ROGERS CITY — Rogers City officials would like to see cleaner water making its way from the city’s streets into Lake Huron.

Eight pipes carry stormwater — essentially rainfall or snowmelt that runs off of streets, lawns and other sites — from the city’s streets and empty into the lake.

As stormwater runs over the city landscape, it accumulates dirt, salt, pollutants such as oil and fertilizer, and other debris before making its way into the stormwater system.

Rogers City’s stormwater is not filtered before it empties into the lake, but members of the city’s City Council would like to see that change.

“Quite frankly, we can’t continue to let these seven or eight outlets pour the waste from our streets into Lake Huron,” Mayor Scott McLennan said. “It happens in a lot of communities, but it sure shouldn’t happen in Rogers City.”

During a strategic planning session in August, McLennan told council members he was concerned about two specific outfalls: one that empties just to the north of the city marina and another that empties near the public beach on the south end of Lakeside Park.

McLennan said children swim and play down there.

“We don’t know what people use on their yards, what they dump in the street or in the alleys,” he told the council. “All of that has to wash out somewhere, and this is one of the prime areas where that’s happening.”

Samantha Nellis, watershed planner with the environmental group Huron Pines, on Tuesday told council members an estimated 138 tons of suspended solids, 795 pounds of phosphorus, and 1,662 pounds of nitrogen are flushed from the city’s landscape into Lake Huron each year.

Nellis said the biggest issue is the amount of phosphorus and nitrogen emptying into the lake, as those elements cause algae blooms and support bacterial growth.

She also told council members about ways they can filter the water, such as rain gardens and other green and grey infrastructure.

“I’m hoping we can continue on with this planning, so we can implement these best management practices in the spring, get some of this infrastructure in,” she said.

McLennan said the issue is a top priority and will be on the council’s agenda in the future.

Crystal Nelson can be reached at 989-358-5687 or cnelson@thealpenanews.com.