The Ann Arbor Wastewater Treatment Plant, 49 South Dixboro Road, and the Huron River in Ann Arbor Township on June 22, 2021.Jacob Hamilton | The Ann Arbor News
ANN ARBOR, MI — Ann Arbor officials have reported a massive amount of sewage discharging into the Huron River due to a failure at the city’s wastewater treatment plant.
The city estimates nearly 1.4 million gallons of partially treated sewage discharged into the river during the incident Tuesday, Oct. 4. The city notified the public about it over 24 hours later in a news release Wednesday afternoon.
Officials are not advising people downstream of the plant, located just east of Ann Arbor in Ann Arbor Township, to avoid contact with the river at this time.
“We will continue to evaluate as we receive sampling data,” said Washtenaw County Health Department spokesperson Susan Ringler-Cerniglia.
Staff at the plant discovered the discharge at about 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, determining the cause to be low water levels in ultraviolet disinfection channels, which caused a system shutdown to protect the equipment, officials said, indicating the low water levels were a result of maintenance activities.
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“The partially treated wastewater, which received all treatment except disinfection, flowed directly into the Huron River via the outfall,” the release states. “Plant staff worked quickly to close the outflow to the river and restore water levels to the ultraviolet disinfection system, which was completed by 2:05 p.m.”
City staff reported the discharge to the Washtenaw County Health Department and Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy and are now investigating adding notification alarms should this type of event happen again.
Ann Arbor announced earlier this week a new brand name for all city water-related services, now called Ann Arbor Water.
“The mission of Ann Arbor Water’s now-unified approach is to ensure the health of the community by providing high-quality drinking water, advanced wastewater recovery and robust stormwater management that protects and preserves the Huron River and the environment, for which, the city notes, we all are stewards,” the city stated in a news release, mentioning plans for a wastewater plant open house event Oct. 22.
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