Trouble in Paradise

Guest Opinion

By David Page | Jan. 31, 2026

Shorelines are hazardous, polluted, and unsafe. Is this really Pure Michigan?

Let’s consider this context throughout the following story from a neighbor named Kevin. A few years ago during a rainstorm:

“I was slowly driving down Union Street in the rain. The torrential downpour had ended, but the streets and watershed was raging with stormwater. At Union and Front I came upon an astonishing sight: a manhole cover blew off the road in front of me and floated for moment on a column of up-swelling water, and then was cast aside like a toy frisbee. If that wasn’t unusual, along with this water came a family of bedraggled, soggy raccoons, washed out of the system and up through the manhole like they were on a water park ride.”

This eye-witness account reveals an underappreciated aspect of summer beach closings. We are enduring the consequences of poorly designed stormwater management systems from several decades ago. Thus, for generations, wildlife has enjoyed easy access and happily reproduce (overpopulating) in these places with well-documented results.

A principal culprit is the cartoonishly cute raccoon, admired for their adaptability, beloved for their antics. However, they are a polluting menace; lots of them, lots of daily feces. The excrement builds up in stormwater systems, eventually joined by food scrap, other pet and wildlife waste, and the trash decorating our yards, parks, and surface areas. It’s mixing together in rainwater drainages, then dumping into our watershed. We could use a census count on the animals in these systems and an expanded schedule of water sampling at all drainage outflows for a more complete picture.

It’s true, waterfowl are chief contributors to contamination on beaches. After all, it’s where they commonly live and poop. It would serve us well to clean it up regularly before it leaches into soils and water. It would also serve us well for shoreline owners to reduce or remove turf grass at the waters edge and install buffer zone plantings. These cost-effective remedies mitigate erosion impacts and contamination.

Now let’s consider an ambitious attempt by Traverse City and the State of Michigan to mitigate stormwater pollution back in 2014. Three Fabco Helix treatment systems, specifically designed and tested to kill E. coli and similar pathogens (essentially on contact) were installed at East Bay outflows. Anyone wanting detailed explanations of this equipment should visit Falco’s website.

This trail begins and grows cold with a memo from Angela Brennan, USGS, dated 20 Oct. 2015. She’s recommending some followup after water sampling results indicated no improvement (after the installation of these filter assemblies):

“Preliminary microbiological results of this study suggest that it may be useful to look into the installation and engineering specs of the Fabco Helix stormwater filters which were installed at East Bay. I found a link that roughly explains the design of the filters, however it may be worth contacting the manufacturer to obtain more information such as; are the filters supposed to be submersed in water, or can they dry out and still function properly?”

These systems were not working as advertised in 2014—are they still not working today? What happened? We’re approximately 10 years past due for some explanation. With warranties and contracted guarantees likely lapsed, our proposal is simple: Let’s get back on path, get to the bottom of this stain upon our region, and achieve an honorable measure of victory.

That victory will only come when we treat contaminated shorelines as a system-wide problem with multiple sources of contamination.

We have yet to confront the dirtiest secret in the beach pollution dilemma. When water samples are drawn, most laboratories require a minimum of 24 hours to process. So, it’s a rainy-day Monday and stagnant polluted water from stormwater surge starts washing onto the beaches. Tuesday morning a technician draws the water samples and drops them off at the lab.

Meanwhile, the sun is out again and it’s beautiful! Cheerful families repopulate the beaches and frolic in the shallow waters without concern…the next day lab results post and beaches are closed. Too late to do any good for the thousands of people exposed during the period between samples drawn and results posted.

Ear infections, upset tummies, and other common symptoms of exposure flourish among beach-going residents and guests alike. Why are we waiting for lagging laboratory results when it’s widely known that beaches routinely close after heavy rains?

Two problems: Closing beaches should embarrass and alarm all of us. Not closing beaches when it’s obvious stormwater surge is occurring is an even bigger problem. Let’s rally and do better.

David Page is a resident of Traverse City, an advocate for health and safety, and cleaner air and water. A military veteran experienced in nuclear, chemical and biological warfare, hazardous materials, and explosive devices. Dave is collaborating with a local geologist, firefighter, and civil engineer. They’ve formed a volunteer citizens’ group seeking renewed analysis and followup actions.