Harrison Township board discusses Selfridge sewers, meters

HARRISON TOWNSHIP — Water was the main topic of the evening at the Feb. 27 Harrison Township Board of Trustees meeting, notably featuring the approval of a $31,000 sanitary sewer infrastructure, pump station and meter study for Selfridge Air National Guard Base.

Outlined by Wade Trim Associates Inc. and presented to the board by David Axtell, Harrison Township’s director of public services, the study aims to look into ways the township, as the base’s sanitary sewer provider, could improve services by replacing the decommissioned Building 501 wastewater treatment plant.

Though retrofitting the building was determined to be infeasible, base and township engineers have come up with three plans for how to replace it.

The first plan would have a township-owned facility built outside the base adjacent to Building 501, transporting sewage beneath the Clinton River via a new force main. The second plan would retrofit Selfridge’s Building 40, currently a pump station, to pump water into the township system across the Clinton River, requiring the construction of a new force main from Building 40 to a township facility on Chart Street, and a pump evaluation. The third plan would modify the existing Building 40 force main to connect to a township force main from the Bayhaven Pump Station, requiring a capacity study to make sure the township water system can handle the hydraulics of a conjoined force main.

The $31,000 will cover 120 hours of study for each outcome as well as about 55 hours of background research, report writing and other necessary tasks.

Selfridge will reimburse the township for the study.

“This leads to, presumably and hopefully, many, many years of providing services to the base and providing them in the most efficient manner possible,” Harrison Township Supervisor Ken Verkest said. “I think this is a step in the right direction.”

 

Water meter statement
During announcements at the start of the meeting, Axtell read a statement about the issues residents were reportedly having with water meters.

Residents have been receiving water bills based on readings from failed meters and the township has been unable to provide new ones. Axtell said the current system for the water meter reading devices is nearing the end of its usable life, while the cost of new ones has increased by 50%, with a lead time to buy new ones being five months.

“I do not believe that I’d be putting the best interests of Harrison Township residents first if I were to pour exuberant amounts of money into a system that is failing and continues to fail on a daily basis,” Axtell said.

With this in mind, the Water and Sewer Department is currently looking into a new system to replace the current one. The new system will go before the board for approval once selected.