40K-gallon sewage spill in Saline due to equipment malfunction, official says

SALINE, MI — A Saline wastewater official has confirmed the cause of a sewage overflow that caused an estimated 40,000 gallons to spill onto pavement into stormwater drains.

A sewage pump lift station at Woodland Drive had an overflow around 9 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 18, officials said. The spill was due to a failure of equipment designed to send an alert when there is a problem, Bill Braggs, the city's water and wastewater treatment plant superintendent told MLive Friday afternoon.

"We're not sure why that happened, because that's in a closed cabinet," Braggs said. "We found it in the process of troubleshooting."

The stormwater drain runs south from across Textile Road all the way west under Maple Road.

"It flowed out of the sanitary sewer into the storm drains, and that leads into a county drain," Braggs said.

He added that a bacteria test has been completed.

"We got results a little while ago," he said. "That water is probably in Lake Erie by now."

On Friday, he said he was working on reporting testing results to Washtenaw County's health department and the state's Department of Environment, Great Lake and Energy.

Briggs said a relay wasn't plugged in all the way and wastewater officials weren't notified "until we came in the next morning."

"The alarm dialer failed to call out," Briggs said.

State Rep. Felicia Brabec (D- Pittsfield Township) issued a statement Friday praising the work of city wastewater officials.

"I want to commend the efforts by the city to contain this overflow quickly and effectively," Brabec said in the statement.

"It is clear that this was an unusual incident," she continued. "At both city and state levels, we must ensure our residents have safe and strong water systems."

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