A $25,000 fine has been levied against Nottawa Township by the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality for illegally discharging raw sewage into storm sewers in Beal City.
“We haven’t paid the fine yet,” said township supervisor Kory Mendel on Thursday. “We knew the costs were coming.”
The administrative consent order from the DEQ - a contract between the township and DEQ to hold the township accountable to fix the problems it was fined for - was received by the township on June 8.
It has to be signed by the township and sent back to the DEQ within 30 days of the day it was received, Mendel said.
The amount is broken down as $20,000 in fines and $5,000 to reimburse the DEQ for its investigation costs.
Of the total, $15,000 will be paid this year, while the remaining $10,000 will be paid next year, he said.
A survey was conducted in August in the township by the DEQ Water Resource Division.
Samples taken for the survey from storm sewers in Beal City and the Wagner Drain were found to have contained raw sewage and that it was being illegally discharged into the storm sewers in Beal City.
Storm sewer outfall discharges to the Wagner Drain, which is a “water of the state,” according to the study.
The township has been meeting regularly with the DEQ since late 2016 - when the illegal dumping was officially unveiled in a report - to determine how to fix the problem.
In addition, the township is planned to receive $3 million in funding from the State of Michigan toward the creation of a sewage system.
The funds were secured by Rep. Roger Hauck (R-Mt. Pleasant) to be part of a state budget plan given final legislative approval Thursday by the Michigan Legislature.
House Bill 5579 and Senate Bill 848 advance to Gov. Rick Snyder for his consideration.
“The (Michigan Department of Environmental Quality) is forcing the Beal City area into putting a sewer system in because of sewer discharge into the Wagner drain,” Hauck said Thursday.
The money will officially go to Nottawa Township because Beal City is an unincorporated place.
It will assist in the development of a sewer system for the area aimed at preventing sewage discharges into a drain that connects to the river, Hauck said in a news release.
The money from the state will be set aside to help pay for the sewer system only, he said. It is not yet known when the funds will come in.
The sewage system needs to be completed and operational by December 2021.
“We’ve got some engineering started and some design stuff started,” Mendel said.
The township has spent between $5,000 and $10,000 on the project so far.
A special meeting of the township’s board of trustees will take place at 7 p.m. Monday at the township hall at 3024 West Weidman Rd. in Weidman.
On the agenda will be a resolution to adopt a sewer district for property in Beal City and for the Coldwater Lake area.
The Coldwater Lake Association and residents in the area have discussed a plan with the township to tie into the Beal City system that would then go to a lagoon, or to Mt. Pleasant’s sewer system, Mendel said.
A survey created by the township on the subject was returned by 93 people of approximately 150 surveys mailed out and received a 71 percent positive response, Mendel said.
“The funds will help pay for part of the cost for Beal City and Coldwater Lake,” Mendel said.
Later, a public hearing is planned to take place at 7 p.m. on Aug. 6 in a location to be determined, Mendel said.
Last year, the township received $59,000 from the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe’s annual 2 percent distribution that went into an account for costs related to the sewer project.