(Qf^Linty coiBuniittee tostudy declining lakesj c^

Plan to recharge Sands Plains aquifer will be considered

By JOHN PEPINJournal Staff Writer

MARQUETTE - TheMarquette County Board vot-.ed unanimously Tuesday tocreate a committee to studywhether using water divertedfrom the Escanaba River —during spring flooding — orthe Empire Mine is a viablemethod to recharge the SandsPlains aquifer.

The board will also seek po-tential state funding to financean independent study of de-clining water levels in thecounty's aquifers and lakes,including Martin Lake at K.I.Sawyer.

The problem of sinking sur-face and subsurface water lev-els has been persistent overthe past several years, but notin all locations. In several ar-eas, lake and groundwater lev-els have fallen while precipita-tion rates are above, average.Despite a good deal of dia-logue, local government offi-cials and residents have beenunable to agree on the causes.

Former Sands Township Su-pervisor David Kallio brought

the Sands aquiferrecharge plan —crafted years ago byformer ClevelandCliffs Iron Co. engi-neer Hank Green-wood — to the coun-ty board in June.

The panel chargedthe county planningcommission with re-viewing the idea andwider water levelconcerns and return-ing recommenda-tions to the countyboard, which it didthis month. Amongits suggestions, theplanning commissionsuggested forming anew group composedof government offi-cials and experts tostudy the Greenwoodplan further.

"The planningcommission and their sub-committee that looked overthe information saw that therewas merit to the recharge pro-posal, but there was much ad-ditional information needed

MALASHANKO

before it could beconsidered as a vi-able option," saidcounty Commission-er Gregory Seppa-nen, who served onthe ad hoc subcom-mittee. "It's eithergoing to be some-thing that looks like itis possible or therecould be somethingout there that wouldbasically say, 'No,this is not a verypractical form.' Weweren't able to reachthat point."

Seppanen said thesubcommittee con-cluded the level ofthe Sands Plainsaquifer appears to bedropping and foundthere are local indi-

SEPPANEN viduals with expertisein groundwater mat™

ters and state regulations whohave expressed an interest orcould be approached aboutlooking into the issue as partof a new committee.

The question of how the

Empire Mine reclamation planmight fit into the recharge is-sue was not answered by thesubcommittee. One sugges-tion provided was to potential-ly use water from the mine pitto recharge the aquifer.

"That answer is somethingthat needs to be explored in alittle more detail," Seppanensaid.

It was also unclear to thepanel whether the recharge ef-fort could legally be consid-ered a Great Lakes water di-version, which might proveproblematic.

"It's an interesting situationbecause you have the surfacewater, the creeks out there, go-ing into the Escanaba River,which will flow into LakeMichigan, but yet you havethe subsurface water, theaquifer, which is below it,which actually flows into

.JLake Superior," §efjpanensaid. "So again, that's one ofthose issues that would take alittle bit of exploration."

Meanwhile, Commissioner

See Wafer p. 7A

Declining levels of Martin Lake at K.I. Sawyer are among the features expected to be ana-lyzed in a hydrologic study of lakes and aquifers being pursued by the Marquette CountyBoard. The lake is pictured here from fall 2012. (Journal file photo by John Pepin)

Water from 1A

Deborah Fellow was disap-pointed in the planningcommission's recommenda-tion to refer the problem ofdropping water levels atMartin Lake at K.I. Sawyerback to the Michigan De-partment of EnvironmentalQuality.

For months, Martin Lakeresidents have tried to con-vince the county board thepumping of water from twowells at K.I. Sawyer hasbeen the main cause of thelake dropping several feetover the past few years, im-pacting property and recre-ation values.

Seppanen said the plan-ning commission didn't find

evidence of the linkage. TheDEQ referral was madebased on the agency's func-tion in licensing wells.

"We did not see the con-nection, even though theMartin Lake people see it, aconnection between thewells and their lake levels,"Seppanen said.

Martin Lake resident KarlMalashanko said he wassurprised the planning com-mission came to its conclu-sion without any formalstudy. A U.S. GeologicalSurvey was started yearsago, but never completed.

"Assume that the wellsaren't the problem? The factis Martin Lake is still drop-ping, averaging two inchesa month," Malashanko said."It rains. The drop stops.

Three or four days later, itcontinues to drop. So thereis definitely something go-ing on."

Fellow said she'd like tosee a countywide studydone on lakes and aquifers.

"Martin Lake is the onethat started this whole thingand brought this to our at-tention and I really feel likethis (planning commission)report back just kind of poo-pooed them and sent themback to the DEQ.. .who theywere frustrated with whenthey first came to us," Pel-low said. "So what did weaccomplish for them? Noth-ing, in my opinion."

The board approved Pel-low's motion for the MartinLake and wider area studyand incorporated a final rec-

ommendation from theplanning commission tosurvey local municipalitiesto detail lake and aquiferlevels countywide. The in-formation gathered will beincorporated into the coun-ty's comprehensive plan for2014.

County staff will reportwithin a few weeks whetherhydrology experts fromMichigan Tech University,Northern Michigan Univer-sity or elsewhere are avail-able to do Pellow's lakesand aquifers study, whichthe county would seek tofund with state money saidto be available.

Commissioner Paul Arse-nault said he thought it was"critical" the county getsome neutral professionals

to investigate the hydrolog-ic issues and report onlyfacts. He suggested thisshould be done while alsoforming the Sands Plainsstudy committee and push-ing hard to find money tofund the hydrologicstudy.

"We'll all have facts todeal with so we're not backto people involved with theprocess that have somethingto lose or gain," Arsenaultsaid. "We all have some-thing to lose because theselakes and aquifers are veryimportant."

Commissioner GeraldCorkin said data on the lev-els of lakes over the pastdecade, which should beavailable from state or fed-eral sources, would help

provide a clue as to what'shappening.

Kallio said he supports thenew studies.

"We do have right now inMarquette County a numberof water issues, whether it'ssome of the lakes on thewestern part of the county,Martin Lake, Sands Town-ship, I think it's probablytime to try to put somethingtogether to get a little bit ofscience, a little bit of brainpower to look into this,"Kallio said. "I think itwould be a great thing forthe county and it might leadto some solutions."

John Pepin can be reachedat 906-228-2500, ext. 206.His email address isjpepin@miningjournal.net.