RRWC, Michigan

The River Raisin obtained a small grant for Remedial Action Plan Outreach this year.  The details of this grant are outlined below.

E. coli Investigations:
The persistence of E. coli in our Area of Concern (AOC) has been defined as a Beneficial Use Impairment (BUI), past beach closings at Sterling State Park in the AOC led to the BUI designation. Political Action Committee (PAC) members wish to better define the source of the contamination providing up-to-date data to the public. The E. coli Investigations are proposed to better define the presence of E. coli in the Watershed and the AOC during and proceeding rain events. The data will be used by the technical committee to formally assess the status of the defined BUI, and should identify that sources of the contamination are from upstream of the AOC leading to delisting of this BUI. 80 samples will be taken during the study period.

Support for PAC Meetings:
PAC support money will be used to set outstanding delisting criteria, assess the status of the Beach BUI, and will support the development of Fish & Wildlife restoration criteria.

We have requested funds for meeting costs including:
-Water, coffee, and snacks.
-Meeting Room Rental
-Background information on the AOC for public meetings and copies for:
-AOC and Watershed Maps
-Copies of reports and data collected for review
-Development of educational material
-Support for Environmental Outreach Projects

We have requested funds for materials and supplies necessary to conduct public outreach projects including:
-Invasive aquatic plant elimination program, a component of delisting the Fish and Wild life habitat BUI.  Preventing further spread of the Flowering Rush.
-Woody debris removal program. Developed to addressing some of the aesthetic BUI, and will address potential navigation hazards.
-Boy Scout Clean-up in AOC proposed to address the aesthetic BUI component.

Click on their links to access the following documents:
MDEQ RAP Update for the River Raisin AOC
Guidance for Delisting Michigan's Great Lakes AOC


Additional information about the River Raisin Area of Concern:
Under the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement (GLWQA), the River Raisin Area of Concern (AOC) has nine Beneficial Use Impairments (BUIs):
 
     - Degradation of Benthos
     - Restrictions on Dredging Activities
     - Eutrophication or Undesireable Algae
     - Beach Closings
     - Degradation of Aesthetics
     - Loss of Fish and Wildlife Habitat
     - Restrictions on Fish and Wildlife Consumption
     - Degraded Fish and Wildlife Populations
     - Bird or Animal Deformities or Reproductive Problems
 
This is nine of the fourteen BUIs identified under GLWQA. The other five are not likely to occur in the River Raisin AOC, but are listed here as a precaution:
 
     - Restrictions on Drinking Water Consumption or Taste and Odor Problems
     - Added Costs to Agriculture or Industry
     - Degradation of Phytoplankton and Zooplankton Populations
     - Tainting of Fish and Wildlife Flavor
     - Fish Tumors or Other Deformities
 
Given the condition of the Federal Navigation Channel and Turning Basin, anything can happen and additional BUIs may be added to the "List" by the Great Lakes National Program Office (GLNPO) which is part of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).  The GLNPO and Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) have agreed to a "Scope of Work" for developing delisting targets for the two Habitat BUIs within the River Raisin AOC.  This work is supported through a contract (NOT a grant) with EPA-GLNPO, with oversight from MDEQ personnel. This work does not cover any interactions with the River Raisin Public Advisory Council (PAC) on establishing targets related to non-habitat BUIs. The Scope of Work calls for the MDEQ Remedial Action Plan (RAP) Coordinator and River RAisin PAC to develop a Delisting Target Technical Committee which would consist of up to twelve people from the following:
 
     - County Health Department
     - Planning Agencies
     - Drain Commissioner
     - Public Works within the Watershed
     - Area Universities
     - NGOs
     - Consultants who have expertise in various ecological disciplines and/or are familiar with the
       Watershed, the RAP process and the delisting process. The timetable for this process follows:
          - Project initiation  6.30.07
          - Project schedule 7.31.07
          - Final Report for the AOC containing specific, quantifiable delisting targets for the two BUIs
            to EPA-GLNPO by December 31, 2008.
 
None of the River Raisin AOC BUIs have been delisted. Even though progress has been made to remediate the contaminated sediments in the AOC and delisting targets have been set up for the non-habitat BUIs by the MDEQ, no delisting has taken place.  Once the delisting targets for the two Habitat BUIs are completed and residual contaminated sediments are removed from the Federal Navigation Channel, the delisting process should take place in an orderly manner.
 
In the interim, the River Raisin AOC Remedial Action Plan (RAP) will be subjected to two Quality Assurance Project Plans (QAPP) which set the stage for the delisting process:

        - Habitat QAPP (2 BUIs)
        - Beaching Closing QAPP (1 BUI)
 
This same process will be required for the remaining BUIs. To help facilitate the process, DTE Energy and the Wildlife Habitat Council have partnered in a stewardship program for wildlife habitat around the Monroe Power Plant as part of ISO 14001.  American Lotus beds have returned to Plum Creek Bay and eagles congregate on Raisin Point along the thermal discharge canal. In 1832, the U.S.Army Corps of Engineers changed the course of the River Raisin by dredging a navigation channel through a barrier beach that protected the Monroe Marshes. This unalterably changed the marsh ecosystem. Since that time dredging and filling continued unabated. I-75 truncated Plum Creek Bay and the upper reaches of the River Raisin estuary, the City of Mnroe used the area for a sanitary landfill, the Consolidated Paper Company disposed of lead and PCBs in lagoons and finally Detroit Edison built one of the world's largest fossil fuel electricity generating plants in the world on Guyor's Island adjacent to the Federal Navigation Channel. The Power Plant changed the flow of the River once again. The water intake draws cooling water at 3,000 cubic feet pr second and discharges it on the old river bed.  This is creating an alluvial formation over the historic River delta on Raisin Point at the mouth of the thermal discharge. There are 1,200 acres of biodiversity habitat in LaPlaisance Bay that compensate for the destruction of habitat in the Area of Concern. Lotus beds have been observed south of Raisin Point in LaPlaisance Bay.  Another 2,000 acres of wildlife habitat exists upstream from Raisin Point on Plum Creek Bay with the Flyash Basin. Overall, Monroe Harbor has 6,000 acres of wildlife habitat that surrounds the AOC. There is a great opportunity for wildlife habitat restoration in Monroe Harbor. Much of the property is already owned by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources (Sterling State Park) and managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Eagle Island Marsh).  DTE Energy owns Raisin Point in LaPlaisance Bay and the flyash basin along Plum Creek Bay .
 
The boundary of the River Raisin AOC has been established by Region V, EPA. The River Raisin AOC is 2.6 miles long from the last dam to Lake Erie on the Federal Navigation Channel.  Eagles are nesting along this stretch of the River.   The Detroit District Corps of Engineers has not been able to do maintenance dredging on this channel; however, there is a confined disposal facility  (CDF) at Sterling State Park that relieves some of the restrictions on dredging activities (BUI). DTE Energy is currently doing their own dredging and using the CDF to dispose of the dredged material. This would suggest that a Quality Assurance Program Plan could be developed for the Dredging BUI for delisting purposes.