Frustration is reaching a boiling point for some Farmington Hills residents living without consistent running water to their homes.
An upset Daren Griffith contacted 7 Action News. The father of two, along with several of his neighbors, rely on well water for their homes.
Griffith says in the fall of 2015, he and the others started having problems with their wells, including sediment in the pipes and their wells running dry.
After some digging, they determined the problem was due to the Middlebelt Transport And Storage Tunnel Project that was under construction nearby.
That’s when they began contacting the Oakland County Water Resource Commissioner’s office.
After an inspection of the wells, Daren and others were provided water by the county through outside storage tanks, which are filled a few times a week.
For Daren, it’s not enough. He, along with neighbors, plan to attend the Farmington Hills City Council meeting Monday night to voice their concerns and push for a permanent solution.
im Nash, the Oakland County Water Resource Commissioner, is scheduled to speak before council about the project.
See below to read a the statement from the Office of the Oakland County Water Resource Commissioner:
The Middlebelt Transport and Storage Tunnel Project is an approximately 5,900-foot-long sanitary sewer tunnel being constructed along Middlebelt Road between I-696 and 13 Mile Road in Farmington Hills.
The project began in July 2015 and is designed to accept sanitary sewer from the existing Evergreen Farmington Interceptor along Middlebelt Road to reduce sewage overflows and basement flooding.
In order to construct the project, it was necessary to perform partial dewatering of an underground confined aquifer. Dewatering is a process used to remove groundwater from a construction site. This dewatering effort has impacted the wells serving some homes in proximity to the dewatering location.
Over the past year, the project has impacted approximately three dozen wells in the vicinity of the job site.
In some cases, where residents lost access to their well water, we provided temporary water tanks and bottled water while a permanent water supply resolution was being developed. In addition, we are collaborating closely with licensed well drillers, the City of Farmington Hills along with Oakland County’s Health Department and the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality to ensure that any repairs or well replacements meet all appropriate codes and standards. Once the wells are back in operation, any temporary water tanks will be removed and homeowners’ lawns and any other items displaced by the project will be restored.
Substantial completion of the project is expected by the end of this year. The restoration of lawns and other final activities is scheduled to be finished by early spring 2017.
