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E. coli in Grand River update

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Following up to a story we brought you yesterday regarding E. Coli in the Grand River, the Ionia County Health Department has released a statement:

"On June 6, the Ionia County Health Department issued a "No Body Contact" advisory for the Grand River. The City of Portland immediately arranged for water samples to be taken near Kent St. in Portland and for the results to be expedited. The E. coli results from those samples produced a geometric mean of 352 E. coli/100 mL.

Given these new sample results, the Ionia County Health Department is downgrading the previous advisory to a PARTIAL BODY CONTACT advisory downstream of Portland in Ionia County. This means that activities such as boating and fishing are unlikely to pose a health threat. However, the Health Department strongly recommends that full immersion in water or consuming river water be
avoided."

At this time, the health department said it has not been determined what is causing the high levels of E. Coli, however no municipalities in Ionia County have reported recent sewage overflows.

Further testing will be conducted by the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy throughout the summer.

The next round of testing is expected to happen on June 10.

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