Record Flooding Threatens Michigan's Drinking Water And Source Water
After heavy rainfall led to the rupturing of two dams last week, communities in Central Michigan were inundated with floodwater and significant threats to drinking water quality and wastewater service.
When two dams were compromised last week, the National Weather Service issued a local flash-flood warning and residents in Michigan’s Edenville, Sanford, and Midland were evacuated. At one point, the area’s Tittabawassee River reached 10 feet above its flood levels and continued to rise.
More than 10,000 people were evacuated, but beyond the immediate threat to human life, the flooding also impacted a major toxic cleanup site: the area around a Dow chemical complex.
“For more than a century, the Dow complex has manufactured a range of products including Saran Wrap, Styrofoam, Agent Orange and mustard gas,” The New York Times reported. “Over time, Dow released effluent into the water, leading to dioxin contamination stretching more than 50 miles along the Tittabawassee and Saginaw Rivers and into Lake Huron. Research has shown that dioxins can damage the immune system and can cause reproductive development problems and cancer.”
In the immediate aftermath of the flooding, Dow said that it implemented a preparedness plan and shut down operating units on-site.
Following the record-breaking floods, some local sanitary sewer pumps were also shut down, which may have led to sewer backups for some residences. Local officials took to social media to clarify that this would not impact drinking water service.
“The city of Midland posted a statement on their Facebook page … saying they had received calls, messages and comments about water service being shut off,” according to MLive. “‘This is not the case,’ the statement reads. ‘City of Midland water from the Water Treatment Plant is fully operational - and, since it’s sourced from Lake Huron and run through a self-contained system - is safe to drink and use as normal.’”
In another part of the state, heavy rainfall impacted source water quality as well.
“An estimated 600 to 1,500 gallons of partially treated sewage from Ann Arbor’s wastewater treatment plant spilled into the Huron River,” per MLive. “The wastewater, which received settling and chlorine disinfection, went directly into the river via an overflow outfall.”
To read more about how utilities deal with major flooding, visit Water Online’s Stormwater Management Solutions Center.