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| Sewerage System Brief History
Click here to return to the History page. Detroit’s first sewers were little more than open channels through which raw sewage flowed to the nearest receiving body of water, the Detroit or Rouge River. "The Grand Sewer" marked the historical beginning of the Detroit sewerage system. Built in 1836, "The Grand Sewer" was made of stone and brick, and enclosed Savoyard Creek. It flowed from Cadillac Square to its outlet near the foot of Third Street. A portion of this sewer remains in service today. Rapid population increases along both the Detroit and Canadian sides of the Detroit River resulted in vast amounts of untreated sewage discharged into the Detroit River by the end of the 1800s. This created a serious pollution problem that affected Detroit and every community downstream. In 1909, a treaty was signed creating an International Joint Commission to eliminate pollution in boundary waters between the United States and Canada. The Committee’s 1916 report of the extent of pollution in the Detroit River is considered by some to be the birth certificate of Detroit’s Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP). By 1910, Detroiters were served by 439 miles of lateral and 194 miles of trunk sewers. The wastewater carried by these lines was discharged into the river untreated heightening concerns for the safety of Detroit’s drinking water. The concerns fueled construction of the Fairview Sewer in 1913, which diverted sewage downstream, below Detroit’s fresh water intake. Construction of the Wastewater Treatment Plant, at the conjunction of the Detroit and Rouge Rivers, was authorized by City Council in 1925. The Board of Water Commissioners consulted on this huge undertaking with the city’s Department of Public Works, which at that time was responsible for operation and maintenance of the sewer system. Meanwhile, the portion of the Detroit River Interceptor (DRI) from the Fairview Station to Downtown Detroit was built between 1925-28. During this time as well, the Northwest Interceptor in the Rouge River Valley District was begun, and Connor Creek and Fox Creek were enclosed. Spectacular growth of the auto industry led to rapid development of Detroit’s east side, causing flow through the Fairview Sewer to exceed capacity; particularly during storms. To deal with the problems caused by sewage overflows, portions of the East and West Jefferson Avenue Relief Sewers were constructed in 1930. Conditions brought on by the "Great Depression" halted several major projects, including construction of the DRI and the WWTP. Work on the plant resumed in 1936 and was completed in 1939. It became operational in February 1940 when the DRI and the Oakwood-Northwest Interceptor were completed. The WWTP provided primary treatment - removal and incineration of settled solids plus disinfection of effluent discharged into the Detroit River - to Detroit and a handful of suburban communities. It was designed to service the needs of two million persons, and, with modification, more than four million. Two additional sedimentation tanks augmented the Plant’s primary treatment capabilities in 1954. It was evident by 1957 that additional treatment above and beyond the primary level was needed to maintain the Detroit River in an acceptable condition. This reality was the impetus behind a $33 million program to enhance the quality of wastewater treatment while expanding the size of the service area. In December 1964, a report from the National Sanitation Foundation recommended that Detroit become the sole provider of pollution control services for the six-county metropolitan area. While Water Department personnel had been operating the WWTP since 1941, the plant and wastewater system remained a part of the Public Works Department. That changed when responsibility for operation and maintenance of the system, and sewer design/construction - in 1964 and 1966 respectively - was transferred to the Water Department. Additional improvements to the treatment plant were introduced at this time to ease the Department’s transition from local to regional provider of wastewater services. The Department added polymer and pickle liquor feeding facilities to the WWTP in 1970. DWSD also made various improvements to the Plant’s chlorination system. Together these upgrades have boosted solids removal, reduced phosphorus discharge and the elimination of nearly all bacterial pollution. Improvements in the Detroit River and Lake Erie are testaments to our progress. The Federal Water Pollution Control Act of 1972 mandated secondary treatment for all municipal wastewater treatment plant discharges. In response, DWSD built secondary treatment facilities at the WWTP including, aeration tanks, final clarifiers, cryogenic oxygen plants and additional sludge handling facilities. Completion of Pump Station 2 and activation of the North Interceptor-East Arm in 1994 allowed the Department to expand its ability to deliver peak wet weather flows to the WWTP. Currently, DWSD’s wastewater treatment facility has a primary treatment capacity of 1.6 billion gallons per day and a secondary treatment capacity of 859 million gallons per day. With its eye on the future, DWSD is engaged in an ongoing program of improvements to the Wastewater Treatment Plant and the wastewater system designed to maximize the quality of service for the Department’s wholesale and retail customers, as well as ensure long-term compliance. DWSD has also developed and begun implementing a long-term plan to improve water quality in the Rouge and Detroit Rivers by controlling Combined Sewer Overflows (CSO). The $2 billion project is one of the largest sewer projects ever undertaken in Michigan. DWSD currently operates and maintains seven CSO facilities. Four of these (7-Mile, Puritan-Fenkell, Hubbell-Southfield, and Conner Creek) are retention basins, which allow heavy storm flows to be temporarily stored. The basins are designed to release and direct stored contents to the Wastewater Treatment Plant after a storm event has subsided, and the plant can more readily accommodate the flow. In the event of prolonged storm events, basins are designed to release a portion of their contents into either the Rouge or Detroit River after being adequately screened and disinfected. During construction of the Conner Creek facility, DWSD was awarded the Environmental Management Association’s Environmental Achievement Award for 2003 for its efforts to minimize the environmental impact on the Detroit River by dredging of Conner Creek. That effort resulted in the removal of more than 146,000 cubic yards of contaminated soil from the creek. Dr. John Hartig, Refuge Manager for the Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge, said, “The Conner Creek CSO facility has made a significant contribution to cleaning up the Detroit River. As part of this CSO project, polluted sediments from Conner Creek were removed for the first time since 1955.” The department’s three remaining CSO facilities (St. Aubin, Lieb, and Baby Creek) are screening and disinfection facilities, and are used only during high flow events. Their designs provide for 10 minutes of disinfection contact time with wastewater flows prior to discharge to the river. These three CSO facilities do not have any temporary storage capacity, but disinfect, screen, and separate solids from the storm water flow. Solids are transported to an offsite location for disposal, while the remaining screened flow is disinfected and released to the river. The remaining element
of DWSD’s network of long-term CSO program is In-System storage,
a series of inflatable dams deployed in 13 locations, with a combined
capacity to temporarily store up to 83 million gallons of storm
flow. The dams, or rubber bladders, are located within trunk sewer
lines near both the Detroit and Rouge Rivers.
Click here to return to the History page. |
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