In a statement earlier this afternoon, newly elected Macomb County Public Works Commissioner Candice Miller vowed to end all sewage discharges into the Clinton River and Lake St. Clair.
“We need to change the entire equation here: a discharge of any kind into our local waters – the drinking water supply for the entire region — is simply no longer the correct answer. I am committed to making that the priority here in Macomb County,” said Miller, who took office on Jan. 1.
Miller also announced that no raw sewage from the Fraser sinkhole had been dumped into the river over the past 48 hours despite heavy rains and snow melt. The former congresswoman said wastewater that accumulated at the 15 Mile Road sewer break had been diverted to other sewer pipes.
Miller
The Harrison Township Republican also chastised Oakland County officials for releasing an untold amount of partially treated sewage into the river and lake from the GWK Drain in Madison Heights, formerly known as the Twelve Towns Drain. The sewage systems under Miller’s control did not experience any sewage overflows into the lake.
The Oakland County Water Resources Office alerted the state that it began dumping sewage at 1:30 a.m. on Thursday but officials there have not reported back to the state Department of Environmental Quality. Sewage from the sprawling GWK Drain, located across the Macomb County border on Dequindre Road, dumps into the Red Run Drain in Warren. From there, it flows through heavily populated suburban neighborhoods via the Clinton River and then into Lake St. Clair.
Nash
Miller acknowledged that the Macomb County sewer/drain system is in need of major upgrades but she also called on Oakland County Water Resources Commissioner Jim Nash to plan for major fixes to the system he oversees.
“To discover now that, after only a couple of inches of rain and snow melt, Oakland County has discharged into the Red Run – we need to have a serious conversation about how we can work together to stop this from happening,” Miller said.
The DEQ reported last week that a total of 2.3 billion gallons of sewage was dumped into the Macomb County sections of the river and the lake in 2016. DEQ annual data indicates that most of that wastewater was discharged by Oakland County and by Macomb County’s Chapaton sewage retention basin in St. Clair Shores, which is located on the lakeshore. Most of the sewer overflows were partially treated with chlorine before being released.
Heaton
The DEQ also revealed that heavy rain and snowmelt on Dec. 26-27 forced the discharge of 12.6 million gallons of raw sewage into the waterways near the 15 Mile Road collapse.
That wastewater release, which occurred while former public works commissioner Tony Marrocco was still in charge, was the equivalent of 933 backyard swimming pools, based on an average size.
A grassroots environmental group, Save Lake St. Clair, applauded Miller’s announcement today that no such discharge had occurred in recent days.
“This is great news and one that we are very happy to share,” said SLSC founder Mike Gutow on Facebook. “A huge thumbs up goes to every worker who has worked tireless hours to help prevent this from happening.”
Miller’s comments were relayed in a press release issued by Dan Heaton, the commissioner’s new public relations person. Heaton, a former Macomb Daily reporter who became a full-time tech sergeant for the National Guard, has worked for more than the past decade as the spokesman for the 127th Wing at Selfridge Air National Guard Base in Harrison Township.
At the Fraser sinkhole, engineers and construction crews continue to work on a temporary by-pass line at the site of the Christmas Eve sewer collapse. Due to the crumbling of the 11-foot diameter pipe – a link to one of the primary sewage networks in the northern suburbs – total flow capacity is down to less than 30 percent of normal.
Miller said engineers working on the below-ground sinkhole caution that the emergency conditions remain in effect and the potential for a future sewage discharge still exists.
Macomb County Executive Mark Hackel declared a state of emergency on Jan. 5, urging residents to limit their use of water and flushing of toilets to prevent sewage discharges from the sinkhole.
Gov. Rick Snyder, who visited the site last Sunday, also issued a state declaration of emergency, which could assist with funding needs. The sewer repair project, which initially forced the evacuation of 22 homes, is expected to last several months and cost tens of millions of dollars.
On Sunday morning, U.S. Sens. Debbie Stabenow and Gary Peters, Congressmen Sander Levin and Paul Mitchell, Macomb County state senators and representatives and members of the Macomb County Board of Commissioners will attend a briefing at the Fraser sinkhole location on 15 Mile Road.
You can watch Candice Miller talking about the sinkhole and infrastructure needs here in an interview on Public TV’s “Off The Record” show. Miller’s appearance begins at the 13:35 mark.
Sewers in some portions of Macomb and Oakland counties that drain combined sanitary and storm effluent must be replaced with separate sewer systems, one for residential waste and the other for stormwater. Such improvements have been achieved in urban areas all over the state, but here not so much.
It sounds as if the Waste Water Treatment capacity needs to be seriously increased in both Oakland and Macomb Counties. Perhaps a multi-county Waste Water Treatment Authority needs to be created.
First, we don’t need more treatment capacity so much as separate stormwater and sanitary sewers, which would eliminate combined sewer overflows.; then only the (lower volume) sanitary sewage would have to go to the treatment plant. Second, there already is a multi-county wastewater treatment authority, the Great Lakes Water Authority (GLWA).
Thank You, Candice Miller
Yes, Macomb County sewer drain system is in need of major upgrades!