Engineers To Study Aging Wastewater Plant
Mackinac Island Near Capacity for Water Use
By Karen Gould

As Mackinac Island's aging wastewater treatment plant nears capacity and demands improvements, the newly appointed Moratorium Committee has hired an engineering

firm at a cost of $35,435 to evaluate the plant and provide a plan of needed improvements and scenarios for future growth of the plant. The plan will detail what is needed, when it will be needed, and how much it will cost.

An interim engineering report is expected in November, but, already, engineers are suggesting a new facility because the existing facility is nearing the end of its life.

The Island is in the third year of a six-year allocation program that limits the number of new connections to the sewer system. Even so, the plant is expected to reach full capacity in three years.

Little has been done to resolve the problem during the last three years, so the city council imposed a 180-day moratorium last month that has frozen new connections until February 2008, and appointed the Moratorium Committee to formulate a long-term plan.

The committee, which met August 22, agreed that an equitable process for allowing hardship cases to tap into the system is needed in the interim. Board of Public Works Chairman Tom Lewand, who participated in the meeting by telephone, and City Attorney Tom Evashevski, who was unable to attend the meeting, were delegated to draft hardship guidelines for review at the September 19 meeting.

Bruce Zimmerman, director of the Department of Public Works (DPW), estimated three residential projects and one commercial project could be considered hardship cases this winter.

The allocation will also be addressed. For three years, the city has allowed sewage treatment to increase by only 15 residential equivalent units (REUs) a year. Each REU is the amount of water used by an average family of four, or 2.8 hotel rooms, or each 250 square feet of a restaurant. Three of the 15 REUs are reserved for residential use, and all REUs are granted on a first-come basis for $5,587 each.

The plant, built in the 1970s, can treat 930,000 gallons of sewage a day.

Fishbeck, Thompson, Carr and Huber, Inc. of Grand Rapids will evaluate the wastewater treatment plant and pumping systems, taking into consideration existing conditions, treatment problems, and needed improvements.

Tim McNamara, a Fishbeck vice president, said the system is aging and has a finite life. Electrical, mechanical, and structural systems are immediate concerns, he noted, and some electrical replacement parts no longer are available. Pipes may need replacement or may not be large enough to serve future needs.

"Are you saying we pretty much have to start over again?" asked Bob Brown, planning commission chairman.

"Our best guess is yes," said Mr. McNamara. "We can keep bandaging that plant another year."

Speculating that some foundation work would remain, Mr. McNamara said even if no new construction took place, the operating systems need to be replaced.

The report will address how best to make repairs and upgrades, where to make them, and any recommended capacity changes. From an engineering perspective, part of the study will include the best way to implement repairs or replacements.

Phil Porter, director of Mackinac State Historic Parks, expressed concerns over odor coming from the plant and said park visitors complain of the smell as they ride through woods. He suggested odor elimination be considered a priority.

New plants offer more possibilities for odor control, said Mr. McNamara.

Any land needed for possible plant expansion at the site would have to come from the state park, although building satellite plants also is a consideration that could be addressed in the study, said Mr. McNamara.

The plant wasn't laid out well for expansion, said John Rafter, senior project manager with the company. Any future work should take land use into consideration so the community is not in the same position in the future.

Funding for work done at the plant could come from grants, although few are available, said Mr. Rafter. He also suggested the city consider low interest loans.

The engineers will identify environmental regulations that may influence upgrades.

Using the DPW's historical flow records from connected customers and population estimates, a 20-year projected flow report in five-year increments will be developed.

Mr. Lewand asked the status of the community's master plan, while the committee questioned how a master plan could move forward without knowing what the residents want to see in infrastructure services.

"What we need to do is define planned growth," said Mr. Porter. That decision would impact zoning, how the state park allocates property to meet infrastructure needs. "What Mackinac looks like in 20 years, we can decide that by defining how it's going to grow."

Based on the city's zoning, three story buildings are allowed in the downtown district, while a number of them now are single and two story.

"If we tore downtown down right now and put it back based on our current zoning and what's allowed," said city building inspector Dennis Dombroski, "we're probably looking at doubling the capacity."

Mr. Porter agreed.

"I think we'd have some shocking conclusions," he said, if the committee looked at both past growth patterns and zoning allowances.

"I think we need to do some analysis to describe this," said Mr. Porter, who offered to help develop a growth plan at a level comfortable with the Island's governmental agencies. "It's a visioning process."

The nine-member Moratorium Committee includes Mayor Margaret Doud, City Aldermen Dan Wightman and Armand Porter, Board of Public Works member Victor Callewaert, and Mssrs. Brown, Zimmerman, Evashevski, Dombroski, and Phil Porter.

The committee next meets Wednesday, September 19, at 1 p.m. on the second floor of Community Hall.