|
| |
|
| |
|
|
|
January 17, 2005DEQ dubs stricter water standards 'difficult'ByRecord-Eagle staff writer TRAVERSE CITY - The state agency charged with protecting the Great Lakes may have doused environmentalists' plans to halt pollution of Grand Traverse Bay. The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality told a group of local government officials and environmentalists last week it would be "very difficult" to adopt new water quality standards to protect the bay. "When you put it in writing and put it out in front of the regulatory environment, they are not going to like it," said Brenda Sayles, a DEQ Water Bureau supervisor. "It is going to be very controversial and very political." The Watershed Center Grand Traverse Bay wants local governments to petition the DEQ to designate the bay an Outstanding State Resource Water. The designation would ban any wastewater discharges into the bay that would lower its water quality. "We do not want to have the same water quality standards as Saginaw Bay," said Anne Brasie, Watershed Center director. The Saginaw Bay standard, with industrial discharges, is considered too lax by environmentalists and others. Area legislators said they would support the Watershed Center's effort if there was consensus among the local communities. "I think it's a real worthy goal and something I could work towards with the interested parties," said state Rep. Howard Walker, a Traverse City Republican. A new standard would impact new treatment plants or the expansion of existing plants in Suttons Bay, Traverse City and Elk Rapids. John Nelson, Watershed Center baykeeper, said the key is getting a standard for the bay that equals what Traverse City does at its renovated treatment plant. The discharge water produced by the state-of-the-art plant is clean enough to drink, but about 35 percent more expensive to produce. Daniel Dell, head of the DEQ's permit unit for Lake Michigan, said it was unlikely the DEQ would have permitted Traverse City's renovated plant if the bay had been designated an outstanding resource water. "If there is one pollutant, one chemical that we would consider an increase, it would preclude us from issuing a permit," Dell said. Nelson and others proposed applying the standard the bay fell under before 1997. DEQ aquatic biologist Sylvia Heaton contends the current standards are just as protective as the previous rules. But audience members at the water quality meeting picked apart Heaton's assertion using her own data. The new standards set strict criteria for the discharge of certain chemicals, but the old standard required all pollutants meet that same criteria. A pressing concern in the bay is increased nutrient levels that cause excessive weed and algae growth. Reacting to a new federal requirement, the DEQ now must set specific nutrient limits for discharges into the bay. Brasie said the Watershed Center board will decide if nutrient limits will be sufficient or if greater protection is desired. "The current standards aren't high enough, and the Outstanding State Resource Water standards are way down on the other end and may not be reasonable," Brasie said. "We have to find out more."
|
|
