At the April 8, 2014 Township Board meeting, Supervisor Gonser announced that plans are beginning for water treatment and water storage facilities in Oakland Township.  According to Gonser, the focus will be on the Southwest and Southeast portions of the Township.  

At the April 8 BOT meeting, Supervisor Gonser indicated that the Water Resource Commission (WRC) is developing a Master Plan for Oakland Township Water Districts.  Part of this plan will include potential water treatment facilities.

He went on to say that the Environmental Protection Agency (DEQ) requires Oakland Township to have water storage facilities. The need for these facilities has been in abeyance due to the uncertainty of Oakland Township utilizing the Detroit Water system.  The Township Board recently decided that they would not pursue hooking up to the Detroit Water system. According to Supervisor Gonser, water storage facilities would have been required even if we did connect to the Detroit Water system.

These storage facilities would be located in the Southwest and Southeast portions of our Township.  Gonser described the two options we will have for these facilities – pancake ground level tanks or water towers.

Here is a video of his comments on this subject:

Why is this important to the citizens of Oakland Township?  Due to the decision to not connect to the Detroit Water system, several developers and individual home owners have filed suit against the Township to have a fee, that they paid when they built their homes for potential connection to the Detroit system, returned.  The total dollar amount involved in these lawsuits is approximately $5 million dollars.  The capital expense for the water treatment and storage facilities will be paid by the citizens of Oakland Township.  It is unlikely that the $5 million dollars previously collected could be used for these facilities.  How the costs for these facilities would be born by the residents of Oakland Township is uncertain at the present time.

Please read the following about related topics:

 Oakland Township sued over water tap fees

Update: Oakland Township sued over water tap fees reaches $5 million

Richard Michalski