The Detroit News. E. coli crackdown urged Professor asks for probe of illegal sewer lines, health ailments Jerry S. Mendoza D. Carl Freeman, a professor at Wayne State University, analyzed pollution data compiled by the Macomb County Health Department to help draft a new plan for cleaning up the Clinton River and its tributaries. Jerry S. Mendoza Freeman will urge officials to start an illicit sewer investigation to ferret out the illegal connections. Freeman said the study showed high bacteria counts are prevalent along the Red Run Drain, Bear Creek and some areas of the Clinton River based on tests conducted by health officials during dry weather. That is a sure sign of illicit connections, he said.
Illicit connections are sanitary sewer lines illegally connected to storm sewers.
And the most severe problem is down in Bear Creek and Red Run. One of worst pollution cases ever associated to an illicit connection recently cropped up in Center Line, Freeman said. Thomas Kalkofen, director of the Macomb County Health Department, said the county has applied for Clean Michigan Initiative funds for an illicit disconnect program. The way it works in a nutshell is you sample the end of the pipe, and if you have a high bacteria count you go back into the drain as far as you can to see who has the illicit connection. The study also showed that the bacteria problem worsened in about 50 of the 51 or so outlets that the health department tests in the Clinton River Watershed after a light rain.