City of St. Clair Shores issued the following announcement on Feb. 10.
Here is some news from Macomb County Public Works to share. A video about this inspection work is available on our YouTube channel, here: https://youtu.be/0vhFAFMCL-4
Lake Boulevard Drain Inspection to begin in St. Clair Shores
The Macomb County Public Works Office has begun work on an inspection of the Lake Boulevard storm drain in Roseville and St. Clair Shores. The half-million dollar inspection is the first in decades on this critical piece of underground public infrastructure.
The drain, which is an underground pipe as much as 12 feet in diameter, takes storm water – rain and melting snow – out of neighborhoods and off road ways in an area bounded roughly by I-94 to the west and 12 and 13 Mile Roads to the north and south. The pipe empties into Lake St. Clair.
Due to high lake levels on Lake St. Clair, much of the pipe is filled with water at all times. Work crews will install a temporary bulkhead to block out lake water and then will pump out the pipe to allow inspectors to walk the length of the pipe and create a video record of the current conditions in the pipe. Inspectors will be looking for areas of degradation in the pipe and for any possible illicit connections – places where sanitary sewer enters the storm water pipe.
These inspections allow us to maximize the life of our underground infrastructure by scheduling any necessary maintenance work now, before it becomes an emergency. Further, if there are places where illicit taps are found, we find ‘em and we fix ‘em. That’s a source of pollution we can eliminate immediately,” said Macomb County Public Works Commissioner Candice S. Miller.
In 2017 and 2018, illicit sanitary taps were found and corrected in storm water pipes in an apartment building in Eastpointe and a manufacturing facility in Warren, respectively.
During the inspection of the county drain, St. Clair Shores’ municipal department of public works will be inspecting some of the city-owned drains that feed in to the Lake Boulevard drain, taking advantage of the pumped out drain.
“This further benefits our residents when we are able to partner up with our local communities,” Miller said.
The inspection work is being financed by a state SAW (storm water, asset management & wastewater grant). It is expected to take about two weeks, barring any delays due to heavy rain or snow melt periods, once the work begins.
Since taking office in 2017, Miller has directed inspections in numerous major underground drains across the county, including three others – Stephens Relief, 11 ½ Mile and Hetchler Relief – in St. Clair Shores.
Original source can be found here.
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