Emmett Village
Sewer System
In 2004, the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) revealed plans to reconstruct several miles of the M-19 corridor through St. Clair County. A portion of the project passes through the Village of Emmett on the north side of I-69 approximately 15 miles west of Port Huron. As a preliminary step, MDOT met with Emmett Village officials to discuss needs of the Village. It was pointed out that the sanitary treatment process in Emmett relied upon private septic systems, and several homes along M-19 drained raw sewage into the highway storm drainage system. Further, the area soils were not suitable for effective septic system operation, so it would be difficult to construct new septic fields on the small lots with older homes in the Village. As part of the project MDOT would need to disconnect any illicit connections to the storm drainage system.
The South Branch of the Pine River Drain carries the storm drainage from the north half of Emmett, and the Cowhy Drain takes drainage from the south half of the Village, including the M-19 storm sewers. The involvement of county drains put the St. Clair County Drain Commissioner (SCCDC) in a logical position to lead an effort to resolve this community’s severe pollution problem. Section 423 of the Michigan Drain Code allowed the Drain Commissioner to construct disposal plants, filtration beds, and other mechanical devices to properly purify the flow of any drain, so a project was petitioned by Village of Emmett Council as the South Branch of the Pine River Drain Drainage District.
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In 2004, MDOT provided the Village and Drainage District with $25,000 of seed money to conduct a feasibility study of how to fix the sewage problem. BMJ was chosen to conduct the study, prepare the design, and perform construction management services for the project.
Various facility proposals were prepared, and public comments were taken. BMJ presented a preliminary plan for the Village sewer system and Facultative Treatment Ponds in May 2006. The funding would be applied for through low-interest loans available from the State Revolving Fund (SRF). Because some costs were not fundable by SRF, such as the cost of purchasing land for the treatment ponds, the Drain Commissioner also used a Section 434 Drain Code for some of the financing.
In trying to encourage MDOT to coordinate projects, some challenges needed to be met. Due to a delay in the original highway reconstruction plan, MDOT had re-scheduled the Emmett vicinity work on M-19 to the 2011 construction season. The sanitary sewer construction project was ready to begin in 2007.
Getting MDOT to reschedule again, and this time to move the project up in their schedule with funding priorities elsewhere, took some clever scheduling and assistance from the local MDOT Transportation Service Center. So helpful was the local office of MDOT, they offered to incorporate the portion of the sanitary sewer work within the M-19 Right of Way under their road reconstruction project.
Some efforts were needed to coordinate the phased approach, as the Drain Office would now be ceding control of the M-19 sanitary sewer work to another agency and contractor. The Drain Office and BMJ attended several MDOT design review meetings and arranged the required attendance of contractors and engineers for the two projects at each other’s construction progress meetings.
MDOT was unable make the deadlines necessary for the project to be funded under the 2007 SRF loan program. A second project loan was needed for a continuation of the project under that program. The SCCDC coordinated the application process with MDEQ while BMJ hurriedly separated the project drawings and prepared an MDOT formatted set of drawings and project specifications.
The 2007 to 2008 construction project created a conventional sanitary sewer collection system. In all, the sewer was installed along 11 of 14 village streets. Two duplex submersible lift stations were designed to extend the operational range of the gravity lines. The entire 2.5-mile length of the collection system was configured to pass through two lift stations. These lift stations feature state of the art telemetry and system control equipment.
Waste is transported via 4-inch diameter force main, one-half mile to a two-cell, 9-million gallon, facultative lagoon facility located in the southeast corner of the village. Their capacity will allow the village to accommodate any infill of the existing service area and additional growth projected out to 20 years in the future.
The effort did not stop with construction, nor did the SCCDC wait until the system was completely constructed to move into the next phase. Each system user had to be connected to the system. BMJ assisted the SCCDC in creating informational pamphlets to be distributed to village residents and businesses. The pamphlets contained a do’s and don’ts section, contact numbers, grant application information, a summary of the permitting process, and even answered questions about hiring a contractor. The literature was distributed along with the permit applications by the BMJ inspection staff and SCCDC staff at village meetings and through the mail.