This past Wednesday in room 247 in McKenny Union, Joan Rose from Michigan State University spoke to an audience of approximately 30 students on whether individuals should be concerned with the state of our water.
Rose is a professor at MSU, the Homer Nowlin Chair in water research at MSU’s Department of Water Quality and co-director of the Center for Water Sciences and Center for Advancing Microbial Assessment. She earned her B.S. and Ph.D. from the University of Arizona as well as her M.S. from the University of Wyoming.
She was invited to speak at Eastern Michigan University by professor James Vandenbosch.
The event, which was the first biology seminar of the year, was entitled “Water Quality and Health in the Great Lakes.”
“Eastern has a good aquatic biology group and I knew she would be able to talk to a lot of people in the audience,” he said.
“It’s a big issue we’re just not exposed to much,” Rose said. “There are certain communities in the Great Lakes where they are still struggling.”
In the United States, there are a total of 16,000 publicly owned wastewater treatment plants and 100,000 major pumping stations.
The Great Lakes have provided so much water throughout the United States that in the 1800s, on a map drawn to plan out water resources, they were the center of all the United States water supply.
The problem with this plan was all the pollution found in the Great Lakes.
The factors that can be contributed to human health risks are sediment, bird droppings, urban runoff and industrial outfalls. It is also important to understand the movement and transportation of these substances to ensure they will not affect the water.
“Always, one foot in microbiology, one foot in engineering and one foot in public health.” Rose said, about the three fields that are combined in order to test the waters.
“Much of the work has to be discovered within the field and a lot of times the laboratory will end up in someone’s backyard adding the element of community engagement,” Rose said. “People will ask ‘What did you see?’ and ‘Is it safe?’ What they really want to know is whether or not the water carries contaminants that make you sick?”
The contaminants that would make an individual sick are pathogens such as viruses, bacteria and parasites that can cause microbial exposure that leads to infections that turns into disease and even leads to death.
Examples of past substances found in our water that led to a more serious condition include: E coli 015H7, which could cause diarrhea, salmonella or arthritis; H. pylori can cause ulcers; Coxsackiervirus B; and Adenoviruses, which can lead to diabetes and obesity.
It has also been proven that what people are exposed to in their water might not infect them, but can be genetic and passed down to children – but there is not much information on the viruses in the genetics of water yet.
Two very dangerous parasites include Giardia and Cryptospordium, because they are resistant to chlorination and the water cleansing system. Giardia is less dangerous because it is a bigger parasite and can be filtered, but Crypto is too microscopic to be filtered.
Today, there are new science and tools, monitoring sources and pathogen discovery for water to address health impacts. There is water sampling, standard E. Coli tests, source tracking done through the methods of Colphage, DNA testing, IDEXX and Membrane Filtration, but not all these methods work all the time.
According to the risk reduction associated with the combined sewer overflows, there are four different factors that contribute to water safety, including risk assessment and management, environmental, contamination detection and control.
“It makes me nervous and I want to go do research on policy and get involved,” said Kristie Mitchell, 34, of Eastern Michigan University.
“The Great Lakes are both better and worse than at times past,” Vandenbosch said. “As Dr. Rose pointed out, in the early 20th century, the Great Lakes were the source of many important epidemics. International agreements, public health laws and the investment in sewage treatment infrastructure have corrected much of this problem.
“That said, the infrastructure is decaying and heavier loads are being placed on it by both population growth and changes in climate leading to heavier rain falls. Similarly, there has been a decrease in chemical contamination since its height during and after World War II,” Vandenbosch said.
According to Vandenbosch, another thing to watch out for are new chemicals in the water supply.
“…Many chemicals [PCB and Mercury] remain trapped in the food chain and new chemicals are being added note the oil spill in the Kalamazoo River,” he said. “The entire situation is further complicated by a breakdown in the ecosystem of the Great Lakes, [which can be] attributed to many factors including the onset of marine traffic with the opening of the Welland canal.
“In summary, things are better than in the past, but the infrastructure is decaying and the lakes are being stressed,” Vandenbosch said. “Things could go south quickly.”
