Researchers looking for the cause of pollution responsible for closing Milwaukee's Bradford Beach in the spring and summer of 2004 have identified one ironic leading contributor to the contamination:

Milwaukee County government itself, just-revealed documents and scientific findings show.

Contamination is reaching the Bradford Beach sand and water through five large sewer pipe openings known as "outfalls," which are owned by Milwaukee County. Topped with circular, protective concrete covers about five feet in diameter, the outfalls are located at the top of Bradford Beach and east of the Lincoln Memorial Drive sidewalk closest to a part of the lakeshore described on the county parks' Web site as "Milwaukee's most popular beach for swimming and sunbathing."

There are outfalls near both the north and south sides of the main gathering spot at the Bradford Beach bathhouse. Frequently used sand volleyball courts and sunning areas are also close to outfalls, as are wading and swimming spots.

Though beach closings and Lake Michigan's water quality have been widely covered in the news media, the possible contributing role played by Milwaukee County-owned sewer outfalls hasn't been part of the public discussion. It has, however, been known to academics and government officials.

The county's sewer outfalls have long been located at the beach, according to Greg High, an administrator with the County Department of Parks and Public Infrastructure.

High said that during rainstorms, storm water takes various paths before emptying into Lake Michigan through the Bradford Beach outfalls. He said water runs down the Lake Park bluffs, off parkland west of Lincoln Memorial Drive, and across the roadway before emerging through the outfalls.

But because of the outfalls' locations -- and because of how rainwater becomes polluted -- the outfalls spew contaminated water directly across this premier sandy beach and into Lake Michigan water, according to scientists at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee's Great Lakes Wisconsin Aquatic Technology and Environmental Research Institute.

The WATER Institute's researchers have been taking water samples and tracing E. coli bacteria contamination since 2003 and are working with several units of government, including the county, to identify pollution sources and reduce contamination. They have discovered that the county pipes are contaminating Bradford Beach.

"We have found the one major source of contamination, if not the primary source, is the storm water discharged from outfalls above the beach area," said institute assistant scientist Sandra L. McLellan, in a Sept. 3, 2004 memo to the City of Milwaukee budget office.

The water institute, partnering with the city's Health Department and county government, has documented how quickly and severely the outfalls put dangerous contamination onto Bradford Beach, records show.

Within one hour of a June 2004 rainstorm, levels of the bacteria E. coli, a health hazard found in feces, had jumped at Bradford Beach to more than 67 times the level above which the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says makes for unsafe swimming, McLellan wrote.

"The spatial distribution of the E. coli across the beach matches the path the outfall water runs before it drains to Lake Michigan," McLellan wrote. "The water from the outfall cuts a path across the sand, in the area where children play, before it enters Lake Michigan. Therefore, even though water quality advisories are issued, the beach area itself may be a health concern.''

E. coli can live in the sand; when it reaches colder water beyond the swimming beach, E. coli dies.

The institute's Web site contained this description of how rainwater can turn into such a pollutant:

"Water that enters storm drains is not 'treated' before it empties into a stream, river or lake. This means that when it rains, oil, antifreeze, paint, grass clippings, household waste, pet waste and any other debris on our streets and sidewalks flows directly into our nearby surface waters," says the description.

High, of the county's parks and infrastructure department, said the county was using the institute's findings and other means to help "backtrack" and find potential E. coli sources in Lake Park. He said those sources could include sanitary sewage infiltration, pet and wild animal waste, gull droppings and the possible leakage into the storm sewers of human fecal matter from county toilets in parks buildings.

He said more data would be collected to pinpoint how and where the E. coli might be originating, adding that re-routing or relocating the outfalls were possible solutions to the beach contamination problem.