CENTER LINE DRAIN DISCONNECTION PILOT PROGRAM

On November 5, 2001, post cards were mailed to all residents requesting information to be returned to the City for the purpose of identifying improper storm and sanitary sewer connections. Pursuant to the Administrative Consent Order (ACO) with the State of Michigan, Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (MDEa), the City must, on or before JULY 15, 2002, complete and evaluate the System Rehabilitation Pilot Projects, including footing drain disconnection and sump pump installation. The City's consulting engineering firm, Anderson, Eckstein & Westrick, Inc., (AEW), has requested that this information be collected to assist in correcting any problems that may be found.

The cost and responsibility for payment of any repairs, should they be necessary, are unknown at this time and will be determined by the City of Center Line City Council at a later date.

As required by the ACO signed by the City and the MDEQ, the City and AEW are proceeding with a program to evaluate the potential benefits of disconnecting the footing drains from the sanitary sewer. The disconnection of the footing drains is being evaluated because of the sanitary sewer overflows (SSO's) recently reported in the news, and as required by the MDEQ. The following is intended to address the potential concerns residents may have regarding the questionnaire mailed to each of the residential property owners in Center Line. Below are some potential questions (a) with the response (R):

Q: What is a footing drain?
R: A footing drain is pipe used to remove water in the ground adjacent to the foundation and/or basement walls. These are also called foundation drains and "weeping or seepage tile". This is done to keep the basement dry as well as for structural reasons. These are generally connected to the sanitary sewer in older construction. If a resident has a basement (with some limited exceptions, i.e. "Michigan basements") it has a footing drain. The City must evaluate the volume of water which these footing drains are carrying into the sanitary sewer and their effect on the sanitary sewer overflows during heavy rain events.

Q: What is a sump pump?
R: A sump pump is a pump which is generally located in the basement of a residence and carries the water from the footing drain to the outlet where a gravity outlet for the footing drain is not available. The sump pump outlet may be to a storm or sanitary sewer depending on the age of the pump connection construction. A sump pump connected to the sanitary sewer may be disconnected at a lesser cost due to the limited plumbing involved. It may be necessary in the future to disconnect existing footing drains from the sanitary and connect them to sump pumps in order to direct the ground water to a storm outlet as the storm sewer is generally shallower than the sanitary sewer.

Q What is a rear yard catch basin?
R A catch basin is a storm sewer structure used to collect surface drainage and direct it to the storm sewer or storm outlet. A rear yard catch basin is a catch basin which is generally associated with a storm drainage easement across the back of the residential rear yards. In some cases there is not a storm sewer connected to these basins. In this case, it is a seepage basin or "French drain" which allows the surface water to infiltrate into the ground. Sump pumps may be connected to these basins and no change is required.

Q What is the pilot project?
R This is a reference to the Footing Drain Disconnection and Sump Pump Pilot Project. This project will be used to evaluate the flows from sump pumps and thus the potential reduction in wet- weather flows to the sanitary sewers. The City needs residents with sump pumps connected in their homes to volunteer for the installation of the necessary flow monitors. There is no cost to the resident for this program. Future phases of the project may include the evaluation of construction cost to disconnect those sump pumps or footing drains from the sanitary sewer.

To date, the pilot project has involved the various departments of the City and AEW. The City of Center Line's Assessing Department has identified residential homes with basements and provided this information to AEW. The City's notification of the residents of these homes to determine if their homes currently have sump pumps installed and if these are directed to the sanitary sewer or to a rear yard catch basin is part of this process. If a sump pump is not installed, it is assumed that the footing drains for the homes with basements have a gravity connection to the sanitary or storm. This information is necessary to evaluate the overall scope of the potential disconnection program and the potential costs Citywide.

Additionally, the City's Building Inspection Department has coordinated with AEW to identify new construction that included the installation of sump pumps. AEW is selecting representative homes for monitoring of sump pump flows. There is some indication that footing drain/sump pump disconnection may have a greater effect in some areas of the City than in others due to varying ground water table elevations, soil conditions, etc. The flow monitoring will aid the City in the evaluation of a footing drain disconnection program as a viable method of reducing the wet weather flows in the sanitary sewer system. It should be noted that the City is working closely with the Detroit Water & Sewerage Department (DWSD) consultants including Camp, Dresser, and Mckee (CDM) with regard to their referenced footing drain disconnection program and the installation of the flow monitors.

The City of Center Line Department of Public Works is actively working with AEW to comply with the terms of the ACO while keeping in mind the effect of any of these programs on the City's residents. In addition to determining the viable infrastructure programs needed to comply with the ACO, the City will be evaluating the various financing options that will be available to minimize the effect on residents. If you have any questions or require any additional information, please feel free to contact the City's DPW Superintendent at (586) 758-8258; or Mr. James Rabine or Mr. Paul Guinnane at AEW at (586) 726-1234.