But Michigan's lack of statewide septic regulations makes dealing with it a little more complicated.
On the shores of Wilkinson Creek, Bob Milliron bends down and dunks a clear plastic bottle into the shallow water.
“Don’t fall in quicksand,” cautions Rick Doornbos, who is with him on this trip.
“I’m not worried about that,” Milliron replies. “I just don’t want to contaminate the sample.”
The pair are volunteers for the Three Lakes Association and they’re collecting water samples from this tributary on the north end of Torch Lake.
Last year, the Three Lakes Association discovered elevated levels of E. coli in Wilkinson Creek, a tributary leading into Torch Lake. They were also able to discover, due to recent advancements in source-tracking technology, that the E. coli came from human sources.
They continue returning to the creek — like on this day in early August — to monitor the presence of the bacteria which can cause health problems in people and animals.
Doornbos is also the vice president of the Board of Directors and the Water Quality Committee chairperson for the Three Lakes Association.
They take samples from six tributaries that lead into Clam Lake, Torch Lake, and Lake Bellaire and send them to the Great Lakes Environmental Center for analysis.
Doornbos said he wants to protect the water so his grandkids can enjoy the lakes and rivers in the same way he’s been able to.
“I’m doing it to make sure that the quality of our watershed is just as good for them as it has been for me,” he said.
The way human sourced E. coli most likely entered the water is through malfunctioning septic systems.
“A lot of these communities have older cabins and older infrastructure,” said Don Uzarski, a former sanitarian for the Health Department of Northwest Michigan. “They’re not being updated and they’re not being cared for and people don’t notice problems because they’re only there a couple weeks out of the year.”
This can cause leaks to go unnoticed for years, even decades.
Seasonal use also causes problems with what’s called the “biomat,” a community of microorganisms that live in septic tanks, helping filter and process the waste they receive.
“A biomat is a living thing essentially,” said Uzarski. “It needs to be fed. And if you’re only up here for one season out of the year, you’ve got to start over with that biomat every year. You’ve got to build it from the beginning. If it’s not being maintained, then it’s not necessarily as effective.”
Torch Lake contains almost 900 billion gallons of water.
For perspective, that’s one-third of the total water in all of the inland lakes in Michigan. So it’s likely that the E. coli from Wilkinson Creek will be diluted to the point where it’s not harmful to people. But that doesn’t matter to Uzarski.
“The fact that we have human indicators of pathogens entering the waterbody is going to be problematic,” he said. “We don’t want that to happen at all.”
Michigan’s Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy and the health department regularly test beaches and other access points to make sure they’re safe, but small streams and tributaries often go overlooked.
That’s why the Three Lakes Association focuses on smaller tributaries.
The test results of their most recent samples from Wilkinson Creek, in early August, showed levels of E. coli five times higher than maximum safe levels for total body contact.
Source tracking results — that could help determine where the E. coli came from — will be available in September.
But previous tests from Wilkinson Creek have shown the E. coli coming from human beings, so the Three Lakes Association has already begun working with the health department to locate possible sources of the problem.
The goal is to convince the septic system owners to fix the issues themselves. And for now, persuasion might be the only tool at their disposal.
That’s because Michigan is the only state in the U.S. that doesn’t have statewide septic regulations. Efforts in Lansing to establish a septic code have fallen short, but there are bills currently in legislative committees that would deal with the issue.
The state currently relies on county and local governments to create and enforce their own regulations. Wilkinson Creek runs through Banks and Central Lake townships in Antrim County where there are no ordinances addressing problems with faulty septic systems.
Without these regulations, Doornbos says it’s up to individuals to take responsibility for their waste.
“We’re hoping we can raise awareness so the public feels empowered and part of the process,” he said. “If they don’t understand what the data is showing us, it’s going to be hard for them to support spending money on septic upgrades. But if they know there may be human sourced E. coli in the water, nobody wants to be swimming in water that’s contaminated with potential health hazards.”