This Past Week at Holland Rotary…

Jerry Hunsburger, Travis Williams, Ruggles Church, Dan Callam

Travis Williams, the Executive Director of the Outdoor Discovery Center & Macatawa Greenway, talked about the Lake Macatawa Water Quality Project.

The Outdoor Discovery Center & Macatawa Greenway is a private non-profit outdoor education and conservation organization that was founded in 2000.  They manage over 2,000 acres of property throughout the region.  Over 35,000 people visit or participate in these programs each year.  The Outdoor Discovery Center is working to preserve and protect the green space along Lake Macatawa and the river.

Williams discussed the causes of the water quality issues.  There is too much sediment and too many nutrients flowing into Lake Macatawa from adjacent farm fields with a high fecal indicator.

The goal is to collect data, find the exact issues, and correct the issues.  At this point, no one knows where the bacteria is coming from.  However, when we have sunny days, the bacteria count is lower.  When there is rain, there is more bacteria in the water.  Interestingly, there was no human, pig, or cow ecoli found in the samples.  The health department will close a beach if there is 300 fecal counts or higher per 100 ml of water. 

It is now thought that tile drains in the fields carry biofilms where newly evolved forms of bacteria grow.  When it rains, these bacteria flow into Lake Macatawa.  Because the area has lost 87% of the original wetlands, there is more sediment and ecoli in Lake Macatawa.  Wetlands filter and restore the water. 

Lake Macatawa empties or “cycles” every 4 months.  Thus, there is a chance to restore and clean up the water quality.

For more information visit
www.outdoordiscovery.org