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MACOMB COUNTY — The Macomb County Public Works Office has announced the launch of a new underground infrastructure project aimed at reducing the number of discharges of combined sewer overflows into Lake St. Clair.
On Oct. 13, Macomb County Public Works Commissioner Candice Miller announced the “in-system storage” project, in which an inflatable rubber dam will be installed inside the 8 1/2 Mile Relief Drain sewer interceptor that moves stormwater and sanitary sewage from all of Eastpointe and most of St. Clair Shores.
When the dam is inflated, it will temporarily hold back up to 3.5 million gallons of water and sewage upstream of the dam. As it is deflated, the flow is gradually released and will continue toward the Great Lakes Water Authority’s wastewater treatment plant in Detroit, where it will be treated, the office said in a press release.
The dam can inflate in less than 10 minutes and will be operated remotely by the county’s public works team.
“This is a very important project for us in Macomb County,” Miller said in a statement. “We are absolutely committed to reducing (combined sewer overflows). This project is all about clean water. Clean water equals quality of life.”
The increased upstream storage volume is not expected to increase the risk of basement flooding in the area, the press release states. Additionally, it is expected to reduce overflows by 15%, and when coupled with earlier operational changes inside the Chapaton Pump Station on Nine Mile Road at Jefferson Avenue, overflows are expected to be reduced by approximately 40%.
Excavation of a rectangular access shaft has begun on Beaconsfield Avenue at Oak Avenue, near Interstate 94 in Eastpointe. The shaft will be dug to a depth of 35 feet to reach an interceptor pipe, which will need to have a section of the top of it cut away so the dam can be installed.
The total cost of the project is $9.9 million and will be paid using federal, state and county funding under the American Rescue Plan Act “with no anticipation” of sewer rate increases for residents and businesses in either Eastpointe or St. Clair Shores, the press release states.
Construction is expected to be completed by the end of 2023. Norb Franz, communications manager for Macomb County Public Works, said Beaconsfield Road will be closed long-term between Nine Mile Road and Oak Avenue.
The project comes on the heels of another major public works project that is expected to be completed soon. In Roseville, work has been progressing to restore erosion along two banks of Interstate 94, located in the Rohrbeck Extension Drain near 13 Mile Road and Little Mack Avenue.
Work in Roseville began in August and was expected to be completed sometime this month.
