ADRIAN, Mich. — Recent heavy rainfall has caused the city of Adrian's sewer system to leak into the River Raisin.
"We were contacted yesterday morning by the city of Adrian to notify us there has been an overflow," said Kasee Johnson, the Director of Environmental Health at the Lenawee County Health Department.
After confirming there had indeed been an overflow, the Lenawee County Health Department created an advisory for people to not go into the river.
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"It's really just trying to make people aware of the potential risk of going into the water because of elevated E. coli counts," said Martha Hall, the Health Officer for the Lenawee County Health Department.
Just how much raw sewage and human waste made it into the River Raisin?
"So the overflow itself that occurred yesterday. The approximate number we were given is 38,000 gallons," said Johnson.
This of course poses a major health risk, and the leaders at the Lenawee County Health Department say they will be closely monitoring the situation.
"There will be testing, there will be water samples that are collected in the river and those will be submitted to the health department for review," said Hall.
They intend to continuously test the water until it begins to show signs it's safe to enter again.
"Once the E. coli levels are where it's safer levels, so we don't feel it's an issue with individuals [and] don't feel like it'll be an issue to have contact with the water, we'll lift the advisory," Hall explained.
However, the exact time frame for when the advisory will be lifted is a little murky.
"I would expect it to be at least a couple of days, it's going to be based on getting the test results in that indicate we're in a position to lift that advisory," Hall said.
As to whether or not this could be avoided in the future, the Lenawee County Health Department representatives warned that sewage overflow is always a possibility with such heavy amounts of rainfall.