Giant foam descends on Dundee
Surrealistic amounts of foam formed at the River Raisin dam in Dundee this weekend. These photos were taken on Sunday morning, March 16. The foam mountain was about 12 feet tall, stretched from bank to bank, and from the dam all the way to the M-50 bridge, where it continued to pile up. Bits broke off in the wind and drifted like tiny heavy clouds across the air.

Even on Monday, a much shorter but equally broad area of foam was evident on the river.

John Russell of the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality’s Jackson District office, surmised that this is just an overabundance of the foam which usually forms at the dam in the spring.

“Foam is a naturally occurring thing,” said Mr. Russell. “Maybe you have more of it now because we have had a lot of water flowing, and you have a lot of clay soil in your area.”

Every spring, The Independent calls the DEQ to ask about the foam which forms on the river, but there usually isn’t anywhere near this type of volume of foam. Each year, a DEQ official tells us that the foam is caused by naturally occurring phosphates in the water.

The foam is caused from clay, fine soil and farm run off which has small particles which tend to float near the surface of the water and get churned into foam from the action of the dam. This happens typically in early spring when the water is cold, and the air is warm.

Monroe County Board of Commissioners Chair Lehr Roe wondered if the increased amount of foam was due to the large volumes of raw sewage dumped into the river by Adrian and Blissfield due to unaddressed combined sewer overflow problems.

Mr. Russell said he is not sure that has anything to do with the increased volume of foam.

“Probably there are a lot of factors in this increased foam,” said Mr. Russell. “With the increased flow of water, it’s probably picking up more stuff.”

Mr. Russell conceded that raw sewage would add to the organic content in the water and perhaps be a minor factor, but he was clearly skeptical. He said he would have an expert in the field review the information and photos emailed to him by The Independent, and get back with us.

Dave Rigel of the Dundee Wastewater Treatment Plant said he thought it might be the usual naturally occurring phosphates, and that the unusually high amount of foam might be due to ice in the river backing up the flow of the foam.

“Maybe we do get a lot of foam, but it floats down the river, so we just don’t notice it,” said Mr. Rigel.

Village Trustee Ed Craft said, “This looks like it did years ago, before they made them take the phosphates out of the laundry detergent. I bet if this gets tested we’ll find out it’s increased phosphates from top dressings used in the farm fields.”
Dundee's Larry Brossia walks down by the river to view the 12 foot foam.
Wastewater treament plant supervisor, Dave Rigel was amazed at the volume of foam on the river, which resembled soap suds.
Massive amounts of foam spilled over the banks of the River Raisin and onto the River Walk on Sunday, March 16.
Visitors to Dundee on Sunday, March 16 were so impressed by the odd foam, that they posed and took photos of each other in front of the phenomenon.
Bits of foam were picked up by the wind and carried like small heavy clouds against the backdrop of the Sunday morning sky.