Please let me take this opportunity to comment on the July 12 article which appeared in the Lake Orion Review titled “Village Council promises to address Lakeview Street flooding concerns at meeting on Monday.”

Some of the statements in the article are misleading.

Council President Ken Van Portfliet commented that they won’t pump sewage into the lake.

That is incorrect. Anything that flows from the road runoff through the planned devices will end up in the lake. Much of that will be pollution, including feces from dogs, cats, ducks and other animals, as well as any other items that can be found in the road.

The article says that they did not notice any debris or visible pollution going into the lake. Really?!

(Editor’s Note: The Lake Orion Review visited serveral of the outfalls July 10 after heavy rains the night before and that morning and wrote that we did not see any visible signs of pollution.)

This is not proof of what takes place during a heavy rain when run-off from these inputs pumps pollution into our lake.

Certainly some items can be seen, like larger debris; however, normally we cannot see things like oil, gasoline, road tars, salt, lawn fertilizers, feces from animals or other sewage and/or soap detergents. These items are found in the road run-off that channels directly into our lake. This pollution cannot be seen by casual observation.

I believe that the Lake Orion Review has unintentionally and naively offered evaluation that is grossly misleading and counterproductive to this very serious issue of sewage and pollution going into our lake.

Recently, our committee (and neighbors) spoke with the state DEQ (Department of Environmental Quality).

They said, without exception, no device manufacturer would offer a 100 percent guarantee that no pollution or sewage would escape their device.

Clearly, some of this will end up in our lake. The DEQ indicated that screening devices have a by-pass mechanism. When a hard rain occurs and the road run-off exceeds the capability of the screening device, much of the run-off will by-pass the screening and end up directly in the lake.

This is an extremely important health issue that the council should take very seriously when making a decision. Will children or adults become sick from the pollution that is dumped into our lake? Will the Village insurance cover the cost of healthcare, hospital stays, and lawsuits that could follow?

A low maintenance drywell, that won’t put unhealtful pollution and sewage into Lake Orion, is the best solution.

This should not be so confusing or so puzzling. Why would the village council harm the property owner and the lake users? This lake is one of the engines that drives our residential and business community. It draws people from our lake area for special events arranged by both the DDA and the Lion’s Club, as well as others.

Imagine what may happen to our reputation if the Village seeks to allow additional pollution into our lake.

What is the Village Council thinking?

Paul Widlak

Lakeview Street property owner