the freshwater jellyfish species known as C. sowerbii that inhabits Michigan waters is most often observed floating or gracefully swimming near the sunlit surface of ponds, reservoirs, quarries, and quiet wind-sheltered areas of inland lakes. Lacking a brain, heart, respiratory system, skeleton, and even blood, the relatively simple, delicate anatomy of C. sowerbii is comprised of a translucent bell-shaped outer layer known as the epidermis; a middle layer consisting of a thick, highly elastic, grayish-blue in color gelatinous substance that is referred to as the mesoglea; and, representing a simple digestive system that acts as both a stomach and intestine with just one opening that serves as both mouth and anus, an inner layer that is referred to as the gastrodermis which includes a crude stomach-like structure that is referred to as the manubrium. Circulation of nutrients within the ancient organism is facilitated by the existence of four radial canals that originate along the edges of the manubrium. Freshwater jellyfish are known to possess a sense of smell, are able to detect light, and are capable of sensing and responding to near-by stimuli such as motion due to the existence of an elementary network of nerve cells that are widely distributed throughout their gelatinous body. The rim of their translucent bell-shaped epidermis is adorned with up to 400 relatively long tentacles that each possess thousands specialized cells called cnidocytes that are deployed by the organism to capture and pass prey consisting of tiny zooplankton to the opening of their gastrodermis. Drifting in the water column with its tentacles fully extended, jellyfish waits for suitable prey such as a tiny daphnia to come into contact with a tentacle. Once contact is made, nematocyst cells within the tentacle fire into the prey, injecting a tiny quantity of a powerful toxin that acts to paralyzes the animal, with the tentacle then acting to secure the prey by wrapping itself around the immobilized animal. It is important to note that stings by small freshwater jellyfish such as C. sowerbii produce only minor pain and often go unnoticed by swimmers due the miniscule amount of toxin that is injected as a result of contact with a tentacle. Mature C. sowerbii are capable of growing to a diameter of approximately 19 millimeters (penny-size), responding to the detection of stimuli such as near-by motion, however, the highly elastic gelatinous species is capable of instantaneously expanding its translucent epidermis to three times its normal diameter. Beginning life as a tiny polyp attached to aquatic vegetation, rocks, or coarse woody debris, C. sowerbii and other species within the Cnidaria phylum possess a complex life cycle that allows them to expeditiously take advantage of the return of environmental conditions that are favorable to their survival and sustainability. In rare populations of C. sowerbii that possess both female and male individuals, the species is capable of achieving sustainability by alternating with each generation between reproducing sexually, with free floating sperm cells fertilizing eggs, and reproducing asexually by cloning themselves. Freshwater jellyfish are dimorphic, depending upon conditions, such as water temperature, the amount of light penetrating the surface, and/or food availability, freshwater jellyfish such as C. sowerbii are known to alternate between a polyp phase, a larval phase, and a relatively brief life in late summer as a sexually mature free-swimming male or female hydro-medusa. Freshwater jellyfish such as C. sowerbyi are known to spend much more time in existence as microscopic podocysts, frustules (larvae produced asexually by budding), planulae (larvae produced sexually by mature male and female hydromedusae), or as sessile polyps that attach themselves to stable submerged surfaces such as coarse woody debris and rocks. It is important to note that the vast majority of C. sowerbii colonies are comprised of all-male or all-female individuals, therefore rendering the species almost completely dependent upon asexual reproductive processes for long-term survival. Intolerant of the cold-water temperatures that are present in northern temperate waters in late fall, winter, spring, and early summer, the most abundant colonies of mature hydro-medusa phase C. sowerbii are observed as late summer water temperatures reach their maximum in August and September. Most often observed floating or swimming near the surface on bright sunny days, the mature hydro-medusa phase of C. sowerbii comes to an end with the gradual emergence of cold-water temperatures. During the winter months when northern temperate water bodies are frozen over, C. sowerbii contracts and enters a long period of dormancy as resting bodies called podocysts. Once environmental conditions become favorable, they again enter the polyp phase that later in the summer leads to the formation of a mature hydro-medusa. To view a short YouTube video of freshwater jellyfish swimming near the surface in one of our favorite inland lakes we recently posted, click here |
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