SHIAWASSEE COUNTY’S Clean Water State Revolving Fund Project Plan targets 15 drains throughout Shiawassee County for repair. The drains in question are located in Fairfield, Rush, New Haven, Owosso, Caledonia, Venice, Sciota, Bennington, Shiawassee and Vernon townships, one is located on the border of the city of Corunna and Caledonia Twp. and one is in the city of Owosso.
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Shiawassee County Drain Commissioner Tony Newman held a public meeting on Wednesday, April 19 for the purpose of receiving comments from the public regarding the county’s 2023 Clean Water State Revolving Fund Non-Source Project Plan.
The purpose of the proposed project is to secure low interest funding for non-point source water quality treatment improvements. The projects described in the project plan will help reduce the amount of storm water, reduce storm water pollutants, reduce erosion and attenuate flow to drains by retaining, detaining and infiltrating the storm water runoff. Fifteen projects within Shiawassee County are proposed to provide storm water quality improvement opportunities.
The proposed project (shown on the adjoining map) includes the following drains: Caledonia Drain #077, Chipman Drain #091, Wait#2 Extension Drain #484, Maple Swamp & Branch Drain #295, Loynes & Williams Drain #287, Huckleberry Drain #231, Crawford Joint Drain #124, Porter Creek Drain #375, Ridley Drain #394, Sawyer Joint Drain #407, Mikan Joint Drain #304, Sciota Township Drain #522, North State Drain #396, Coal Mine Drain #100 and Yerkes Drain #511.
The project locations can be found online at www.shiawassee.net/drain-commissioner.
Project construction involves stream bank stabilizations and water quality improvements such as culvert and drain optimization, sediment removal, native plantings and sediment basin construction.
Impacts of the proposed projects include improving water quality, with minor temporary construction impacts such as minor traffic, minor lawn and pavement disturbance.
The projects will be funded by loans from the Michigan State Revolving Fund. The county projects have a combined estimated construction cost of approximately $19,245,000, which equates to between $100 and $2,000 annually per household for Chapter 4 Drains. Apportionments will be consistent with the Drain Code of 1956. Additionally, sites were selected with a focus on communities that were potentially overburdened, which may lead to all or a portion of this loan being forgiven by the state.
The plans must be submitted to the state by May 1 with project approvals due back from the state by sometime this fall. Should the project plan be approved, the Caledonia and Coal Mine drains would be repaired first, in 2024, with the rest of the drains being repaired in 2025 and 2026.
Copies of the plan detailing the proposed project are available at the Shiawassee Drain Commission which is located at 1024 N. Shiawassee St. in Corunna.
