MOUNT CLEMENS, Mich. – The Macomb County Office of Public Works and the city of Mount Clemens have agreed to divert some sewage into the Mount Clemens Wastewater Treatment Plant.
The diversion will alleviate some of the volume that is now being carried around the damaged sewer line along 15 Mile Road in Fraser.
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"This is good news for our environment and good news for our residents," Macomb County Public Works Commissioner Candice S. Miller said. "I cannot thank enough Mayor Barb Dempsey and her team in Mount Clemens for their willingness to work with us."
READ: Macomb County residents asked to restrict water use due to blockage in collapsed sewer line
Typically, all of the sewage flow from 11 communities in Macomb County passes through the Macomb Interceptor Drain Drainage District interceptor, a pipe with an 11-foot diameter, on the way to the Detroit Water and Sewerage Treatment Plant in Detroit.
Mount Clemens operates an independent system. The Mount Clemens system can accommodate about 10 percent of the "dry weather" flow that normally passes through the interceptor.
The decision to divert sewage to Mount Clemens required approvals from Clinton and Harrison townships, as sewage will have to pass through township-owned pipes to get to Mount Clemens. The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality also had to approve the agreement. All of the agencies have agreed to the process and work to begin the diversion has already begun.
"We are all concerned about the health and well-being of our friends and neighbors and also in protecting Lake St. Clair and the Clinton River," Dempsey said. "We are all in this together."
Even with the diversion, Miller continues to stress the need for reducing the amount of water sent down the drain in the 11 affected communities.
"This gives us additional flow and we are very appreciative of Mount Clemens," Miller said. "But this still does not give us capacity to deal with a major rain. We are in a situation, though, where every little bit helps."
The 11 affected communities are: Fraser, Sterling Heights, Utica, New Haven and Chesterfield, Shelby, Clinton, Harrison, Lenox, Washington and Macomb townships, plus Selfridge Air National Guard Base. Residents and businesses in those communities are strongly urged to take the following actions:
- Reduce the length of showers.
- Only flush solids in the toilet.
- Only run full wash loads.
- Don’t run the water while brushing teeth.
- Only run full dishwasher loads.
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