1.2M gallons of raw sewage discharged into Red Run Drain

WWJ-AM / WWJ Newsradio 950

Macomb County’s Public Works Commissioner Candice Miller is outraged at what she says was a massage sewage overflow from Oakland County into the Red Run Drain, which flows into Lake St. Clair.

Transcript

00:00Well, we continue to raise this issue. There really isn't anything else that we can do,

00:04but we're asking that EGL, who is the state regulators that permit the various retention

00:09basins in the state, that they step in and force the issue with Oakland County. It's one thing when

00:15they have combined sewer overflows, which at least is some partially treated sanitary sewage mixed

00:21with stormwater, but when there are raw sanitary sewage overflows, seriously, that is so unacceptable.

00:28I can't believe anybody finds that to be acceptable. Not only the sanitary sewage that

00:33is flowing finally out into Lake St. Clair, but all the floatables, not to be gross, but the

00:38floatables that are within the sanitary system, right? Whether it's wipes, personal wipes, all

00:43kinds of things that people put in the sewer, that's all over the bushes and the trees at the

00:48outfall of this retention basin. It's just sickening. I don't know how else to explain it. So we're

00:53asking that EGL, the state regulators force this issue. And has there been any response

00:58on this most recent spill from Oakland County? No, about a week ago, the commissioner there

01:05said that all of their discharges were crystal clear. That was the term that he used, crystal

01:13clear, which is mind boggling that anybody would say that these discharges are crystal clear.

01:19Because the only thing that's crystal clear is they have to have the political will to stop doing

01:25these things. And I and everybody in Macomb County would assist on this, I'm sure. They have to have

01:31the political will that we would help lobby for financial resources to solve their issue, which

01:37is impacting us, all of us, because it's all going out into Lake St. Clair. I don't even know if

01:43we'll use this because it is gross, but describe what you saw when you went out there or your workers

01:47room out there. Well, what happens is you find all the floatables that are in a sanitary sewage. So

01:53listen, I don't want to be gross, but there are wipes that are out there, condoms, you know,

01:58tampax. I'm sorry, you want to be gross. That's what's coming out of this stuff. It's not been

02:04treated. It's not been filtered. And it's just it's going into the Red Run drain, which goes to the

02:09Clinton River into Lake St. Clair. And I'm sorry, I'm being gross. But that is what's happening.

02:14And if I sound a little bit outraged, I am. And I think we all are. And we are simply asking,

02:20would they do something about it? But every time we have a heavy rain event, which is often anymore,

02:25the same thing happens. And if they're not going to do anything, then the regulators need to step in

02:31and force this issue. So there, as I say, there has to be a political will, you have to be willing to

02:35spend money. We are doing the same thing in Macomb County, because these kinds of issues have been

02:41going on for decades, which is really why I ran for this job. We don't have to live this way.

02:45And we all live in the Great Lakes State with Lake St. Clair. Come on, we can't just keep doing

02:52this generation after generation.

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