Click on Detroit shares that State Representatives Alicia St. Germaine and Ron Robinson have introduced a bill to establish a “Brown Alert” system modeled after existing emergency notification systems like Amber Alerts:
“Right after a raw sewage discharge, we shouldn’t have people paddleboarding on the Clinton River or launching kayaks. They need timely notifications so they can make an informed decision whether they want to go on that waterway,” St. Germaine said.
The proposed system would require county drain or public works commissioners to notify local emergency managers within 12 hours of the water reaching dangerous contamination levels.
“If something like this were to happen, people should be notified in real-time, and in a lot of cases, it’s not reported for weeks or sometimes months afterwards, and by then, what are you going to do about it?” Robinson said.
Many Harrison Township residents have witnessed signs of water contamination firsthand. “The other day, when we had a big rain and you could see chunks of what I’m going to call ‘things’ floating down the river that appeared to be untreated sewage. It was awful,” said Jim Constantino.
That’s a big no from me on floaty things in our rivers & lakes!! The other day I saw a green heron fishing in a containment pond that had a posted “Don’t Eat These Fish” warning. It always makes me sad when I see animals oblivious to our pollution, but hopefully making more people aware of it will lead to generating less of it.
Kevin took this shot of a young green heron last month in a marshy area at the Grand Ravines. See lots more in his Birds gallery on Flickr.
You can read more about Green herons on Michigan in Pictures!
Michigan in Pictures 