The Clinton Conservation District (CCD) hired PSC to assist in the implementation the Upper Maple River watershed management plan that was approved by the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality in 2010. The plan and subsequent monitoring results identified water quality impairments in the Maple River and its tributaries that include excessive nutrient and pathogen levels. Failing septic systems were identified as a potential source of pollution.

In Michigan, local health departments have regulatory authority over septic system installation and maintenance. Considering this, CCD partnered with the Mid-Michigan District Health Department (MMDHD) to develop a strategy to better assess the potential impact of failing septic systems and develop a strategy to decrease public and environmental health risks associated with failing systems.

PSC assisted CCD and the Health Department by convening and facilitating a stakeholder group representing a wide array of interests from Clinton, Gratiot, and Montcalm counties, which are served by the MMDHD. The stakeholder committee met five times between April and June 2014 and developed a series of recommendations to the Board of Health to decrease public and environmental health risks associated with failing septic systems.

A copy of the full report is available below.

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