Monthly Progress Report
Executive Summary

April 2000

• At this time, 76 out of the total of 83 CSO outfalls in the Phase 1 CSO Program are under control with retention and treatment basins, or have been eliminated by sewer separation.

• Nine CSO retention/treatment basins are currently in operation for the communities of Inkster, Redford, Acacia Park, Dearborn Heights, Bloomfield Village, Birmingham, and Detroit (3).  Livonia, Garden City, Plymouth Township, Bloomfield Hills, Wayne and Westland have also completed CSO separation projects.

• Final Phase 1 CSO basin evaluation reports were submitted to MDEQ in March 2000 for the Oakland County Acacia Park, Bloomfield Village, and Birmingham basins.  Wayne County also submitted evaluation reports in March for their CSO basins currently in operation.

• MDEQ has issued 39 Certificates of Coverage under its voluntary storm water general permit as of March 2, 2000.  There are 6 communities or county agencies still in negotiation with MDEQ regarding their certificates of coverage.

• The first public participation meetings for each of the subwatershed management plans were held in March and April 2000.   Drafts of the initial sections on the plans dealing with the nature and status of the subwatersheds are being prepared in May 2000.

• Communities are preparing their first annual reports under the General Permit.  Westland and Canton submitted reports that are under review by the MDEQ.   Other communities are scheduled to submit reports on the anniversary of their certificates of coverage.  The Wayne County/RPO and the MDEQ are working together to communicate guidance to the communities for the format and content of these reports.

• Planning continues for the 2000 Rouge River Water Festival, scheduled for Thursday, May 4 at the University of Michigan-Dearborn campus.  Over 1,400 students from Rouge Watershed schools planning to attend the event.

• The City of Westland hosted a session of the Illicit Connection / Discharge Training Program on March 1, 2000 entitled “Prevention of Construction Related Illicit Discharges”.

• The Rouge Program Office is assisting the Wayne County Department of Environment with a plan to use the restored Newburgh Lake for the swimming portion of a Triathlon event scheduled for August 2000.

• The RPO continues work on the City of Livonia’s Storm Sewer Data GIS.  Staff is currently documenting existing outfalls through the use of digital photos and is fine tuning the sewer pipe network layer on the system.

• RPO staff is preparing preliminary plans and river cross sections for the Rouge Gateway Project.  The RPO is coordinating preliminary designs with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and other Rouge Gateway project stakeholders.

• Wayne County staff planned and implemented the “Wetland Adventure”, a week long celebration of wet ecosystems as part of the Garden City Schools Wetlands Education Project (RH-02).

• Livonia collected samples of street dirt and catch basin accumulation in areas selected for pilot testing as part of the Stormwater System & Maintenance Project (U2-08).  After collecting samples, each area was cleaned prior to initiation of monitoring.

• Forty individuals have been trained in on-site sewage disposal evaluation techniques in Washtenaw County.   The training is part of the county’s On-Site Sewage Disposal Systems Management Project (OSS-02).

• Plymouth Township has completed a pedestrian path along Tonquish Creek for the Interpretation and Educational System Project (RH-03).  Construction of the interpretive signage and habitat planting is scheduled from June to November 2000.

• Garden City has continued progress on inspection of all downspouts in the city.  Currently one half of the city’s downspouts have been inspected for the Stormwater Project (SW-05).

Institutional Arrangements

• The Rouge River Project Steering Committee meets on the third Thursday of every other month, and meetings were held on January 20 and March 16,2000.

• The Steering Committee has established a subcommittee on Sanitary Sewer Overflows (SSOs) which has met monthly and plans to issue a report in the summer.  The SSO subcommittee includes representatives from Wayne County Department of Environment, Oakland County Drain Commissioner, several Rouge watershed communities, and MDEQ and RPO representatives.  The committee met February 18 and March 24, 2000.

• The Rouge River Project Federal Court Committee met on April 18, 2000.  A Federal Court hearing was held on January 25, 2000, for case Number 77-1110.     The focus for the discussion was Rouge River Progress Summary for 1999.  The next hearing is scheduled for June 16, 2000.

Please address all comments and suggestions about the contents of this Web page to rougeweb@co.wayne.mi.us.

The Rouge River National Wet Weather Demonstration Project is funded, in part, by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Grants #XP995743-01, -02, -03, -04, -05, -06, -08 and C-264000-01.