FARMINGTON HILLS, Mich. (WXYZ) — The Great Lakes Water Authority hosted a press conference on Tuesday morning, announcing the group's $81 million plan to improve a 48-inch water transmission main that runs along 14 Mile Road in Oakland County.
Watch Christiana Ford's video report:
The main has broken several times over the past few years. Back in September of 2025, there was a water main break just west of M-5 on 14 Mile in Novi. Then in March, the pipe that GLWA is discussing today broke east of M-5 near 14 Mile and Drake in Farmington Hills. And most recently in May, a water main broke in Auburn Hills.
This isn't the first time Great Lakes Water Authorrity has made an effort to repair this exact pipe. In 2021, after another break, the water authority said they were making improvements, adding 50 years to its service life.
The main will be improved with a $81 million investment, that GLWA says will "strengthen the reliability and resiliency of a critical section of the regional water system that has experienced multiple major water main breaks over the past seven years." GLWA CEO Suzanne Coffey was at the press conference, along with Farmington Hills Mayor Theresa Rich, Acting City Manager Karen Mondora and a pair of state representatives (Samantha Steckloff and Jason Hoskins).
Through VVK PR Creative, GLWA released maps of the Pipe Replacement, complete with an Acoustic Fiber Optic Section.
Pipe replacement section and Acoustic Fiber Optic section (Courtesy of GLWA via VVK PR Creative)
The project to replace, inspect and review this new pipe will take place over the next three years, with GLWA laying out a time line and explaining how the Acoustic Fiber Optics will work.
Project Timeline and how AFO works (Courtesy of GLWA via VVK PR Creative)
Watch our previous coverage
The project involves removing the old, failure-prone concrete cylinder pipe and replacing it with new steel pipe equipped with advanced monitoring technology, the same approach used in Novi, to reduce future disruptions.
"There's always breaks and you're not going to hear me give guarantees but our goal is that this pipe that we see is problematic it's not gonna be in the system anymore," Coffey said.
A 42 inch water main broke in Novi in September of 2025. While the emergency main replacement and repair work is done, road work continues through Walled Lake along 14 mile.
Businesses in the area say the months-long construction has taken a serious toll.
"There's a bunch of people that they cannot get into the restaurant because of the cones and the construction," Zaid Yalda, part-owner of Maples Bar & Bistro and Maples Golf Club, said.
With road work expected to wrap up this month, Yalda said he hopes the timeline sticks after it was pushed back.
"We do have employees in house. We do have staff members, we do have bills to pay and it's been very very difficult to maintain," Yalda said.
GLWA officials told us in May that construction would be complete by the end of June, but that deadline passed without completion.
"We did that project on an emergency basis so quickly that we didn't have full plans to what that road restoration would look like. So it took a little bit of time for us to come to an agreement with Road Commission of Oakland County to say what that actual road is going to look like at the end of the day, what we restore it," GLWA Project Manager Sean Grant said.
The new main being replaced supplies water to Walled Lake, Wixom, Commerce Township, and Novi, all of which have been demanding accountability from the authority.
"Anytime we're making improvements to the system and providing that reliability for the future is something we're excited about," Novi City Manager Victor Cardenas said.
