By: Alyssa Ochss | St. Clair Shores Sentinel | Published November 20, 2025
ST. CLAIR SHORES — The Bon Heur Pump Station in St. Clair Shores will undergo construction to update aging infrastructure.
Macomb County Public Works Commissioner Candice Miller said the pump station near Harper Avenue and Frazho Street will have all of its screw pumps removed. Deep inside the station, the massive pumps move the water and other debris through the system. The small pumps go through 10,000 gallons per minute while the big pumps go through 20,000 gallons per minute.
The pumps haven’t been replaced since the 1980s, but routine maintenance has kept them working up to this point.
The entire project will cost $8.7 million in American Rescue Plan Act money which, Miller said, won’t result in a rate increase for residents.
“Not to say that they’ll never get a water and sewer rate increase, but certainly not because of this project,” Miller said.
Miller said the pump station, at more than 45 years old, has reached its life expectancy and that they are fixing it.
“As you know in our department we are fixing everything and this is another one of these things that we’re fixing,” Miller said.
Vince Astorino, operations manager at the Southeast Macomb Sanitary District, said the project affects mostly St. Clair Shores but also some of Roseville. If the pump station were to fail, residents could experience flooding in their basements.
“That’s why it’s so critical to get everything in place,” Astorino said.
He said the pump station has remained fully operational and that no basements have flooded because of it, but that it’s getting to the end of its useful life.
“We’re getting ahead of it,” Astorino said.
He said the new pump will be able to filter through more gallons — around 50,000 gallons per minute. Along with the pumps, the electrical, gates and generators will be replaced. They are also adding an odor control system. Both Miller and Astorino said residents in the area have raised concerns of the odor coming from the pump station.
Miller said all the ARPA money has been allocated to the different projects throughout the county and in the end all the money will be spent.
Miller said since she’s been in the public works office, they’ve raised over $108 million including ARPA funds as well as state and county funds.
To remove the large pumps, the roof of the pump station comes off, and they lift them with a crane. The project started around a year ago and it is anticipated to be completed next November. Astorino said they are currently ahead of schedule.
“It takes time to replace each of these pumps. We can’t do all four at the same time,” Astorino said. “We got to do one at a time so that we always have our pump capacity here.”
Crews will be working through the winter to complete the project.