Oxford Township water customers are invited to attend a 7 p.m. Thursday, March 4 informational meeting at Lakeville Elementary to discuss upcoming improvements to the municipal system.
Changes in federal regulations concerning water quality and security for water supply systems have necessitated improvements to the township’s system, according to Supervisor Bill Dunn.
“We’ve got a lot of changes (to the water system) coming up and some residents have questions and concerns,” he said. “We want to be able to address them all at once and make sure the public’s getting accurate information.”
A total of 1,665 notices regarding the special meeting were mailed to township water customers on Tuesday.
The meeting will begin with a “brief summary of the municipal groundwater supply system.”
“We’re going to talk about the development of the municipal system, what it consists of in terms of facilities and why we chose to develop our own system instead of going with Detroit water,” Dunn said.
“Changing water quality regulations” will be the next item of discussion.
A new federal standard, which takes effect for existing water systems in January 2006, reduced the acceptable level of arsenic in municipal water supplies from 50 parts per billion to 10 parts per billion.
To meet that new standard, the township is planning to construct water treatment plants (another agenda item set for the meeting), the first of which will be built this year on Queens Drive near the township’s wells in the Oxford Woods subdivision. The plant will be approximately 3,500 square feet.
“We’re probably going to have to build one or two more (water treatment plants) after that,” Dunn said.
The water treatment plants will also be used to reduce the iron levels in township water.
“We get a lot of complaints from residents about rust-colored or discolored water, which comes from the high iron content,” Dunn said. “The treatment facilities are designed to reduce the amount of iron in the water and hopefully eliminate those complaints.”
New federal regulations regarding security for water supply systems and pending security improvements to the township’s system will also be discussed at the meeting.
“After the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the federal government mandated vulnerability assessments be done on local water systems,” Dunn said. “The county Drain Commission (which operates the township system) contracted with a firm who did ours. (The assessment) basically told us where our security is in terms of vulnerability to attack and what we need to do to tighten things up and make it safer.”
Dunn said he could not comment on any specific details contained in the vulnerability assessment for “obvious security reasons.” He noted the assessment is not a public document.
“We don’t want this information getting out and have someone use it against us,” the supervisor said.
Pending security improvements, such as fencing and lighting around the proposed water treatment facilities, will be discussed as well as landscaping around the buildings.
“There are some Oxford Woods residents who are concerned the treatment plant’s going to be an eyesore,” Dunn said. “They’re worried that having high fences with barbed-wire around the top is going to make it look like a prison. There also worried about how the security lighting will affect neighboring houses.”
“We’re going to try to deal with all their concerns at the meeting,” the supervisor said. “But some things we’re going to have to do in order to keep the water safe. That’s our first priority, not appearances.”
Dunn said some residents have suggested putting a lot of landscaping, such as trees and high bushes, around the treatment facility, but “that would defeat the purpose of the security measures.”
“You want everything out in the open where you can see it, not covered up with trees and bushes,” he said. “All your doing is giving the bad guys cover and places to hide.”
Dunn said audience members will be allowed to ask questions, voice concerns and make comments on any of water issues addressed that night.