2016 Annual Report

Executive Summary

To the People of Oakland County:

During 2016, progress has continued that will impact our region favorably for

years to come. We are finishing construction projects that will help prevent

sanitary and combined sewer overflows into our waterways which reduce

pollution in our lakes and streams. We made changes that will save ratepayers

money through shared services and more efficient use of infrastructure in the

county. This year also saw the Great Lakes Water Authority come into being. This

new authority is leading the region to more efficient and sustainable water and

sewer systems and will facilitate better cooperation and effective use of our

infrastructure.

I am very pleased with this new level of collaboration and cooperation with our

local communities and neighboring counties. Working together and being

transparent means a regional system that is smarter and more resilient for growth

well into the future.

Our fourth annual Stormwater Summit was held in Southfield at Lawrence

Technological University and again brought together stakeholders and industry

professionals from across the region to share ideas on stormwater management and

related water quality challenges that we all face. This coalition developed

collaborative relationships, created a regional effort and developed methods to

invest in new infrastructure that will provide communities with the ability to

manage their systems and protect their own neighborhoods and water resources.

The Walled Lake-Novi Wastewater Treatment Plant and the Commerce Township

plant, both operated by our crews, continue to win awards year-after-year and

make me proud of the exceptional job done by our dedicated staff. Our work in

Pontiac is providing better service and upgraded infrastructure for our customers in

the county seat.

We continue to provide increased public education programs and support of

environmental efforts through town halls, social marketing, festivals, and media

outreach. With support from partners in business, government, and the non-profit

sector, we help support internships and scholarships for young people ready to join

in the important efforts to protect our vital water resources for future generations.

Thanks for your continued interest and support.

Jim Nash www.oakgov.com/water

Fiscal Year

2016

Water

Resources

Commissioner

Expenditures

If you would like to delve more

deeply into the details of WRC’s

financials, please visit the

Oakland County website at

www.oakgov.com and click on

the elected officials drop down

arrow. Then click on the

County Executive link. That will

take you to the Executive’s

home page. Click on the

“Budget Updates & Resources”

link on the left side of the page.

Enterprise Fund: Enterprise Funds represent the largest single category of

expenditures annually. This category includes the Sewage Disposal System

funds for the major interceptor systems. Further, the category includes the

water and sewer trust funds which provide varying levels of operational ser-

vices to cities, townships, and villages. In 2016, the total expenditures for

this category were approximately $216 million.

Maintenance Fund: This group of funds lists the operations and

maintenance expenditures for Chapter 4, 18, 20 and 21 drain funds and lake

level funds. These funds accounted for approximately $84 million or about

20% of expenditures this year and a similar amount last year.

Construction Fund: Accounts for major construction within WRC.

Expenditures for 2016 tallied $56 million.

Debt Fund: Represents the debt service expenses for

outstanding debt obligations. In 2016, there was $36.6

million in principal and interest payments or 8.5% of total

expenditures.

General Fund: Although the General Fund is the chief

operating fund for Oakland County, it represents a small

portion of the WRC’s operating budget. Only almost $6

million, or 1.3 percent of our budget, comes from Oakland

County’s General Fund, about the same amount as in

2015.

Internal/Revolving Fund: The Drain Equipment Fund

accounts for the cost of vehicles and other equipment used

and is reimbursed by specific projects or funds. This fund, with $34 million

in expenditures, accounted for almost 8% of the total expenditures.

Enterprise Fund $ 215,899,805 50.0%

Maintenance Fund 84,169,761 19.4%

Construction Fund 56,416,280 13.0%

Debt Funds 36,639,259 8.5%

General Fund 5,818,200 1.3%

Internal/Revolving Fund 33,984,038 7.8%

Total $ 432,927,343 100 %

Ribbon Cutting Held for $18.5 Million Perry Street Diversion Project

Project is Saving Communities Money, Protects the Environment

Oakland County Water Resources Commissioner Jim Nash hosted a

ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Perry Street Diversion Project in

October at Galloway Lake Park on North Perry Street in Pontiac.

More than 50 people attended including Water Resources

Commissioner staff members, local elected officials, consulting

engineers and construction contractors along with representatives

from Pontiac and the 13 communities in the Clinton-Oakland Sewage

Disposal System.

“My office is excited to have this project completed and functioning,”

said Commissioner Nash. “This system not only helps relieve

capacity issues for our Clinton-Oakland communities, it also allows us to fully utilize the Pontiac wastewater

treatment facility, saves the communities money, and increases flow into the Clinton River. This is a triple-win for

these systems, all of the communities and for the environment.”

The Perry Street Diversion Project addresses sewer capacity issues in the Clinton-Oakland Sewage Disposal

System. The project includes a new sanitary pump station and sanitary sewer force main for diversion of flow into

the Pontiac wastewater treatment facility. The effort is already successful, meeting its contractual obligation to the

Great Lakes Water Authority to divert 30 percent of the flow rather then sending it all to Detroit for treatment.

The 13 Clinton-Oakland communities include Auburn Hills, Clarkston, Lake Angelus, Lake Orion, Oxford

Village, Rochester, Rochester Hills and the Townships of Independence, Oakland, Orion, Oxford, Waterford and

West Bloomfield.

Oakland County Wastewater Treatment Plants

Recognized

In 2016, the Walled Lake-Novi Wastewater Treatment Plant was awarded

its 11th consecutive Platinum Award from the National Association of

Clean Water Agencies (NACWA). The award recognizes perfect

compliance with the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System

(NPDES) permit requirements. The Commerce Township Wastewater

Treatment Plant has earned that same award now for the 12th year in a

row.

The Pontiac wastewater treatment facility has received NACWA’s Gold

Peak Performance Award. WRC took over full operation and

management of that facility in July of 2016.

These Peak Performance Awards represent important standards in the

industry and demonstrate not only our commitment to do our best to

protect the environment, but also the excellent and professional service

performed by our employees who share in this recognition.

Advancing Water Resources in the Law

The WRC has been working over the past year with local and state officials on two initiatives which will help

ensure funds to improve water resources and stormwater infrastructure are used for needed improvements and

maintenance. House Bill 5282 of 2016 amends the basement backup law by adding a “bright line” so when certain

storms are so intense that no system is designed to handle them class action lawsuits can be dismissed. This will

reduce significant costs otherwise spent on lawyers and engineering experts to ultimately reach the same

conclusion: the cause of these backups was the sheer volume of rain.

The second effort is House Bill 5991 of 2016 which would create a new law that enables communities to form a

stormwater utility. Stormwater systems provide a service to residents, including keeping water out of homes and

treating polluted runoff before it enters our streams and lakes. This type of service is vastly underfunded even as the

infrastructure needs maintenance and upgrading. This bill will allow a community to form a utility to charge users

of the stormwater system appropriate and fair fees in compliance with Michigan law. These bills will be

re-introduced in Lansing in 2017.

WRC Assumed Management of Pontiac Wastewater Treatment Facility July 1st

The Oakland County Water Resources Commissioner’s Office

assumed full management and operation of the Pontiac Wastewater

Treatment facility on July 1st. A private contractor, SUEZ, had been

operating the facility under contract with the county since 201l.

Management and operation of a water resource recovery facility is part

of the WRC’s core work and our staff members are very familiar with

the Pontiac plant. This change has resulted in excellent and improved

service for Pontiac residents and the tributary communities.

On behalf of the City of Pontiac, the WRC has received $4 million in Stormwater, Asset Management and

Wastewater (SAW) grants for assessment of the wastewater treatment and collection system. The grant allowed

the WRC to televise over 275,000 linear feet of sewer (approximately 21 percent of the system) and conduct

condition assessment of more than 700 assets of the system. Additionally, the County has invested nearly $16

million in improvements to the wastewater system, utilizing more than $1.1 million in Michigan Department of

Environmental Quality Green Project Reserve grants and DTE energy incentives. This kind of investment

will improve the future reliability of the system and prevent and minimize emergency repairs that can be more

expensive.

Advances in Pontiac’s Water and Sewer Systems

Since taking over Pontiac’s water and sewer systems, the County, through WRC, has begun other major

infrastructure improvements including replacing water mains, repairing frozen water lines during winter months,

and prompt restoration activities in the spring. The WRC also began a program for the replacement of all customer

water meters across the city to improve accuracy and reliability. Starting last year, the contract with Vanguard

Utility Service, Inc. will replace water meters inside homes and install reading devices near the meter on an

outside wall.

More than 3.5 miles of water main have been replaced on a dozen streets in Pontiac, and WRC is reconstructing

streets after the water main work is completed. WRC is further replacing additional water mains in conjunction

with street rebuilding through a partnership with the City of Pontiac and the State of Michigan.

24–Hour Pollution Hotline

As part of Oakland County’s Illicit Discharge Elimination Program, the WRC

provides a 24-hour hotline for the reporting of pollution in Oakland County.

Our efforts helped to prevent approximately 1.9 million gallons of sewage, 375

gallons of fuels, oils and grease, 90 gallons of hydraulic fluid, 50 gallons of

transformer oil, over 21,000 pounds of sediment, 18,200 gallons of soaps and

detergents, 100 gallons of concrete wash-out and 20 cubic yards of yard waste

and trash from entering our waterways in 2016.

Call the Pollution Hotline at 248-858-0931 to report any suspicious discharges or

illegal dumping of pollution to storm drains, lakes, creeks or streams.

Oakland County Dirt Doctors and Enviroscape

Watershed Model Programs

The Dirt Doctors and the Enviroscape Watershed Model are very popular

programs designed to teach children how people’s actions can affect our

waterways and watersheds as well as how pollution moves through both.

During 2016, the Dirt Doctors educated more than 1,700 students through 48

presentations at nine different events located in Bloomfield Hills, Detroit, Lake

Orion, Macomb, Monroe, Pontiac and Rochester Hills about soil erosion due to

rain and floods.

Also, nearly 600 students, through 64 different presentations at six different

events located in Bloomfield Hills, Dearborn, Oxford, Rochester Hills and

Waterford, were reached through the Enviroscape Watershed Model program.

Annual Clinton River Water Festival

The 10th annual Clinton River Water Festival at Oakland University was held on

May 20, 2016. Approximately 1,282 students (and 247 teachers/chaperones) from

23 schools in 17 school districts experienced 26 indoor and 14 outdoor

presentations. In addition, there were 52 professional and student presenters. The

WRC and Pure Oakland Water are proud to sponsor this annual educational event.

Annual Rouge River Water Festival

The 13th annual Rouge River Water Festival was held from September 13-16,

2016 at the Cranbrook Institute of Science. The WRC and POW are also proud

sponsors of this long-running educational event.

Nearly 1,900 students (and 449 teachers/chaperones) from 20 different schools in

eight communities attended. Staff from 30 professional organizations donated

their time to present at this year’s Water Festival. Schools from the communities

of Beverly Hills, Bingham Farms, Birmingham, Bloomfield Hills, Commerce,

Farmington, Farmington Hills, Oak Park, Southfield, Troy, and Walled Lake

attended.

Four Years of Accomplishments

Since it began in 2013 as an environmental charitable organization

working with my office on educational goals, Pure Oakland Water has

sponsored 11 river and water festivals reaching more than 18,000

students with water conservation and environmental education programs.

These festivals support efforts to protect the Clinton, Rouge, and Detroit

rivers. POW has also provided scholarships for a dozen college students

entering the fields of water engineering or environmental science at

Oakland University and Lawrence Technological University.

POW has funded paid internship programs at two watershed council

organizations for the Rouge and Clinton rivers that provided employment,

experience and training for eight students who then helped the non-profit

groups with valuable staff support. Next year we will add an internship for

the Huron River as well.

POW has organized four annual regional storm water summits

attracting hundreds of attendees and providing needed updates, education

and networking opportunities for regional stakeholders across Southeast

Michigan.

The non-profit also created and organized three annual family

environmental education day-long festivals in Pontiac for underserved

populations known as Art-Fish-Fun. Hundreds of people have enjoyed this

free event since 2014.

POW provided funding for the past four years for the annual Kids’

Clean Water Calendar that provides environmental education and

outreach for upwards of 20,000 students, parents and teachers across

Oakland County.

POW also created a professional two-minute public service video that

uses humor to create a culturally relevant message on the deleterious

effects of flushing wipes and other items into the sewer system.

All of this great work was made possible by the board members and

volunteers of Pure Oakland Water as well as our generous friends in the

business community. Fully tax-deductible, learn more about POW at

http://pureoaklandwater.org/.

Jim Nash

Kids’ Clean Water Calendar Contest

Nearly 700 4th and 5th grade students from classes representing 22

schools from across Oakland County participated in the 12th annual

Kids’ Clean Water Calendar Contest. The 2017 calendar features the

artwork of 12 monthly, 12 special acknowledgment and 24 honorable

mention winners. The grand prize winner’s art work is also featured as

the cover art for the calendar. This year’s grand prize winner was by

a St. John Lutheran School 5th grader, Savannah Drummelsmith.

A total of 5,500 calendars were distributed to communities, citizens

and participating schools free of charge.

The 12 monthly winning students and their guests were invited to

attend an awards ceremony held on December 3, 2016 at Cranbrook’s

Institute of Science (CIS). A brief program was held for the winners

where they received a framed copy of their drawing, took photos with

WRC’s Community Liaison Craig Covey, and had a delicious lunch.

CIS graciously donated its facilities for the ceremony and guests were

invited to stay and visit the museum after the luncheon.

In addition to calendars to share with family and friends, the winning

students received a reusable tote bag filled with prizes including an

annual Family Membership to the Cranbrook Science Museum, a gift

certificate for the CIS Gift Shop, drawing supplies, a reusable lunch

bag and water bottle, as well as educational materials identifying

simple steps that the kids and their parents can take to protect and

improve water quality. In addition, the grand prize winner received an

annual All-Access membership to CIS and a Family Fun Passbook

from Oakland County Parks and Recreation! The luncheon and prizes

were funded by Pure Oakland Water.

Oakland County WRC

One Public Works Drive, Building 95 West, Waterford, MI 48328

248-858-0958 oakgov.com/water