Catch Basins to Filter Storm Water in Whitehall, Mich.

Whitehall, Mich., is a city with a notorious environmental past. Now the city is trying to change that image by taking an environmentally friendly step during a major street reconstruction project on Division Street.

According to an article in the Muskegon Chronicle, project plans were approved last week by the city council. The plans call for use of an innovative storm water treatment system to keep oil, gasoline, sand and salt from flowing into Bush Creek, which empties into White Lake. The storm water-interceptor system will comprise two large catch basins on either side of Division near Bush Creek with various filters. Each catch basin will cost the city $21,000.

Each basin will have an interceptor to collect oil and gasoline, and another interceptor to collect trash. Brian Armstrong, Department of Public Works director, said the interceptors would have to be emptied about twice a year.

Tanya Cabala, city councilmember and former state director of a Great Lakes environmental group, originally raised the issue to city staff of finding a way to filter the storm water before it enters the creek.

“I believe I was elected to the council because of my environmental background,” Cabala said. “The White Lake area has a history of environmental contamination, and I think we’re a community in the forefront (now) of being environmentally friendly.”

Patricia Pennell, director of the rain garden program for the West Michigan Environmental Action Council in Grand Rapids, said her group supports any measure that prevents contaminants from entering lakes and rivers.

“That’s great to hear,” Pennell said of Whitehall’s use of the storm water treatment system. “We really promote rain gardens, but we are in favor of anybody mitigating any water issues.”

Rain gardens are a filtration device in which storm water is captured in a garden of native plants. The water is allowed to slowly filter into the ground rather than run into a storm sewer.

The storm water treatment system planned for Whitehall is part of a $900,000 street construction project on Division Street.

Source: Muskegon Chronicle