Human And Bovine Viruses Found In Milwaukee River

A recent water quality study by U.S. Geological Survey scientists found nearly 20 percent of samples from the Milwaukee River contained human viruses and close to 40 percent contained cattle viruses. Thirty-nine total samples were taken from the Milwaukee River as part of the study, which also included seven other rivers that flow into the Great Lakes.

Peter Lenaker, one of the USGS scientists who contributed to the study, said the results should be taken seriously by people near the Milwaukee.

“When we find these viruses in the streams and we measure them, we know that … there’s fecal contamination from either humans or bovine cattle,” Lenaker said.

He added that the Milwaukee River is unique among the eight rivers studied because of its water sources.

“It has both an agricultural and an urban influence,” he said. “Specifically from an agricultural side, it doesn’t just have crops in the upper watershed, it actually has cattle and dairy operations. And then as well in the urban area, you have the influence of people.”

Lenaker said changing how sewage is treated can be an easy start to lowering the presence of human viruses in the river.

The Milwaukee River had the third-highest occurrence of human viruses behind the Rouge River and the Clinton River, both located in Michigan. The Milwaukee River also had the second-highest presence of cattle viruses out of the rivers in the study, behind the Manitowoc River that flows into Lake Michigan farther to the north.