Saturday, May 02, 2009
News
Owosso deals with sewage overflows
By MICHAEL PETERSON Argus-Press Staff Writer
OWOSSO - The recent heavy rains have caused sewage overflows as a result of excessive storm water runoff, according to Owosso Director of Public Utilities Gary Burk and the Shiawassee County Health Department.
Burk said the sewage discharged into the Shiawassee River on Tuesday around 3 or 4 a.m. The emissions occurred out of two manholes in the city - one located near the M-52 bridge and the other near the Chipman Road drain.
It was reported by the SCHD that an estimated 500,000 gallons were discharged.
“It is diluted sewage, but it is still untreated,” Burk said.
The SCHD has advised people to avoid contact with Shiawassee River water until further notice. Follow-up water sampling will be conducted to monitor E-coli bacteria levels. Once completed, the results will be released to the public.
Burk said the problem has plagued Owosso for years, but added the city is now in its third year of a 10-year-plan to fix the problem.
“A couple of years ago we entered a consent order with the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality to lay out a program to reduce the frequency of sewer overflows,” Burk said.
Last year the city spent approximately $610,000 on manhole rehabilitation. Officials also made corrections to sewer lines, and Burk said this year the city will try to address water that enters the sanitary sewer system from private property.
“We've got about 5,300 connections to our sanitary sewer system, if 20 percent of those have some kind of discharge of footing drain or storm water, that's part of what we are going to have to eliminate from the system,” he said. “That is where it becomes more of a long-term fix.”
n Also related to the recent rainfall, Shiawassee District Library Owosso Branch Steve Flayer said even though the library was closed Tuesday due to flooding, it reopened Wednesday morning.
“It was very minor flooding in the boiler room and the public restroom,” Flayer said. “The main reason I decided to close was because we had no restroom facilities at all. When the water level of the Shiawassee River gets high, for some odd reason our restrooms do not function properly.”
There was no damage done and now the restroom facilities are in working order, he added.
- Contact Michael Peterson at 725-5136 extension 223 or mpetersonarguspress@gmail.com. Post comments about this story online at www.argus-press.com.
Burk said the sewage discharged into the Shiawassee River on Tuesday around 3 or 4 a.m. The emissions occurred out of two manholes in the city - one located near the M-52 bridge and the other near the Chipman Road drain.
It was reported by the SCHD that an estimated 500,000 gallons were discharged.
“It is diluted sewage, but it is still untreated,” Burk said.
The SCHD has advised people to avoid contact with Shiawassee River water until further notice. Follow-up water sampling will be conducted to monitor E-coli bacteria levels. Once completed, the results will be released to the public.
Burk said the problem has plagued Owosso for years, but added the city is now in its third year of a 10-year-plan to fix the problem.
“A couple of years ago we entered a consent order with the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality to lay out a program to reduce the frequency of sewer overflows,” Burk said.
Last year the city spent approximately $610,000 on manhole rehabilitation. Officials also made corrections to sewer lines, and Burk said this year the city will try to address water that enters the sanitary sewer system from private property.
“We've got about 5,300 connections to our sanitary sewer system, if 20 percent of those have some kind of discharge of footing drain or storm water, that's part of what we are going to have to eliminate from the system,” he said. “That is where it becomes more of a long-term fix.”
n Also related to the recent rainfall, Shiawassee District Library Owosso Branch Steve Flayer said even though the library was closed Tuesday due to flooding, it reopened Wednesday morning.
“It was very minor flooding in the boiler room and the public restroom,” Flayer said. “The main reason I decided to close was because we had no restroom facilities at all. When the water level of the Shiawassee River gets high, for some odd reason our restrooms do not function properly.”
There was no damage done and now the restroom facilities are in working order, he added.
- Contact Michael Peterson at 725-5136 extension 223 or mpetersonarguspress@gmail.com. Post comments about this story online at www.argus-press.com.