GLADSTONE — The city of Gladstone is developing a plan to prevent further wastewater discharges into Lake Michigan

The city recently received an enforcement notice to provide the state with a plan to fix previous sewer and wastewater issues identified by the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE), Water Resources Division. The incidents occurred when the area received heavy rainfall the city’s wastewater system was unable to handle.

The city of Escanaba has had similar problems in recent years.

The enforcement notice received by Gladstone asks the city to immediately undertake all actions necessary to resolve previous violations.

“We were told this was coming,” said Gladstone City Manager Eric Buckman. “We are working on a plan with engineering and EGLE, discussing how much we can afford to do each year. It’s going to be a large expense fixing the issues.”

The city has to explain how the previous violations will be resolved and include it in a submitted order.

“We have to have an agreement by Aug. 1,” said Rodney Schwartz wastewater superintendent. “A draft of the plan will be sent to EGLE within two weeks and they will receive the final one June 2021.”

In September 2018 the city violated effluent limits and sanitary sewer overflows permitted by the state. in May 2019, wastewater was discharged into Little Bay de Noc. Heavy rainfall and high lake and ground water levels all contributed to the wastewater problems.

According to Schwartz, water came out of manholes and Gladstone had flow and partially treated effluent circulating out and back into the wastewater treatment plant.

“It overflowed the secondary clarifiers,” said Schwartz. “It is temporarily fixed. The overflow hasn’t gone over this year and we’ve had more go through the plant this year than last year.”

Buckman said the partially treated effluent hadn’t had sufficient time to settle out prior to discharge at that time.

The violations triggered an Infiltration and Inflow (I&I) study by C2AE, an architecture and engineering company in Escanaba. The 2019 report showed areas of the sanitary sewer that needed replacing, commercial roof drains and sump pumps that needed to be disconnected from the city sewer, and the wastewater treatment plant needed renovations.

While workers are currently fixing sewer lines on a portion of 4th Street, they are finding old lines plugged off with concrete and some leaking, according to Buckman. A number of issues that need to be addressed will be fixed during the current on-going 9th Street Project.

The city and an engineering firm will do a Sewer System Evaluation Survey (SSES), breaking down problem areas into smaller areas to look carefully at water treatment plant upgrades and collection system repairs and replacement.

“Everyone working on this spend time on the water and fish, and it upsets them too,” said Buckman. “We’ll get it right, it’s just a matter of time and money.”