A new water purifying system at Asylum Lake has been developed to lessen pollution from nearby developments and storm water runoff.
According to MLive, the system is supported by funds from the state’s 2023 budget.
$550,000 of the state budget will be allocated to the Asylum Lake Preserve Policy and Management Council to install a mechanical treatment device connected to city storm water systems. This will capture solids like phosphorus before they can enter the lake, according to Asylum Lake Preservation Association co-chair John Kreuzer in a statement to MLive.
Mechanical treatment removes coarse sediment, then the storm water will go to a collection pond and infiltration trench, filtering the water through soils along Asylum Lake’s northwest shoreline before it enters the lake.
“It’s a problem throughout the state, it’s a problem throughout the country, because you get a lot of road debris like salts and suspended particles, oils,” Kreuzer said, reported MLive. ”You get all of these types of stuff that infiltrate into the water and changes the pH and changes the chemical makeup and oxygen levels in the lakes and streams.”
The lake is a part of the larger Asylum Lake Preserve and the Arcadia Creek-Portage Creek Watershed. It is owned by Western Michigan University and managed by the university and its Asylum Lake Policy and Management Council.
MLive reported that a press release from WMU noted that a storm water monitoring system detected the presence of phosphorus and salt from adjacent roadways. WMU was cited in June 2019 by state regulators for an unlawful discharge into the lake of sediment, which was in the second phase of construction of Western’s Business Technology Research Park.
The state funding will cover the majority of the project’s overall cost, which is estimated at approximately $775,000. The Asylum Lake Policy and Management Council will finance the remainder of the cost, according to the press release.
The treatment system is designed to remove sediment and nutrients from runoff and clean water directed from storm sewers along Drake Road, according to MLive.
“We’re super grateful for Asylum Lake and basically the community that the state has enough foresight and is proactive in really start(ing) to learn more about this problem and efficient ways of managing these problems,” Kreuzer said in a statement to MLive. “Because redoing all of the infrastructure and capturing the water is a very expensive and difficult process.”
“It’s vitally important to maintain our green spaces and create an opportunity for all of our citizens and community to have an opportunity to immerse themselves into nature and find some stillness, find some wellness, get some exercise,” Kreuzer said, reported MLive. “We look at places like Asylum Lake and other places as natural resources, which they are, but they’re more than a natural resource,” he said. “They’re a vital component to our existence and they’re important to maintain, and they’re important to have proper access for people to experience them and learn more about nature.”
