What Micro-Pollution Contaminates 90% of Michigan’s Great Lakes?

Michigan is surrounded by what makes up 84% of the United States freshwater supply and is the world's third-largest. Only Brazil and Russia can claim to have a larger supply of the 'elixir of life'.

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A new study has revealed that 90% of water samples taken from the Great Lakes by researchers from the University of Toronto contain levels of micro-pollutants that are hazardous to wildlife. So what is this hard-to-see foreign matter that's a danger to the waters that surround both of our state's peninsulas?

To understand what it is, it's easier to first tell you where Eden Hataley, one of the University of Toronto researchers behind the study, believes the pollutants are coming from. For that, look no further than the clothes you're wearing and the reproduction processes used in a lot of manufacturing processes.

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Hataley points the finger at wastewater treatment plants, microfibers that shed from our clothes in the laundry, and the plastic pellets used in manufacturing. So what is this nasty pollutant?

While it seems you can't go out for a walk along a shore or a ride in the open water without finding floating plastic products. While these have their own impact, it's their much smaller siblings, microplastics that are making Michigan's Great Lakes a hazardous environment.

Most plastics in the ocean break up into very small particles. These small plastic bits are called "microplastics." Other plastics are intentionally designed to be small. They're called microbeads and are used in many health and beauty products. They pass unchanged through waterways into the ocean.

According to NOAA, these microscopic pollutants began showing up in personal care products, like toothpaste, about 50 years ago. How much plastic is in the water surrounding our state? Well, 22 million pounds of plastics are dumped into the Great Lakes...ANNUALLY. Considering that these lakes are a lifeline for over 40 million people in the United States and Canada, they are also home to over 3,500 species of animals and plants.

So, what's the prescription for a cleaner Great Lakes? Researchers at the University of Toronto say the first step is to begin monitoring microplastic levels, ASAP. Fortunately, microbeads were banned in the Microbead-Free Waters Act of 2015.

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Hataley also suggests adding them to the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement and adding microplastic filters to washing machines and storm sewers at manufacturing sites. What can we do to have an impact? Picking up after ourselves is a great place to start.