Post by jonsdigs on Mar 28, 2007 13:15:47 GMT -5
Missing water remains a mystery
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
By Ben Beversluis
The Grand Rapids Press
SAND LAKE -- It will show up.
That's the fear -- or is it hope? -- after about 15 million gallons of partially treated sewage was found to have gone missing here.
"How much was it?" asked an astounded Mike Smith, sitting on his bike alongside the sparkling waters of Sand Lake.
"That amount, they should be able to find out where it is."
News was just spreading here Tuesday afternoon that the 15 million gallons disappeared from a 500-by-500-foot, 8-foot-deep holding pond -- apparently into the ground from an 18-inch clay basin lined with plastic.
Acres of wetlands border the site to the northwest, leading toward Sand Lake, whose shoreline is crowded with travel trailers.
The general hydrology moves to the southwest, along the Duke Creek drainage.
Neither wetland nor creek showed surface evidence of pollution, health and environmental officials said.
Hard to find underground
"It's not too terribly hard to find something above ground; it's below ground where it's hard to tell where it's going," said Mike Worm, Department of Environmental Quality assistant district supervisor.
Full Story
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
By Ben Beversluis
The Grand Rapids Press
SAND LAKE -- It will show up.
That's the fear -- or is it hope? -- after about 15 million gallons of partially treated sewage was found to have gone missing here.
"How much was it?" asked an astounded Mike Smith, sitting on his bike alongside the sparkling waters of Sand Lake.
"That amount, they should be able to find out where it is."
News was just spreading here Tuesday afternoon that the 15 million gallons disappeared from a 500-by-500-foot, 8-foot-deep holding pond -- apparently into the ground from an 18-inch clay basin lined with plastic.
Acres of wetlands border the site to the northwest, leading toward Sand Lake, whose shoreline is crowded with travel trailers.
The general hydrology moves to the southwest, along the Duke Creek drainage.
Neither wetland nor creek showed surface evidence of pollution, health and environmental officials said.
Hard to find underground
"It's not too terribly hard to find something above ground; it's below ground where it's hard to tell where it's going," said Mike Worm, Department of Environmental Quality assistant district supervisor.
Full Story