A 15-year, $300 million upgrade to a Detroit-based pumping station serving Oakland and Macomb counties is complete.
That led to an all-smiles ribbon-cutting Wednesday with Oakland County Water Resources Commissioner Jim Nash and Macomb County Public Works Commissioner Candice S. Miller – long at odds over stormwater overflows.
The northeast sewage pumping station improvement is part of a multi-phase modernization of the Oakland-Macomb Interceptor Drain wastewater system.
The renovation didn’t change the facility’s 400-million-gallon daily capacity for moving sewerage. The pumping station is part of the sanitary sewer system and separate from the type of combined sewer system that carries stormwater. Only combined sewer systems carry stormwater and wastewater.
The upgrades strengthen reliability and ensure the system can handle the wastewater for more than 830,000 residents in both Oakland and Macomb counties well into the future, according to Oakland’s WRC officials.
Pausing for a photo before the Wed., Oct. 15, 2025, ribbon cutting at the Detroit-based northeast sewage pumping station are Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development Director Tim Boring, left; Macomb County Public Works Commissioner Candice S. Miller; Oakland County Water Resources Commissioner Jim Nash; and former MDARD Water Resources Program Manager Mike Gregg.
(Courtesy, Oakland County WRC)
The pumping station on Outer Drive just east of Van Dyke in Detroit was built between 1969 and 1972. It has more than seven miles of pipe that sends sewage to the Great Lakes Water Authority for processing. The new infrastructure is considered a critical link in southeast Michigan’s wastewater network.
A federal grant paid for nearly $1 million of the cost and Michigan’s Clean Water revolving fund paid $125 million. The remainder came from local bond sales and community investment, according to WRC officials.
“This project focused on replacing aging mechanical and electrical systems to improve reliability, not increase flow.
Nash and Miller were joined for Wednesday’s ribbon cutting by a retired state official, Mike Gregg, who spent part of his career at the Michigan Department of Agriculture & Rural Development as the water resources program manager.
Nash called the project a major investment and “reflects our commitment to protecting public health and the environment by ensuring that future generations inherit dependable infrastructure.”
Miller said the two counties’ engineers worked closely with consulting engineers and contractors on the project.
“There’s no overstating the importance of this massive modernization project,” she said. “Without it, this aging pumping station built in the 1960s would have eventually failed and caused an infrastructure disaster and health hazard impacting many hundreds of thousands of people, homes and businesses.”
Improvements include:
• Mechanical and electrical upgrades to reduce water and energy use.
• State-of-the-art sewer lining upgrades to protect pipes and extend system life.
• Revitalized pumps and sensors to increase efficiency and reliability.
People gathered for the Oct. 15, 2025, ribbon-cutting to mark the completion of a 15-year, $300 million renovation of the northeast sewage pumping station in Detroit that serves Oakland and Macomb counites. (Courtesy, Oakland County WRC)