Brighton Township Suspects Illegal Hook Ups on Sewer Line

Brighton Township's sewer line may have several residences illegally hooked up to it, Township Manager Dan Bishop informed the Board of Trustees Monday night.

Bishop speculates that water is getting into the sewer treatment plant. Typically, he said the plant is at 38 to 40 percent capacity per month. Currently, it is at 51 percent capacity, according to Bishop.

"It (the extra water) uses capacity in our plant, which can get very expensive because then we're basically treating groundwater or rainwater," Bishop said. "As well as now, that capacity in that plant is not available for us to sell to other users."

Bishop said he was fairly sure the extra water was coming from around the Woodland Lake area. Once the water level goes down, the township will do a baseline study, backtracking the water flow heading upstream.

"What I expect happened is that people had damp basements and put in some type of foundation drainage system and tied into sewer grinder pump system," he said.

Some residents have called the Township Hall, admitting to having their sump pumps hooked into the sewer line to let officials know that they were disconnecting them. Legally, people should use another method of getting rid of the extra water.

Bishop said follow ups have been made to ensure these residents were disconnected properly. He also said that several of these residents have also named neighbors who have also hooked into the line illegally.

The township sent a flyer out to all sewer customers, informing them of what was going on and asking for help in identifying illegal hook ups.

Bishop said the township is working to track down leads and correct the problem by removing the illegal hook ups, but there is no current plan in place to seek fees for the illegal usage of the sewer line and treatment plant.