NORTON SHORES, Mich. — A municipal sewer leak released an upper limit of 87,400 gallons of raw sewage near Airline Hwy and S. Getty St. in Muskegon County on April 8. The Muskegon County Public Health Department sent out a public health advisory that day, notifying and advising residents to "avoid direct contact with (or fishing in) Little Black Creek and Mona Lake for the next 48 hours." One Norton Shores man, however, is concerned with how the situation is being handled. He and his neighbor detected sewage along their Mona Lake shoreline this week, when installing their boat lifts in the water.
As a Norton Shores resident, living on the shoreline of Lake Mona is a dream come true for John Backus and his family.
"Lakeshore living is a lifestyle, and we made a lot of sacrifices in our life in order to enjoy this lifestyle.," said Backus at his home in Norton Shores Tuesday. "It's something that we look forward to during the winter months...Constantly doing things on the water, from water skiing to sailing and kayaking and, you know, diving it off the end of the dock."
It was through Backus's contractor that he found out about the sewage leak.
"My boat lift was scheduled to be put in the water last week, and the contractor who was going to do it sent me the public health notice that the county put out, that said that there was a spillage of sewage of over 87,000 gallons. And the notice said to stay out of the water for 48 hours," Backus said. "He came yesterday to put the boat lift in, and the guys that he had working for him said that they stirred up the bottom with the boat and and when they were putting the lift in, that they started the bottom some more, and they clearly smelled sewage."
He said his neighbor is also dealing with a similar situation.
"I found out that my next door neighbor, a few days ago when he had his dock put in, the contractors that put that dock in, their wet suits were filled with sewage," said Backus.
His next step was to reach out to officials at Muskegon County Public Health.
"The official told me that it's up to private residents to do testing on their own. The county only tests county spaces, which I don't think is quite right," Backus said.
"Some of it was coming up through the manholes, and then from the manholes, it went into the the drainage, you know, the storm drains. And then from the storm drains, it went to Black Creek, and then from Black Creek, it went to Mona, and there was the high estimate was 87,400 gallons of raw sewage," said Michael Eslick, the operations manager and overseer of environmental health for Muskegon County Public Health.
Eslick said they sampled parts of the county the day after the sewage spill.
"It was quickly stopped. I think it was less than an hour," Eslick said. "We sampled that Hidden Cove Park, which is the mouth, which is right at the mouth of Black Creek. We sampled at Ross Park, Mona Lake Park and Lake Harbor."
He said as long as sampling results came under the parameters of 130 fecal coliforms, the public advisory could be lifted.
"A couple parks were almost non-detected, one was at one. And then Ross Park, which is, I believe the city of Muskegon Heights Park. That came at 9.7 and right at the mouth of Black Creek, was at 81 so it was, it was slightly elevated, but it certainly was, you know, for safer swimming," said Eslick.
Eslick said that residents with concerns are responsible for their own samples.
"I know the water is low, and so we would suggest that they would get it sampled. So bring it down to a reputable laboratory," Eslick added.
Backus, however, is frustrated with what he said is a lack of communication from the county.
"Why isn't any responsibility being taken and somebody coming out here and helping us out? And making sure that what's reported is actually there, and if it, if it is there, how's it going to get taken care of?" questioned Backus. "And then the days that followed, there's no follow up from the county. There's no, 'Okay, well, we tested here, here and here, and these were the results.'"
Backus paid $142 out of his pocket to sample his side of Lake Mona. The results of the test are set to come out Wednesday.
"If the test that we paid for shows that there's a problem, what's going to happen then, I mean, that's a big question. What's going to happen then?" Backus said. "We're asking to test the lake water that 1000s of people use. It's not just, not just the homeowners here."
"If his samples, or anyone else who samples has concerns, of course, share them with us," Eslick said.
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