The Sewage Hits the Fan

[XLFD]

Introduction

On November 25, 2012 there was reportedly a shear break in the sewer force main in the vicinity of First Street and Adam Street in Ludington's Fourth Ward. This break did result in a sewage leak into the Creamery Corners drain. When the City had to shut down the lift stations there was bypass pumping of sewage into Pere Marquette Lake for an unspecified number of hours; the repairs were allegedly finished by the end of the next day.

It was reported in the Mason County Press the next day with a caution by John Shay to avoid the PM Lake area until the break was fixed.  The Daily News reported that Shay had notified the DEQ, and that the leakage was "far, far, far less than what went in during the flood in (June) 2008.” though he could not give any estimate to the extent.  That night he would tell the Ludington City Council it was fixed, and offered no other precautions or additional information regarding the leak.

Nov 26, 2012 LCC minutes

Early the next year, the amount of money the City of Ludington spent on this leak was divulged with me sending them a FOIA request.  It showed that the City Manager did spend over $10,000 on an emergency repair without approval of the city council by contracting with Hallack, who was already in the area working on other city projects.  At the time, it seemed as if it may have been an appropriate use of the city manager's emergency spending prerogative.  But this year, I made some investigations into other aspects of this leak, enough to prompt another FOIA request.  I asked for the following records from the City:

"Communications (including evaluations, determinations, and notifications) between officials of the City of Ludington and the EPA, DEQ, and/or the local health department regarding the nature, extent, and environmental impact of this considerable raw sewage leak into the PM Lake."

As is typical of such requests, what wasn't included in the request (which was granted in full), was as interesting as what was.

The Ludington FOIA

The materials received from the City about this leak start with a letter from Rob Allard (retired superintendent of water and utility, now Pentwater Village Manager) writing a Sunday afternoon e-mail to City Manager John Shay:

"We discovered a leak in our 2094 sanitary sewer force main north of the corner of Adams and first Street this morning, Sunday November 25. The leak is flowing approximately 50 feet to the Creamery Corners Drain.  The drain flows into Pere Marquette Lake.

We are concerned that when we expose the pipe to make the repair we may lose the force main due to the location at a 45 degree fitting. We have mobilized a crew and began the surface and some subsurface preparation. We will need to insure that all the required parts and fittings are available before we attempt to make the repair. I will call you tomorrow and fill you in on the details."

Shay then responsibly mobilizes Hallack Contracting to come over and help repair the problem for a nice one day price of around $11,000, but nothing is in the written record until the next Monday when Allard sends this to Shay:

"Attached is the SSO report for the incidence occurring over the Thanksgiving weekend, November 22 thru November 26th, 2012. Additionally I have attached a signed signature page and a map of the location. Please let me know if you need any additional information."

Form EQP5857 Report of Discharge Sanitary Sewer Overflow Nov 2012.pdf

SSO 12-3-12 signature page.pdf

One may wonder where Allard arrived at the 720,000 gallons of raw sewage figure, he also included a chart comparing the WTP outflows and WWTP inflows for that period. 

The calculations he used as justification of that figure is not part of the public record, but there is reason to believe it is way off the mark.  Consider if we figure that the leak started on the 20th, since the three previous days, and the post-repair days, have the WWTP collecting over 100,000 gallons per day (GPD) on average (107,500) than is sent out at the WTP. 

If we presume that average of differences carried out over the rest of the time, in the seven days where the WTP flow is greater than the WWTP intake (negative numbers), we get not only the deficits of that week, which adds up to 1,298,000 gallons, but the additional 107,500 'normal deficit' for each of those seven days, in other words, 752,500 gallons.  The sum of that one week leak is thus 2,050,500 gallons of raw sewage leaked into the Creamery Corners drain, which flows into the PM Bayou where all those private marinas reside, and beyond. 

The reporting form sent to Shay also indicates that the local health department was not informed until Tuesday 11-27-2012, and that they should have been informed within 24 hours by law; it also says that testing for E. Coli was waived by the health department.  There is no explanation noted (as they should) for why the health department wasn't timely notified. 

But this isn't the only thing missing.  The FOIA request asked for any 'written' records between the City and the various departments about this leak.  I was given only records involving interdepartmental communications, nothing given to or received by the health department or DEQ.  This was quite odd, and required further investigation of those agency's records to confirm this apparent oversight.

The County Health Department FOIA

The county government runs the health department and the drain commission, so one would think they would have a bit of information on this 2 million gallon leak.  They had nothing other than a Miss Dig report from the drain commissioner:  2012 Miss Dig City of Ludington.pdf.  What's more revealing is, once again, what they didn't find.

Two officers of Health Department #10 wrote back that this very significant leak was unreported to them, and even to the state. 

Consider that a leak less than 1/2000th of what went into commercial Ludington waters was reported by a private business, but that City Manager Shay had all the information sent to him on the day the leak was found, had the DEQ report filled out and sent to him, telling that the health department and DEQ had been notified, and yet no records show that he did any of that, as it would have been part of the response. 

One presumes that Shay told his subordinate Allard that the two agencies were contacted to help him fill out his form, but then hesitated to send the form out because it would show that he lied when he didn't contact either in a meaningful manner, and that testing was never considered or 'waived' by the health department.

Legal Penalties

The DEQ report form is mandated by state law MCL 324.3112a, which mandates notification of the local newspaper, the DEQ and the local health department by someone who spills raw sewage into the land or waters of this state.  It notes the DEQ will promptly put such notification immediately on its website.  It mandates testing for E. Coli by the responsible party, who shall then provide those results to the local health department.  The friendly local news media was alerted that an incidental leak occurred, otherwise none of these were followed.

It also states that penalties for violation of that section are found at MCL 324.3115.  The criminal penalties in section two say that the Attorney General can prosecute for some stiff fines to the perpetrator, along with the potential imprisonment up to two years, and allows additional civil penalties for injuries to the natural resources of the state.

Section three says if a court determines the unreported 2,000,000 gallon leak "posed a substantial endangerment to the public health, safety, or welfare, the court shall impose a fine of not less than $500,000.00 and not more than $5,000,000.00".  Section four allows the court to add a million dollar fine and five year imprisonment for the responsible party if the same endangerment occurs. 

These are serious penalties for seriously negligent actions that are clearly existing in this case.  The gross, wanton, and willful recklessness of our city's experienced manager, John Shay, should be taken into account when the Attorney General decides what penalties to pursue.  This cannot be overlooked by the citizens of Ludington as a mistake, as it appears Shay skipped many mandated steps to endanger our health and safety.

[shinblind]

Sorry guys but I am with Jimmy on this one.

E. Coli is a non-issue other than the  nutrient load it shows that was released into the bayou. That is why I haven't chimed in much on this issue.

Shay mishandled this affair. Perhaps Shay has no way of explaining where the funding from '08  to fix the bayou went so he doesn't wish to see that can of worms get reopened, hence his not following proper protocol in reporting this event. He sure acts like he has something to hide.

No, the one issue that is troubling to me is the carcinogenic material that was found and measured after the '08  flood. What were the States words again, "NO HUMAN CONTACT".

And yet when they recently tested the results were "no problemo".

Why?

Was the '08 testing faulty?  Or the more recent test?

Why the Yuge discrepancy between the 2 tests with no explaination?

The carcinogenic material doesn't half-life in such a short time. If I remember right the carcinogenic material was a by product of generating gas from coal. Yet the one local plant producing coal gas was several hundred yards down stream from the bayou.  How did the material get here?  How did it get upstream?

Is the entire Creamery Corner Drain contaminated with carcinogenic fill material?

Was the material used to cover the old City dump east of Madison street contaminated and washed in during the flood of '08? 

Was the material used to repair Madison street after the '86 flood contaminated with carcinogenic material that washed in during the '08 flood?

All I have is questions with no forthcoming answers.  And what we have to work with is an intellectually moribund City Council and City Manager who don't really give a shit and have no curiosity to seek the answers on a public health issue. 

[Brad]

If there was actually $140k paid to city from state to city for cleanup, seems like that is not enough.  Verification of payment?  Where did amount come from, bids?

I image that PM Bayou along with most of PM can be very contaminated with many pollutants. It was a busy port and site of many "factories", etc, long before regulations.  

Then there is the 2008/2012 overflows and road debris.

Cost is the determent to the PM Bayou.  Non-cleanup is careless disregard for environment and citizens.

[shinblind]

Brad
It may have been adequate funding in 08.
Remember the bayou wasn't determined to be contaminated until well after the Madison street wash out was repaired.
The trucks and excavators were already in place for the road repairs.
It was just a matter moving material. For $140,000 you can move a lot of material.

As you stated where did this funding go? There should be a paper trail leading somewhere.

Also while there were other business along the bayou, the carcinogen that was discovered there that carried the warning NO HUMAN CONTACT was specifically a by-product of the coal-gasification process, indeed most of the employees of these plants died from cancer It was one of the earliest links to a substance being a cause of cancer. And the only gas plant was well down stream of the bayou.
Certainly the cost today would be much higher. And passing this cost on to the future is no answer.
I would much rather see PM bayou cleaned up than the funds used to gussied up the West End Scheme for the fudgies.

[Brad]

Most definitely!

PM Bayou cleanup...good.

West End....bad.

[Willy]

All of the toxic material in the spill was my basic concern. My contention was that the toxic soup flowed into the PM river/lake and since there is a current I was concerned that the material was carried to the water intake not in a matter of weeks but  in a matter of hours or a day so that dilution would be at a minimum. The question I have to ask is, was the water treatment plant prepared for the extra deluge of toxins. Normally the plant runs on a ho hum basis because the water in the lake stays fairly consistent in it's contents and since the toxic water from the spill that floated by with an  unusually large amount of nasty elements, it spawns another  question, did they in fact allow an exceeding amount of toxins to flow into the drinking water. We'll never no. That was/is my concern. Because of the deceitful track record of the City Manager one can only guess what exactly took place.

[Brad]

Agree....

Stay jimmmmaay, stay.  

[AQUAMAN]

Well, I see a LOT of great questions by shinblind, Brad, and Willy, but still NO Valid nor Reasonable answers by other newbies, or "experts", like Jimmy Boy. Since he's on here now, 24/7, makes me wonder, not only about his intentions, but his "theoretical physic's answers". I don't see any lately, lol, just another troll on an agenda, and mission, imho.

[XLFD]

Jimmy lost every bit of his credibility to me when he deleted his posts, as many trolls seem to do after awhile here.  I encourage new members to speak their mind, as is their right, but then after a while 'Jimmy' and his alter-egos and other similar entities ruin the fluidity of the debate by deleting the points they were trying to make. 

If you had the best point wouldn't you be inclined to leave your wisdom behind?  Jimmy, I would encourage you to leave if you can't stand behind what you say, and stay only if you have the courage to stand behind your words.

[Willy]

Not being on the forum is Jimmy's loss. He's more than welcome as far as I'm concerned but he needs to understand that not everyone sees things his way even if someone else's opinion makes no sense to him. I guess the bottom line is that the bayou needs to be cleaned but I'm sure that's not going to happen. I think the excuse that will be forever used to not clean up the mess is that disturbing the bottom of the bayou would loosen any contaminants and re-pollute the waters of the PM. 

[jfc123]

It is the creamy corner drain, any major rainfall or major melt off will disturb the bottom and send it out, unless cleaned. Madison/Water st just look at the water, walk on the dock see how bad it is with weeds due to the "fertilizer"!

[AQUAMAN]

Thanks jfc, for the candor, and credence of your experience, NOT fantasy and theory. People that live and work in this area, not Chicago Attorney Councilor Krauch, know the serious affects of the COL catastrophe, and that's not even close to being another false or inaccurate evaluation, like some newbies here have posted of recent. SAD that some of us, locals, have to live with this now, and possibly, from the statements of CM Shay, for the rest of our LIVES!