Deal reached to create the Great Lakes Water Authority in Metro Detroit

[corktownyuppie]

Not trying to say I told you so, but seriously...I told you so.

Under the deal involving Detroit and Macomb, Oakland and Wayne counties, the city will lease infrastructure to suburban communities in exchange for a $50 million annual fee and annual $4.5 million payment assistance fund, officials announced Tuesday...

...The agreement also guarantees funding to rebuild the system’s aging water infrastructure, as well as financial assistance for customers throughout the region who are struggling to pay their bills. The annual revenue required rate increases charged by GLWA are expected to be limited to 4 percent a year for the next 10 years.”

From The Detroit News: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/2...#ixzz3Cpn6RnF6

This deal isn't just about water. This marks a gigantic shift in regional politics. People on the extremes on both ends have been obstructionist at every opportunity to prevent it from happening.

Well, it's a new day and age in SE Michigan/Metro Detroit. Finally, the adults in the room are back in charge and we're focused on solving problems rather than throwing grapes and arguing about your right to carry an M-16 into a McDonalds.

It's about damned time.

/EndRant

[Scottathew]

Fascinating news!

I don't fully understand everything. As a Rochester Hills resident, this is what I think I'm seeing:

- The Great Lakes Water Authority will now be responsible for many things, and DWSD will now be in the same situation that all the suburbs were
- Rates are going to be going up
- Infrastructure investments will be made
- The suburbs will have a seat and a say
- Detroit alone is capable of vetoing
- The suburbs can veto as long as two counties, or a county and the governor are on-board.

[Lowell]

Great news. A milestone for regional cooperation. This will be good for the image of the system, unclouding it from the stench of corruption and making its operation transparent. That will be important for the day, coming soon, when we will have to pay the real price for water and disposal.

[ghettopalmetto]

Great news. A milestone for regional cooperation. This will be good for the image of the system, unclouding it from the stench of corruption and making its operation transparent. That will be important for the day, coming soon, when we will have to pay the real price for water and disposal.

A milestone indeed. So much so, they got a little carried away when adopting the name of the new body. I'm certain this new creation doesn't propose to manage the water supply for all 30 million+ residents of the Great Lakes watershed, do they?

[313WX]

A milestone indeed. So much so, they got a little carried away when adopting the name of the new body. I'm certain this new creation doesn't propose to manage the water supply for all 30 million+ residents of the Great Lakes watershed, do they?

I'll take this name over something that would include "Southeast Michigan" or "Southeastern Michigan."

[Willi]

Nice little shell game for Detroit and the DWSD so that it skirts the issue of JUNK bonds.
Now the city [[DWSD) can use State monies and attract investors towards the "new" bond offering.

How many other businesses have you seen, suddenly close, and re-open under the same name ?

Same game, new name -- nothing will truly change

Wayne, Oakland and Macomb had ALREADY signed 30 year contracts back in January 2014
They knew exactly how it all would shake out way back then.
If they ""really"" thought the judge would jeopardize proceedings, they wouldn't have signed.
http://redrundrain.wordpress.com/201...tract-in-2014/

An example of the inter-twined, multi-county drain agreements back in January.
They are NOT going to re-new, re-establish anything under the "new" name

What is underground - the pipes - won't change one bit - EXACT SAME system.
It's a bit like changing the blinds on your windows of your house, looks nice, does same thing

[corktownyuppie]

Nice little shell game for Detroit and the DWSD so that it skirts the issue of JUNK bonds.
Now the city [[DWSD) can use State monies and attract investors towards the "new" bond offering.

How many other businesses have you seen, suddenly close, and re-open under the same name ?

Same game, new name -- massive contracts for 30 years were signed in January 2014

I think your argument may be missing the point of the agreement. The only way you unlock state borrowing abilities isn't the name change...it's the change in the control. The suburbs now have a majority vote on the board.

I have not heard [[but may be inorrect) that Detroit will have a veto power.

Also, mea culpa, I was hoping that the $50MM would go to the City General fund. It will not; it will remain in the water system.

[Scottathew]

I have not heard [[but may be inorrect) that Detroit will have a veto power.

You are correct.

You need 5 votes to do anything. There are 6 votes total.

Detroit has two votes [[thus veto power).

Oakland, Wayne, and Macomb have one vote each [[thus suburban representation)

The governor has one vote [[not quite sure why)



Also, to be technically correct, replace the word vote with representative.

[Gistok]

Corktownyuppie, I agree with you... and also, even though much of this is purely symbolic... but it does give us hope for a regional approach perhaps to other areas of the severely fragmented governance in mentro Detroit.

Willi... it almost appears that you have "redrundrain on the brain".... were you severely impacted by that big storm on August 11th?

[Scottathew]

Same game, new name -- nothing will truly change

Not really...

We'll start with a clean slate, a new regional authority. The DWSD will get gutted to be just Detroit's local system.

All of the important regional facilities, as well as the big mains that take water out to the burbs will be under control of the new authority.

[Danny]

This means Detroit City Government doesn't have control over the water and sewage maintenance anymore. The suburbs can have city's water and could lower its rates, too.

[Willi]

I doubt anything will change, same names, same players, same power struggles.
The long-term-contracts were inked, signed, delivered LONG before this announcement.
The contracts are legally binding, and the ''''name change"" doesn't affect much at all.
The guts of it all , were secured, bought, installed and were already in motion

There is an $8 Million dollar contract for radio network upgrades
involved with data acquisition used to determine
billing for 126 Metro-Detroit communities.
Detroit Radio Team is a Joint Venture between
Motor City Electric and PCI [[Process Control & Instrumentation).
CDM Michigan is also reportedly part of this Joint venture.

[Scottathew]

Willi,

Is the radio contract a bad thing? I don't know anything about it. Seems like a drop in the bucket compared to all the other expenses.

This means Detroit City Government doesn't have control over the water and sewage maintenance anymore. The suburbs can have city's water and could lower its rates, too.

Detroit will still has DWSD and it will still maintain it's own local system that will get water from the regional system and put sewage into the regional treatment plants.

[Hypestyles]

....Damn! You can carry an M-16 into a McDonald's? [[let me stay away...) In any case—I really hope that the Authority is serious about getting the work done of upgrading all the mains, pipes and related equipment, especially in the urban zones. Does this change the entity that residents pay their bill to every month?

[BankruptcyGuy]

I view this as generally a positive. The condition of the sewers everywhere was a bit of a pig in a poke. So now the suburbs will have to repair their own infrastructure [[and rate increases will have to come along), and the city will be able to set its own standards for non-ratepayers.

From the DetNews article, they call it an infrastructure lease, meaning that rates for the actual water would still be set by Detroit [[or will they? not clear)

In any event, $50MM a year goes a long way to fixing pipes in the CoD. Residents should be happy.

[Willi]

The SCADA radio system has 287 automatic read sites
providing water billing for 126 communities. [[see photo above)
The radio sites go from Port Huron to Flint to Rockwood.

The ""system headquarters"" is in Detroit , and I doubt it will move anywhere.
No county is going to OverRide the existing system already put into motion.

He who controls the data, controls the billing.
Anything else is smoke, mirrors, and illusion.

http://www.mceco.com/divisions_subsi...portfolio.html

http://www.corp.att.com/stateandloca...case_study.pdf

These guys aren't going anywhere, anytime soon; they're definitely in the mix
http://www.dwsd.org/pages_n/bowc.html

[Scottathew]

Thanks for the information and explanation, Willi.

[Vic01]

From the DetNews article, they call it an infrastructure lease... Residents should be happy.

Wow! I just read 17 posts and no one has confused a lease with a "takeover" yet...

[Willi]

DWSD gave part of the SCADA radio work to
certified Minority Business Enterprise[[MBE), and Women Business Enterprise[[WBE).
http://www.pci-detroit.com/clients/municipal-clients.php

Program, trouble shoot, and provide on-site construction assistance
for The Detroit Radio Team [[DRT), using Landis+Gyr Series IV Radios,
for the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department.

Look at the cached version , if it doesn't appear right away
http://www.oakgov.com/water/Document...plan_scada.pdf.

http://webcache.googleusercontent.co...&ct=clnk&gl=us

[MikeM]

The SCADA radio system has 287 automatic read sites
providing water billing for 126 communities. [[see photo above)
The radio sites go from Port Huron to Flint to Rockwood.

The ""system headquarters"" is in Detroit , and I doubt it will move anywhere.
No county is going to OverRide the existing system already put into motion.

He who controls the data, controls the billing.

So what! You think the data is going to be a secret, kept from the member communities?

[Willi]

Measuring = billing ...............and what exactly is being measured by which entity ?

If the butcher holds his thumb on the scale, the price goes up ..............

Right now, currently, ALL around the 125 + communities served by DWSD
“”””much of the flow in the system does not pass through
billing meters, a complicated methodology to allocate
“unmetered” flow has been developed and is currently employed”””
http://www.dwsd.org/downloads_n/abou...2013-08-12.pdf

Over half of the flow reaching the Wastewater Treatment Plant
is not measured through customer wastewater billing meters and,
therefore, is not directly attributable to any specific
customer based on wastewater meter data.

The flows originating within Detroit come from unmetered retail customers.
The local sewer systems in Highland Park, Hamtramck and parts of
Dearborn are interconnected with Detroit’s system,
preventing customer-specific metering of those flows.

Finally there is infiltration and in-flow in the shared trunk
and interceptor sewers that is unmetered in terms of contributions
from specific customers.

If you think the new name fixes any of that, you've been fooled, bamboozled, and hoodwinked