TRAVERSE CITY — Clinch Park Beach and Sunset Park Beach were cleared for swimming, after water samples showed E. coli levels meet safety standards set by the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy.
The sampling, done after an accidental release of approximately 500 gallons of sewage into Kids Creek on Monday night, followed a no-contact advisory issued by the Grand Traverse County Health Department on Tuesday afternoon. The spill happened during a construction project to repair an existing sewer main.
Health officials lifted the Level 4 advisory completely for the beaches, but kept it in place on Kids Creek and portions of the Boardman/Ottaway River, “for cautionary purposes,” according to a health department statement Wednesday.
No contact remains in place on Kids Creek, from the Sixth Street bridge to its confluence with the Boardman River near Wadsworth Street and the Boardman/Ottaway River, from Wadsworth Street to the mouth of West Grand Traverse Bay.
Residents and visitors are strongly advised to avoid all body contact with water in those locations, including swimming, wading, and paddling, until further notice. Contact with untreated sewage-contaminated water may pose serious health risks, including gastrointestinal illness, skin irritation, and infections.
Water samples from Kids Creek and the river are still being processed, according to the health department.
City Manager Deb Allen said the overflow happened around 8:30 p.m. Monday when a bypass pump became dislodged and caused sewage to flow into a nearby catch basin. Contractors were working on a damaged, 15-foot section of sewer main on Cedar Street between Sixth and Seventh streets when the overflow occurred.
Sewage passed from the catch basin into an outlet in Kids Creek, Allen said. City employees spotted the issue and replaced the pump, then worked until about midnight to clean up the overflow.