MACOMB COUNTY, Mich. – A major underground infrastructure project is underway in Macomb County and officials say it will result in fewer discharges of combined sewer overflows into Lake St. Clair.
“This is a very important project for us in Macomb County,” Macomb County Public Works Commissioner Candice S. Miller said. “We are absolutely committed to reducing CSO’s. This project is all about clean water. Clean water equals quality of life.”
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The project is known as the “in-system storage” project. An inflatable rubber dam will be installed inside an 11 1/2-foot-diameter 8 ½ Mile Relief Drain sewer interceptor that conveys the combined stormwater and sanitary sewage from all of Eastpointe and most of St. Clair Shores.
When inflated during wet weather events, the device will temporarily hold back up to 3.5 million gallons upstream of the dam.
As it’s deflated, the flow is gradually released and continues toward the Great Lakes Water Authority’s wastewater plant in Detroit for full chemical treatment -- instead of discharging it into the Chapaton Retention Basin on 9 Mile Road at Jefferson Avenue.
During dry weather, the dam remains deflated to allow for normal flow to the facility.
Excavation of a rectangular access shaft has begun on Beaconsfield Avenue at Oak Avenue near I-94 in Eastpointe. Crews will dig down 35 feet in order to reach an interceptor pipe and cut away a section of the top of the pipe to install the device.
When it’s installed, the bladder inflates in less than 10 minutes and can be operated remotely by the Macomb County Public Works operations team.
“Every gallon counts,” Miller said. “The engineering study that we initiated for this project is another example of our office being proactive. Combined sewer overflows are permitted by the state, and it’s been going on for decades. However, we just can’t keep doing things the same way. We want to improve Lake St. Clair and protect it for generations to come.”
The project is expected to cost $9.9 million and is paid for by using federal, state and county funding under the American Rescue Plan Act. Officials do not expect a sewer rate increase for residents and businesses in Eastpointe and St. Clair Shores.
The 8 ½ Mile Drain Drainage District serves a total of 92,000 people in the two cities. Construction is expected to be “substantially” complete by the end of 2023.