Three northern Michigan communities are getting funding from the state to improve their water infrastructure. Clare, Evart and Reed City are among nine communities that will share $15 million from the state.
Reed City will receive around $2 million and use it as part of a greater $18 million project to relocate their water treatment facility north of the Hersey River. The money from the state will be specifically used for removing the trestle bridge over the Hersey River.
In Clare, The Water Treatment Director, Dale Clark, says they’ll use the funds to bolster their facility and update it for the first time since the 1960s.
“We have a lot of challenges as a city, as a community and one of them is our aging infrastructure and keeping the water rates at a level that are affordable to people,” Clark states. “It’s going to add additional supply to our community. Also, we’re going to upgrade our high service pumps so they’re going to be able to pump more water to our community.”
While Clare will receive $2 million to renovate and add an additional well, Evart is getting around $1 million. Evart’s Economic Development Coordinator, Todd Bruggema, says they will use the funds to install a backup generator at their facility.
“We have an issue where if the power goes down, we [don’t] have a backup generator. So, at that point stuff could back up on us,” Bruggema admits.
“So if we lose power the pumps will still run and still cycle.”
They say it will make things more reliable for business and people living in Evart.
“It will help [the community] immensely. With taking the sewage and making sure the sewage goes where it’s supposed to go and doesn’t back up into homes or into other areas it should not go to,
Bruggema explains.
And although each city has different project. Whether you’re in Clare, Reed City or Evart, they say their main source of motivation is cleaner drinking water for their residents.
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