MADISON HEIGHTS, Mich. (WXYZ) — Wednesday afternoon, Oakland County officials pushed back against claims that the county is polluting Lake St. Clair by discharging fully and partially treated raw sewage into the lake from its treatment facility.
Those are claims made by officials and residents in Macomb County.
Oakland County water resources Commissioner Jim Nash and board of Commissioners Chair David Woodward held a press conference at the George W. Kuhn Retention Treatment Basin in Madison Heights.
“This is not the first time that false claims have been made against this facility, and I’m sure it won’t be the last," Nash said.
Mike Gutow, a Macomb County resident said in response, "Well, I beg to differ and other people beg to differ."
Gutow, who started the Facebook group Save Lake St. Clair, said the pollution is evident from the water discoloration and contents that make up the muck.
"People who’ve lived on this lake... you can see the change in the ecosystem dramatically," he told 7 News Detroit.
“Even Oakland County residents, this is their drinking water. And I don’t care how much you clean or chlorinate when you have a sewage overflow, there is things in there that are so dangerous and toxic that no chlorination can remove," Gutow explained.
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Nash said, “Many federal, state and regional agencies have shown that there no link between our facility and beach closings or the muck on Lake St. Clair. Scientific studies have shown that these issues are caused by runoff from animal waste, fertilizer and the warm waller invasive species that didn’t used to exist there.”
Macomb County Public Works Commissioner Candice Miller has been vocal in about the steps she believes Oakland County officials need to take to solve the issue.
"What really needs to happen is that Oakland County needs to put some money toward building bigger retention basins," she told 7 News Detroit.
“They are the only wastewater treatment plant in the entire state of Michigan that literally discharges right at the border, right onto Macomb County. So, if they think that their partially treated or untreated sewer water is acceptable, they will not mind when we put a big steel seawall over their discharge canal, and they can handle it themselves."
7 News Detroit reached out to the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy. The state agency said the George W. Kuhn facility meets all federal and state regulations regarding discharge. However, EGLE is determining if any additional steps need to be included in a draft permit.
Input is being taken into account from Oakland and Macomb counties.
