Federal Oversight of DWSD May Be Near End

The Detroit Free Press reports that Judge John Feikens, who turned 91 on December 3, 2008, may be ready to end his supervision of the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department. Feikens, who has overseen the Department since 1977 as part of a pollution lawsuit settlement, has sought a global resolution of a number of outstanding disputes between the Department and its suburban customers.

"Feikens said the system now complies with the Clean Water Act, but he worries that falling revenues caused by decreased water consumption this year could make it hard to fund improvements still needed to maintain that compliance. But Feikens said that if the region can work together, court supervision could become unnecessary."

Under Judge Feikens' supervision, DWSD has spent hundreds of millions of dollars on upgrades to its main wastewater treatment plant.

The Southeast Michigan Council of Governments (SEMCOG) recently reported that Southeast Michigan communities, including the City of Detroit, had spent $2.4 billion in projects designed to reduce combined sewer overflow (CSO) pollutant discharges, resulting in an 85 percent reduction in untreated CSO discharges.