Pay for rain - or drinking water

[O3H]

At most , only 20% of the water in a home is used for drinking, and another 20% for bathing/showering. The other 20% goes to the toilet, with the rest used for washing, dishwater, watering the lawn and washing the car.

People seem to "want" to pay for drinking water,
but hate the idea that all the RainWater from the sky
has to go somewhere , and involves even more money $$$$$$

The idea of paying more , for rain runoff,
rubs many the wrong way, but it's a huge issue.

Approximately 770 communities across the United States have combined sewer systems. When rainwater is excessive and overwhelms the capacity of the old systems, the combined wastewater and stormwater, gets minimal treatment and is released directly into adjoining bodies of water.

The Environmental Protection Agency [[EPA) estimates between 1.8 million – and 3.5 million people, per year, become ill from recreational contact, such as swimming, with water contaminated by overflows of sewers, which carry sewage to wastewater treatment plants.

Metro Beach is nice during the sunshine - which everyone enjoys - right after it rains hard for a few days, causing combined sewer overflows into the Clinton River - primarily from 12TownsDrain in OaklandCounty. Those cities like Royal Oak, Berkley, Clawson, Madison Heights do not have a true , real, WWTP of their own in Oakland County.

[Colombian Dan]

Remember.. Detroit had NO waste water treatment until 1940... and then only at the behest of the Federal government did Detroit build it's first treatment plant. Long history of just dumping raw sewage into the waterways.. turning creeks into sewers... My first encounter with "partially treated" sewage was in 1985 at the Hubbell drain in Dearborn... boy was that a real smell....

[O3H]

We are now approaching 2020+ and Detroit is considered High Tech

The entire SouthEast Michigan must improve it's sewage handling
Federal government starting to push hard for evolution forward.

https://www.federalregister.gov/docu...at-lakes-basin

[Colombian Dan]

Detroit "high tech?" .. ah no.. Detroit hustles harder, Detroit muscle, Detroit Grit, Cubic inches matter.... Detroit was never Ann Arbor...

[O3H]

You seem to forget how many engineers and scientists exist here.
We have top notch university and colleges all around us.

Detroit IS potentially technology advanced - if it wants to be !!!
Some will choose to focus on the uneducated dropouts in the city,
others are quite aware that the area has a huge amount of tech talent

http://www.detroitchamber.com/detroi...mobility-tech/

https://genius.com/Detroit-news-stud...tbed-annotated

https://www.forbes.com/sites/joelkot.../#c34379738f6b

https://techtowndetroit.org/

[Colombian Dan]

It's probably been discussed before.... when it floods.. the Detroit solution is to build a bigger drain.....
https://redrundrain.wordpress.com/

[O3H]

But it doesn't work for many communities all across Michigan.
Red Run is already maxed out, numerous times, the past 3 decades.

Port Huron was FORCED to separate it's drain system.
One set of pipes for rain, one for just toilet/bath/washingmachine, etc.
https://www.thetimesherald.com/story...sion/85291008/

It's time the Fed and the State force other communities to evolve
- and yes, it involves user fees for that rain runoff issue

Ann Arbor charges for impervious surface, upon a property.
because they need revenue for water improvements.
https://www.a2gov.org/departments/sy...d-Credits.aspx

[mwilbert]

It's obvious that combined systems are bad, but replacing them is really expensive. If we keep getting bigger storms, people will probably decide it's worth it.

[O3H]

It also has to do with developing every damn scrap of earth/grass/bare spot into some strip mall, condo site, big box store, etc., etc.
The actual land "usage" changed dramatically over 40 years,
but the pipes and systems did not adequately change with the times.

Drinking water is affected at a certain point as well.
Can't exactly shit and dump rain runoff incessantly without consequence