- A communication failure that allowed Belle Isle Beach to remain open despite high levels of E. coli has put the state’s testing program under scrutiny.
- Official says the multi-day turnaround time for test results makes it difficult to accurately track pollution levels in the often fast-moving Detroit River.
- Faster testing technologies, more frequent sampling or computer modeling could allow officials to better track pathogen levels in the river.
There was a crowd of people at Belle Isle Beach around 5 pm on Saturday, July 13 when Detroiter Laura Bailey Brandon went for a swim with her husband, unaware that the city and state officials had already received test results showing potentially dangerous levels of bacteria in the water.
“Everyone was having a great day,” Brandon said, estimating around a hundred people were on the beach and thirty were in the water.
Her husband was hesitant to go in the water, but she encouraged him to do so. Brandon receives text alerts when tests show high levels of E. coli at the beach, but it wasn’t until Monday that an update arrived telling her the water had been unsafe.
“It is frustrating, especially thinking that somebody could have gotten really sick,” she said. “I hate thinking that being in a big body should be a scary thing or unsafe at all.”
A lack of communication between the Detroit Health Department and the Department of Natural Resources, which manages Belle Isle Park, and a late test result contributed to the oversight. However, the issue has raised broader concerns about water contamination and whether the state could be testing more frequently or using different technology to catch threats sooner.
The Detroit Health Department received the test results indicating high E. coli levels on Saturday, but a staff member didn’t see it until Monday. Tom Bissett, urban district supervisor for the DNR, told Planet Detroit the DNR allowed the beach to remain open, believing it lacked the authority to close it. He said the health department is responsible for putting E. coli into the state database that helps determine when beaches close.
In a statement to Planet Detroit, the Detroit Health Department said, “Belle Isle is fully run by the Michigan DNR, and the MDNR conducts the tests and receives the results directly from the lab.”
The department said that after a meeting last week, “there now is a clear process we both agree upon going forward.”
Yet, the oversight highlights the time lag between testing E. coli and when results are available. Samples are taken at Belle Isle on Wednesdays and results usually arrive by Friday, giving authorities a chance to close the beach before a busy weekend. On the week in question, results didn’t arrive until Saturday, but even the normal period it takes to get results poses a problem in the often fast-moving Detroit River.
“It’s 48 hours-old information that we’re dealing with, which is the inherent problem in the whole process,” Bissett said. Whatever water is sampled will have moved far downriver by the time results arrive, he said.
The state’s water quality standard for E. coli which if exceeded will lead to a beach closure, is a daily geometric mean of 300 E. coli per 100 milliliters or a 30-day geometric mean of 130 E. coli per 100 mL. A geometric mean indicates the central tendency or typical value of a set of numbers.
Results on July 10 showed a daily mean of 920 E. coli per 100 mL.
What do elevated E. coli levels mean?
E. coli. is a diverse group of bacteria carried by all warm-blooded animals, and most types of E. coli will not cause sickness, said Joan Rose, a water microbiologist at Michigan State University.
When an E. coli infection does occur, diarrhea, stomach pain and cramps, low-grade fever, and loss of appetite are common symptoms. These symptoms usually develop three to five days after ingesting contaminated water or food. Some types of E. coli are more severe than others, like E. coli 0157:H7, which can cause severe illness and even death.
Young children, those over 65 years of age and people with health conditions like diabetes, HIV and ulcerative colitis are at greater risk from E. coli infections. Rose said children may be especially vulnerable because they tend to swallow more water when swimming.
E. coli may also indicate that other pathogens contained in fecal pollution, like norovirus, salmonella and shigella are in the water.
Rose said animal waste, home septic systems and sewage overflows from water treatment facilities can all send fecal material into waterways and contribute to E. coli problems. In the Detroit River area, geese and gulls are responsible for most the bacterial contamination, according to a 2022 study that included sampling from Belle Isle Beach.
“Generally, it’s considered that the [health] risk is lower with birds compared to sewage,” Rose said.
Rose said rain runoff is also a major contributor to E. coli contamination, washing in pollution from sediments, soil, manure, and leaky sewers. On the day the tests showing elevated levels at Belle Isle were taken, more than an inch of rain fell in metro Detroit as the remnants of Hurricane Beryl moved through the area.
Is there a better way to test for E. coli at Belle Isle beach?
More rapid and frequent testing could help authorities better track E. coli at Belle Isle, experts say. For example, labs can deliver results for Quantitative Polymerase Chain Reaction or qPCR tests in about an hour and a half, Rose said.
It could still take a while to transport tests to the lab, but Rose said this method could allow authorities to sample in the morning and get results in the afternoon rather than wait two days. The Oakland County Health Department is currently piloting the use of these tests to monitor E. coli.
Bissett said rapid qPCR tests would be an ideal solution for Belle Isle. He added that the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy has also reached out to the DNR about a grant that could allow them to allow for testing on both Mondays and Wednesdays.
It’s also possible that sites like Belle Isle could use modeling to predict water quality problems before they occur, Rose said. Chicago has used a predictive computer model that employs historical testing data, weather forecasts and geographical information to forecast when high E. coli levels are likely to hit city beaches.
Whatever changes are made, Brandon said authorities need to do something to restore her faith that the correct measures are being taken to protect those swimming at Bell Isle Beach.
“It makes me wonder how many times have I swam in the water and the E. coli level was unsafe?” she said.
Those looking for the most recent beach closure information can find it at www.egle.state.mi.us/beach. Beachgoers can also sign up for Belle Isle Park alerts by texting the word “gem” to the number 80888.