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Commissioner Tom Bowman summarizes lake-level records, E. coli testing and rising erosion permits
Summary
Commissioner Tom Bowman presented long-term lake-level monitoring, two decades of E. coli sampling with targeted DNA testing on problem lakes, and a threefold rise in soil erosion permits that he said warrants a fee-and-program review.
Commissioner Tom Bowman told the Wexford County Board of Commissioners that he has compiled 50 years of lake-level data and is using it to set statistically based high, average and low benchmarks for management decisions.
Bowman said the set of levels includes a winter, summer and “high spring” level established in a 1967 court order by Judge Peterson that Bowman told the board still applies to late release decisions. “That quarter window also provides for rain events that raise it above the high level and evaporation and heat … in the summer that will take it down below the summer level,” Bowman said. “I’ve compiled over 50 years of data into some spreadsheet so that at the end of each month, we now know statistically the average, the high, and the minimum values.”
Bowman also reviewed two decades of E. coli testing funded in part by a Department of Environmental Quality grant. “We’ve had a grant for a little over 20 years from [the Department of Environmental Quality] … and we’ve sampled six locations,” he said, identifying Lake Cadillac, Lake Mitchell State Park and Billings Lake among the sample sites. He told the board most samples have been within acceptable ranges but that Billings Lake has “had a chronic problem” and required closures. Bowman said Ferris State University obtained a supplemental grant to run QPCR DNA testing to help trace sources. “It ended up being canine and attributed to coyotes in the upper watershed,” Bowman said of one finding; he said waterfowl and deer are also being checked and that the testing can help detect human sewage leaks.
On recreational impacts, Bowman said Kendall Beach was effectively closed “probably about half the year” last year because of high E. coli readings; he said he sees geese grazing in that area and that the new DNA testing should clarify causes.
Bowman raised soil erosion and sediment-control work as a separate issue. He said he filled in temporarily on the county’s erosion program after Joel asked him to help and that he is certified in soil erosion, sedimentation control, and stormwater. “In 2024, we did 54 permits and that compares to 2023 when we only did 24 permits,” he said, and recommended the county review permit fees. As an example he told the board that many permit sites are a 60- to 70-mile round trip and that at $0.70 per mile the travel cost alone approaches or exceeds a $60 permit fee, while state guidance expects three site visits.
Bowman said he works with Restorative Lake Sciences as a lake manager and that he will recommend to city staff additional PFAS testing of water in at least Lake Mitchell and Lake Cadillac; he noted fish tissue testing exists but said he had not seen water-sample PFAS results. “We will be making a recommendation to the city to have cheap US sample and then Lake Mitchell can also potentially address it,” he said.
The presentation drew questions from commissioners about PFAS testing and program costs; Bowman said he and county staff will meet to develop recommendations on permit fees and program workload.
The presentation concluded with Bowman saying his compiled tables and statistics will be available to “whoever takes this over.”
