River News

The Clinton River is the most populous watershed in the state, home to 1.5 million people. This heavy urbanization makes for challenges in protecting water quality where the proper balance between the built world and the natural world is challenging.

Typical sign posted when a beach is closed due to contamination

CRWC provided its support during the year in addressing some of the problems that arose. An unintended iron sediments discharge from a drinking water treatment plant in the Paint Creek sub-watershed was investigated promptly by Michigan Depart-ment of Environmental Quality (now the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Environment, MDNRE) and the plant’s municipality; upgrades to equipment and operating practices were implemented. The annual May logjam clean-up of the lower river (Anchor Bay Yachting Association, the Pride of Michigan, and CRWC) had to be canceled when bacterial contamination fouled the river due to wet weather and resulting overflows. Follow-up action by the Macomb County Water Quality Board (MCWQB) is leading to a public notification program to inform the general public when wet weather events leads to bacterial contamination of area water resources and beaches by using media outlets and websites.

There are times when problems arise in our watershed but there are also policies in place to help us discover these potential problems and try and find a solution promptly.