Federal officials say Illinois politicians pointing to Milwaukee as the source of E. coli contamination that closed more than half of Chicago's 31 lakefront beaches should look up instead.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says seagull droppings were most likely the cause of the high bacteria levels that prompted a series of swimming bans that began on Memorial Day.
"Everybody wants a straightforward answer that blames Milwaukee or the birds of something else," Richard Whitman, chief of the U.S. Geological Survey's Lake Michigan Ecological Research Station, told the Chicago Tribune. "The reality is, this is more complicated than people think and we're still trying to figure out how it works."
Whitman published a study in 2003 that showed E. coli persists in beach sand despite expensive cleanup efforts.
"If the sand is stirred up by wave action or runoff, the bacteria can be pumped back into the water," he said.
Mayor Richard M. Daley and Rep. Mark Kirk, R-Ill., blamed 4.6 billion gallons of untreated sewage released by the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District during heavy May rains for pollution that fouled Illinois beaches. Kirk asked the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to study whether sewage released into Lake Michigan 90 miles away could contribute to Chicago beach pollution.
Kirk and Rep. Rahm Emanuel, D-Ill., are sponsoring congressional legislation to authorize spending $4 billion a year for Great Lakes protection and restoration.
Daley called Milwaukee's dumping of raw sewage and wastewater into rivers and streams that flowed into the lake inexcusable.
That sentiment was repeated by Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., in a letter to acting U.S. EPA assistant administrator for enforcement Tom Skinner, which said, "There is evidence to suggest that sewage overflows from Milwaukee are responsible for the deteriorating beach health conditions in Illinois."
Skinner said while Milwaukee's dumping shows they have serious problems with a combined sewer system that can be overwhelmed in heavy rains, EPA does not "believe there is any scientific evidence that would indicate Milwaukee's problems are affecting Chicago's beaches."
President George W. Bush named a Cabinet-level task force last month to coordinate cleanup efforts among the eight Great Lakes states, federal agencies and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec, which border the lakes. The 10-member panel is supposed to develop a plan to clean up the watershed by May 31, 2005.
The Great Lakes are vulnerable.
The world's largest supply of surface freshwater -- 90 percent of the nation's surface freshwater -- faces threats from environmental pollution and exotic invasive species like the Zebra mussel, gobie and Asian snakehead carp, a voracious "Frankenfish" seeking to make a home in the lakes.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers this summer will begin work on a $4.4 million permanent electrified barrier in the man-made Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, which links the Mississippi River Basin and the lakes, to keep Asian carp out and protect sports fish. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium said Asian black carp have been spotted 20 miles from a temporary demonstration electrified barrier in the Illinois River -- only 50 miles from Lake Michigan.
Heavy rains prompted swimming warnings at Lake Erie beaches last week after the Ohio Department of Health found elevated levels of E. coli at two Toledo-area beaches.
Beachgoers were told to have fun but to avoid swallowing lake water.
Whether bird droppings or untreated-sewage dumping is responsible for beach closings, many of the millions who rely on the lakes for water say the time for studies is over.
"Members of Congress at a congressional forum recently began pushing for real action to head off growing problems with the Great Lakes. To them, we say, 'Amen,'" said an editorial in the Lancaster, Ohio, Eagle-Gazette.
"Great Lakes need money, not more lip service," said the Bay City (Mich.) Times. "We know what needs to be done. ... Stop yakking about it and show us the money."
Consider the traditional Wisconsin fish boil as a barometer of Lake Michigan's general health. The centuries-old tradition of the "Friday Fish Fry" of breaded, deep-fried, lake perch or bluegill nowadays is mostly likely young cod, caught thousands of miles away in the ocean because of declining populations of native lake fish.
The number of licensed commercial fishermen in Wisconsin has fallen from more than 200 in 1979 to about 85, and the state will not issue new commercial fishing licenses.
Midwesterners probably eat more haddock and orange roughy than Lake Superior whitefish, a Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources fisheries specialist told the Madison Capital Times.
Farm-raised salmon has become so popular its restaurant-industry nickname is "chicken of the sea." Tilapia farming may be next.
A team of biologists will collect data on fish populations in 14 Wisconsin lakes this summer.
Nearly 900 research papers and two studies are scheduled for presentation at the August meeting of the American Fisheries Society in Madison.
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