Great Lakes Aquatic Habitat News
The Newsletter of the Great Lakes
Aquatic Habitat Network and Fund
Volume 11, Number 3 • Summer 2003
Great Lakes Aquatic Habitat NewsThe Newsletter of the Great Lakes
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By: Sandra L.Wilmore
An emotional response was sparked on May 28, 2003 when the Noble-LaGrange County Drainage Board decided to declare a 40-milelong stretch of Indiana’s Elkhart River a regulated drain. The declaration gives Noble and LaGrange counties the power to maintain the river as a legal drainage ditch. To cover the maintenance costs, the county will collect a ditch assessment tax from local landowners estimated at $128,000 annually.
Historically speaking, drainage ditch maintenance work has proven to negatively impact the environment in Indiana. Unfortunately, these damaging practices still continue today. Although the county was awarded a 25-foot right-of-way on either side of the river (rather than the allowed 75 feet), the county’s plans may still involve the deepening, widening, or changing of the river, as well as diversion of the course of the water and removal of any obstructions. Local environmental groups, area towns, and property owners are infuriated by these plans, knowing that the spraying of herbicides and the clearing of obtrusive trees will destroy wildlife habitats and vegetation along the banks.
The general consensus is that local property owners want to have their residences on a river, not a drainage ditch. To them, there is no benefit that can be foreseen in risking environmental damage to their properties and paying an unfair and unnecessary tax on their land.
So far, the board has been heavily criticized for not examining other options before making the decision to raise taxes and change the status of the river. The Indiana Department of Natural Resources (DNR) representatives were not even contacted to provide input or assistance on the issue.
The best hope for protecting the Elkhart River lies in a possible reversal of the decision. Area groups, including Acres Inc., Sylvan Lake Improvement Association, and the Izaak Walton League, have already begun the process by circulating a petition to local individuals, organizations, and other legal entities. If 10% of the property owners in the watershed sign the petition, the drainage board would have to conduct another hearing.
Save the Dunes Conservation Fund (SDCF), Indiana University Northwest, and the Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant College Program, with guidance from the Interagency Task Force on E. Coli, are developing a plan to improve consistency in monitoring and notification of beach closings and advisories for Indiana beach goers. This plan is in response to the Beaches Environmental Assessment and Coastal Health (BEACH) Act requirements.
Congress passed the BEACH Act in October 2000 in order to “reduce the risk of disease to users of the nation’s recreational waters.” The legislation, which amended the federal Clean Water Act, requires states to adopt new or revised water quality standards by April 10, 2004 for pathogens and pathogen indicators for which the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has published criteria. It also requires EPA to further study the health effects of disease-causing pathogens. The Act authorizes EPA to award grants to states to develop and implement a program for monitoring and assessing coastal recreation waters used by the public, which include the Great Lakes, for pathogens and pathogen indicators (such as Escherichia coli).
Project partners are working with beach owners and operators along Lake Michigan, as well as the general public, to develop this plan, which must meet performance criteria set by the EPA. These criteria address the following: evaluation and classification; monitoring; public notification and prompt risk communication; and public evaluation.
Surveys have been conducted and their results have been used to evaluate and classify Indiana’s Lake Michigan beaches regarding the potential risk of disease to swimmers. These classifications will guide the allocation of resources for implementing new and improved monitoring and notification procedures. Public opinion is necessary in response to these rankings. Any input could reveal additional contamination sources, as well as identify other affected beaches that require attention.
Project partners will also be relying on public input to develop a plan that most effectively notifies beach goers of the health risks at specific beaches based on current monitoring results. This plan will recommend notification procedures for beach closings through the use of beach advisory signs, the mass media, community publications, brochures, telephone hotlines, and/or Internet websites.
Three meetings have been scheduled for receiving public input in each of the three Indiana counties with Lake Michigan beaches (Lake, Porter, and LaPorte counties). After consideration of comments and a review of applicable grant conditions, a final plan will be prepared for submission to EPA.
For more information on the scheduled meetings please contact Sandra Wilmore at (219) 879-3564, Email: sand@savedunes.org.
Sandra L. Wilmore |