ALLENDALE TWP., MI (WHTC-AM/FM, Apr. 3, 2026) – It took 12 days, but the entire length of the Grand River in Ottawa County is once again safe for humans.
On Friday, the county’s Department of Public Health lifted a No Body Contact Advisory for Ottawa Creek, as well as a portion of the Grand River from Lake Michigan Drive to 68th Avenue east of Allendale. It had been declared off-limits on March 23rd when, for the second time in as many months, an incident from Allendale Township Public Utilities led to a sewage discharge.
The first spillage, of around 300,000 gallons of screened raw sewage, came on February 18th in the area of Ottawa Creek and the Grand River from 68th Avenue to M-231 north and west of Allendale. That no-body contact lasted a week.
The second spillage, which apparently was different in nature from the first incident, was reportedly caused by a “large clog in the system,” according to a report from WZZM-TV last week. The advisory wasn’t put into effect until five days after the gradual leak began.
In both instances, county health staffers tested water samples daily in order to determine when bacterial levels fell below the highest limit for safe human contact before lifting the advisory.
Comments