The Rouge River National Wet Weather Demonstration Project is a comprehensive approach to watershed management. The mission of the Rouge Project is to restore the water quality in the Rouge River to a safe and healthy environment for ourselves and future generations. The project is conducting detailed research and analysis of the entire river system for innovative, watershed-based solutions to control the wet weather problems in the Rouge River watershed.
Several key objectives of the Rouge River National Wet Weather Demonstration Project address the sources of nonpoint source pollution. One objective is the detection and elimination of improper discharges to the storm and/or sanitary sewers of the watershed. Cross-connections are a problem because they allow relatively uncontaminated storm water to enter sanitary sewer systems and contaminated discharges into the storm water collection systems. In an effort to meet this objective, Wayne County, Michigan, has implemented what is known as the Illicit Connection Detection Program.
The Illicit Connection Detection Program is administered by the Wayne County Department of Environment as a component of the Rouge River National Wet Weather Demonstration Project. The program operates in the Wayne County portion of the Rouge River watershed, a highly urbanized drainage system in southeastern Michigan. Program elements contain a broad definition of illicit connection procedure for selecting areas for investigation, site visit and findings. An illicit connection is considered more than the traditional misconnected sewer line by the program. It includes inappropriate discharges of polluting materials overland (e.g., across a parking lot) to storm sewers.
Field strategies and target area selection is enhanced through the analysis capabilities of an interactive Geographic Information System (GIS). The Rouge GIS allows program managers to examine the entire watershed with selected criteria. Business facilities are reprioritized (1Ð4) based on this Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) codes. The GIS system ranks subareas (small watersheds) based on frequency of priority facilities, or displays color coded points to determine the concentrations thereof. SIC codes can also be specified to rank subareas.
The user can choose a predefined area or define (draw) an area of interest to subset the facilities database and perform structured queries. The operator can produce an indexed list of facilities for a field plan or create a file to print out mailing lists specific to a geographic area.
Facilities are notified of the program and informed of an impending visit. Site visit includes inspection of the facility to determine any obvious violation of environmental regulations and dye testing. Plumbing fixtures are dye tested to make sure they discharge to the appropriate sanitary system. Facilities with violations are informed and required to make any corrections.
Summaries of findings, detail the number of facilities inspected, types and frequency of illicit connections, an estimate of pollutant load reductions. Anecdotal examples of unusual illicit connections. The Illicit Connection GIS Application provides a reliable routine that eliminates the labor intensive planning and coordination required in former procedures. It increases the efficiency of the staff with well organized materials for field operations. It allows staff to plan and document field activity with spatial analysis and graphic displays which previously were not possible. Combined with substantial savings in time and costs, these enhancements have transformed a complex program into one of effective, sustainable Non Point Source Pollution Control.
John Foley
Rouge River National Wet Weather Demonstration Project
220 Bagley Ave., Ste. 920
Michigan Bldg.
Detroit, Mi 48226
Telephone: 313-961-0700
Fax: 313-961-1762
Dean Toumari
Ellen Taylor