The City of Detroit is getting serious about cleaning up its wastewater.

Two months ago, we reported on the $62 million project in southwest Detroit to upgrade sewage holding and pumping capacity at the city's Patton Park Baby Creek plant. At the same time, on the east side of the city, the building trades and general contractor Walsh Construction are in the process of building the $187 million Connor Creek Pilot Combined Sewer Overflow facility, which will have a similar purpose.

Both projects are designed to alleviate a long-standing problem with the system, which combines storm water and sewage in the same pipes. When heavy rains hit the area, a lack of storage capacity in the pipes means raw sewage is diverted into rivers.

"It's basically a holding facility," said Rick Prukop, general superintendent for Walsh. "The Connor Creek project will introduce 30 million gallons of sewage storage capacity into the system, and that kind of capacity has never existed before,"

The project, which began in May 2001, has employed up to 200 construction workers. The job is scheduled for completion in January 2005.

Being built along Connor Creek, which drains into the Detroit River, the project involves an elaborate use of cofferdams, which hold back water from the creek so that concrete holding tank walls can be poured underground. About 6,700 pilings were driven, and more than 100,000 cubic yards of concrete have been poured. The job also includes a screening building and a control building for the system's pumps.

While the wastewater is being held at the facility, it will be screened to remove solids and then pre-treated with sodium hypochloride, which kills bacteria and pathogens. The sewage will then be directed to the Detroit Wastewater Treatment Plant for final treatment.

The project will provide a long-term fix, and a near-term one as well. Connor Creek, the dumping area for the sewage overflow, is heavily polluted. Approximately 150,000 cubic yards of sediment has accumulated in the creek, according to Mirza M. Rabbaig, P.E., program manager of the project. The sediment is composed of sand, silt and of course, sewage-related organic material in various stages of decomposition. The building trades are removing this sediment, which will improve the quality of the creek's water, and should improve the smell that emanates from the polluted waterway.

The Connor Creek plant serves the northeastern suburbs of Detroit, and it creates the largest combined overflow discharge in Michigan, according to the Environmental Management Association, an advocacy group that promotes environmental and economic development in Michigan.

The EMA awarded the City of Detroit the Association's 2003 Environmental Achievement Award for making the expensive move to end the sewage overflows.

"The City of Detroit's Water and Sewage Department has demonstrated its leadership and expertise in managing a long-standing situation with Connor Creek, which will result in long-term environmental improvements," said Tina Chavez, EMA president. "It's important, also to note that the clean-up of Connor Creek would not have been possible without the professional expertise of private contractors who bring innovative solutions to public enterprises such as the water department."

Added Prukop, "the weather hasn't held us up too much, and the people are doing a pretty good job. Things are moving along well."

IN THE EVENT OF A rainwater deluge, some of these gates behind Cement Masons Local 514 member Jim Hocker, above, would open as a safety valve to allow screened and partially treated sewage to be released into Connor Creek in Detroit. But with 30 million gallons of sewage holding capacity being constructed at the Connor Creek Pilor Combined Sewer Overflow, the city expects that the gates will rarely, if ever, open.

AN ACTUATOR is wired by Jim Schoonfield and David Hulett of IBEW Local 58 and Dyna Electric at the Connor Creek plant. The actuators will control movement of the overflow gates shown in the photo above.