LETTER: Appeal to the DNR chief: stop rural Belgium manure runoff

To Ozaukee Press:

I sent the following letter to Preston D. Cole, secretary of the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources:

We need your help here in the Town of Belgium, Ozaukee County.

Our water quality continues to decline; tests by the Ozaukee County Health Department show dangerous levels of human and bovine E. coli in Lake Michigan water, especially at Harrington Beach State Park. Swimming beaches are frequently closed.

I believe that unless corrective action is taken, Lake Michigan, private wells and especially Harrington Beach will be poisoned beyond recovery. No one seems to care.

Manure was recently spread on frozen ground 500 feet from Lake Michigan. Two days later it got warm and rained. I’m certain the bovine E. coli is now in Lake Michigan.

Nicholas Illianich
Belgium