A drainage pipe with tree roots growing through it caused a sewage overflow in the Cedarfield community on 17 Mile Rd (just west of Meijer) last week. 

Gerry Osborn, with Infrastructure Alternatives, the company who oversees the wastewater of the 55-plus community, told the Post that about 25 gallons of sewage seeped out through a manhole cover. It was discovered about 3:30 p.m. on February 26.

By 4 p.m. they had removed a bunch of roots and the plug was freed. They then treated the area with hydrated lime.

Osborn said it was the same manhole cover that sewage seeped out of in December. “They will need to have the line rooted or dug up,” he said.

Osborn always alerts the newspaper along with EGLE (formerly DEQ) and the Kent County Health Department when a spill occurs, according to protocol. “We are always going to do the right thing,” he said.

by Judy Reed

Gary Osborn, of Infrastructure Alternatives, reported to the Post on Monday, February 4, that a check valve on a sludge storage tank at Cedarfield Mobile Home Community malfunctioned over the weekend, allowing about 1,200 gallons of partially treated sewage to seep out of a pipe and on to the ground.

Osborn said it was in a fenced in area, and was being treated with lime, so would not affect anyone.

Protocol says that when something like this happens, they are to notify the Michigan DEQ, the local newspaper, and the Kent County Health Department.

Osborn noted that some companies might not take those steps, but they do. “Infrastructure Alternatives is all about the environment,” he said. “We always do the right thing.”

By Judy Reed

Russ Johnson, of Infrastructure Alternatives, reported to the Post that there was a 500-gallon spill last week of stabilized sludge out of a holding tank at Cedarfield Community, 3592 17 Mile Road, just west of US131. The company manages the community’s wastewater treatment system.

Johnson said the spill happened last Wednesday, August 19, in the fenced in area of the wastewater plant, and posed no threat. “There was no risk to groundwater or recreational streams,” emphasized Johnson. “It just makes your grass greener.”

He explained that the stabilized sludge is hauled away once a year in August by Synagro, and is then used to fertilize farmland. “We were hoping to get all the sludge into the tank before they hauled it away, and must have miscalculated how much it would hold,” he said.

Ryan’s Municipal Cleaning came in to clean up the spill, and what was left was limed.

Johnson said that they would be taking precautions to be sure that this type of incident would never happen again. “If we are transferring sludge, we’ll keep someone there the whole time to monitor it,” he said.