Southeast Michigan’s drinking water sources include both surface water and groundwater, with most of the region being served by water from the Huron-to-Erie Corridor through 14 different water treatment facilities. The Great Lakes Water Authority (GLWA) is the major water supplier in Southeast Michigan serving 127 communities and nearly four million customers. Another drinking water supply example is the City of Ann Arbor’s water treatment plant, which draws 85 percent of its water from the Huron River and 15 percent from groundwater sources to provide water to approximately 125,000 people in Ann Arbor and parts of surrounding communities.28 Public drinking water in Livingston County is provided through multiple public entities serving portions of the county through groundwater wells.
The number one priority of all drinking water suppliers – both authorities and communities – is to protect the public health of their customers.
A community water system is fed through a distribution system. Source water, either surface water or groundwater in Michigan, is pumped to a water treatment plant, goes through a treatment process, and is pumped out to the distribution system through transmission mains, storage tanks, and booster pump stations. From the transmission system, individual communities pull water into their local distribution water mains. From there, individual water customers, like residents or businesses, are provided water through small service lines. Generally, the service line from the local distribution system is owned by the property owner. Service lines also provide water from the distribution system to fire hydrants.
The image below, provided by the Great Lakes Water Authority, is an example of how water gets from the source to the resident.
Huron to Erie Real-Time Drinking Water Monitoring
The Huron-to-Erie Real-Time Drinking Water Protection Network is a group made up of the 14 drinking water treatment plants along the Lake Huron to Lake Erie Corridor. In 2017, with funding from the Governor’s 21st Century Infrastructure Fund, SEMCOG was able to facilitate purchase and installation of new source water monitoring equipment for each plant and revitalize the real-time monitoring program.
The report outlines the background on the network, the equipment purchased and installed, and the ongoing goals of the program.