K-12 Student-driven Project

Michigan leaders push U.S. for fix in St. Clair River

October 28, 2007

BY TINA LAM

FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER

With no natural relief -- like more rain and snow -- on the horizon, three powerful Michigan politicians are prodding federal bureaucrats to dust off decades-old ideas about doing something unnatural to help restore water levels now at near-historic lows on Lakes Huron and Michigan.

Gov. Jennifer Granholm and U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow, both Democrats, and U.S. Rep. Candice Miller, a Macomb County Republican, have asked the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to consider a quick fix at the head of the St. Clair River to stymie the flow out of Lake Huron and help shippers, boaters and wildlife suffering from low water levels.

They want the corps to consider placing a flow inhibitor -- such as concrete speed bumps -- even before the completion of a new study that's examining whether dredging exacerbated low water levels by creating a larger drain hole. Any man-made fix would be hugely controversial, potentially expensive and certain to encounter a minefield of regulatory hurdles on both sides of the border.

Final results of the study -- by the International Joint Commission, a U.S. and Canadian advisory body -- are not expected until early 2009. That's too long to wait, says the bipartisan coalition, echoing what many lakefront property owners have been saying for years.

Experts hired by Canadian homeowners suggested in a 2005 study that St. Clair River dredging completed in the 1960s has permitted an estimated 2.5 billion extra gallons a day to escape from Lake Huron because continuing erosion has deepened the river.

In recent months, the IJC has done preliminary work using a camera-equipped mechanical probe to examine the riverbed to try to determine the validity of the 2005 study. Results of the preliminary probe are expected to be released this week in Toronto.

Granholm and Stabenow asked the corps in separate letters to its Washington and Detroit offices this month to immediately consider dusting off old designs, dating to the early 1960s, for putting weirs -- in effect, concrete speed bumps -- in the bottom of the river.

The corps concedes that human activities from the 1860s to the 1960s -- dredging, sand mining and shoreline alterations -- have caused Lakes Michigan and Huron to drop about 14 inches, including 5 inches from the 1960s dredging alone. But scientists hired by the Georgian Bay Association of homeowners in Canada say that continuing post-dredging erosion is now responsible for closer to 30 inches of lowered levels.

Weirs might not work as intended

The corps had plans for weirs to slow the river's flow after the 1962 dredging, but those weirs were never built because water levels began rising in the late 1960s.

Congress pulled the plug on plans for the weirs in 1977, said Scott Thieme, chief hydrologist in the Detroit office of the Army Corps.

"Since we are no longer in a high water level cycle, I am requesting that the corps immediately evaluate the potential effectiveness of the structural measures that were identified as part of the corps project plan when dredging of the St. Clair River occurred in the 1960s," Granholm wrote in an Oct. 17 letter.

Liz Boyd, a spokeswoman for Granholm, said the lakes are the lifeblood of the state's economy and quality of life.

"We need the federal government to help us solve a problem they helped create decades ago," Boyd said.

That would be consistent with a promise President George W. Bush gave in 2004 to make federal agencies partners in restoring the Great Lakes, she said.

Such a fix, while raising levels in Lakes Michigan and Huron, could cause the level of Lake St. Clair to drop by about 2 inches.

Many government scientists in the United States and Canada reject the findings of the Georgian Bay study. They say more complicated factors are at work and the data the study relied on -- the government's data -- could be flawed. They caution against making changes until the new international study is done.

Politicians want the corps to act sooner. "People are justifiably concerned that such dramatic drops in lake levels could be inadvertently caused by our government's own actions," Stabenow wrote to the corps on Oct. 10.

Miller said she has pushed for a fix in the river since the Georgian Bay study was released. "I'm glad to hear the governor and senators talking about this now," she said. "I've been trying to get them to do something."

Thieme said the corps has discussed with congressional staff the idea of taking a fresh look at its old weir plans, but it couldn't be done quickly. It would require funding from Congress, studies, environmental permits, public hearings and consultation with the Canadian government, he said. "We'd have to make sure we weren't benefiting some people while others were losing," he said.

For example, a drop in Lake St. Clair of 2 inches would be permanent, he said. Roger Gauthier, a hydrologist for the Great Lakes Commission, disagreed and said a drop in Lake St. Clair because of such a fix would last less than a year.

Miller, whose district spans part of the shoreline of Lake Huron as well as Lake St. Clair, said she's not sure. "I'm not a hydrologist, but I don't think it would have a lasting negative impact," she said.

Thieme said slowing the flow out of the St. Clair River could cause problems if water levels rise again. "There are pros and cons to whatever you do," he said.

River is at center of mystery

Low water levels have been a major Great Lakes problem this decade. Low water hurts commercial shipping, which supplies raw materials for the auto, steel and building industries, forcing ships to carry less cargo per trip and jacking up costs. Wetlands dry up, affecting the habitat for fish and other creatures. Boaters bang propellers on rocks or have to extend their docks.

Lake Superior hit a record low for a September last month but has since risen about 8 inches. Lakes Michigan and Huron are about 5 inches above record lows. Lakes St. Clair and Erie are closer to their long-term averages.

The mystery is why the lower lakes are in better shape, hydrologically speaking, than the upper lakes, and whether dredging in the St. Clair River is the reason. That's at the heart of the political debates.

The so-called bathtub drain Georgian Bay Association study has created a huge international fuss as hydrologists, climatologists and engineers battle over its accuracy. Other scientists have never reviewed the study, and the International Joint Commission work will effectively do that.

Scientists who dispute the Canadian study attribute low lake levels to a combination of factors: tilting of the earth's crust after the glaciers receded; climate change; weather cycles; storms that hit the lower lakes but miss the upper ones; less ice cover that leads to more evaporation of the lakes in winter, and years of drought.

But the bathtub drain theory has taken on a life of its own. It has gotten so much attention on both sides of the border -- including lengthy reports on CNN and the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. -- that many people accept it as gospel. "The Yanks are stealing our water," said a recent post on a Canadian newspaper's Web site.

People may buy the erosion theory of why lake levels are low because it can be fixed, said John Nevin, spokesman for the IJC study in Washington, D.C. "People see erosion as an engineering problem and say, 'We can fix that,' " he said. "We can't fix climate."

Study chief cautions against haste

The $15-million study of the St. Clair River will look at complicated scientific calculations of river flow, sediment deposits, weather patterns and the tipping of the earth's crust.

"We all want to know the answer, but it's going to take time," said Jim Nicholas, cochairman of the study. Much of the information used now, such as water flow gauges and depth records, needs to be reexamined to see whether it's accurate, he said.

The study will produce new data using more modern methods, which could change the conclusions, he said. For example, videos of the river's bottom are being made by using an unmanned, camera-equipped submarine to see what's actually there. Hydraulic models of the river will be created. Sonar will be used to take overlapping measurements of large swaths of the river.

Gauthier said he has pushed for four years for new river flow meters that are just now being installed for the study.

"It should never have taken 30 years for government to measure the depth of the river," said Gauthier. "This is the most critical location in all the Great Lakes."

He doubts whether everyone will be satisfied when the study is complete.

Canadians feel a short shrift

The Georgian Bay Association already has concerns.

"We feel there is a coolness towards our report being taken seriously," said Bill Bialkowski, an engineer who did the latest association calculations. "Ours was a short study, $250,000, because we have small pockets and we're not the government. It was our hope that this study, which has much deeper pockets, would look more closely."

He's concerned it won't. Among other things, he said a full three-dimensional model of the river is needed, but not planned. (K-12 Student-driven Project)

Mary Muter, a Georgian Bay homeowner who is on the study's public advisory panel, said she's concerned about the science, especially because none of the association's experts is directly involved in the study. Design work on mitigation measures to slow the river's flow should already be under way, she said.

"We can't wait," Muter said.

Kay Felt, a retired Detroit attorney who lives on Lake St. Clair and cochairs the public advisory panel, said the study must balance scientific and personal points of view.

"We have people who want us to immediately dump rocks in the river, and my neighbors who want all the water coming down the river they can get.

"We can't listen to one small, vocal group. We have to get the science right."

Contact TINA LAM at 313-222-6421 or tlam@freepress.com.