An official website of the United States government.

This is not the current EPA website. To navigate to the current EPA website, please go to www.epa.gov. This website is historical material reflecting the EPA website as it existed on January 19, 2021. This website is no longer updated and links to external websites and some internal pages may not work. More information »

Building the Capacity of Drinking Water Systems

Michigan

State Agencies Supporting Water System Partnerships

Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ)

State Policies and Programs Regarding Water System Partnerships

DWSRF PRIORITIZATION OF CONSOLIDATION PROJECTS

Michigan’s DWSRF prioritization system awards a maximum of 1,000 points to projects that apply for funding. Points (up to 100) are awarded for projects that include consolidation of smaller, separate systems to achieve compliance (100 points), correct deficiencies (60 points), or serve other purposes (40 points). For comparison, up to 450 points are awarded for projects that will eliminate violations of water standards.

ENCOURAGING PARTNERSHIPS THROUGH CAPACITY DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY

Michigan’s capacity development strategy for existing systems includes encouraging partnerships among water systems to address TMF deficiencies. In the 2014 Capacity Development Report to the Governor, a partnership initiative for surface water systems was described. Surface Water Intake Protection Programs (SWIPP) encourage communities to develop partnerships with nearby communities to protect areas around the shared intake and the watershed as a whole. As of 2014, seven communities were involved in a SWIPP.

NEW SYSTEMS MUST CONSIDER INTERCONNECTION TO EXISTING SYSTEMS

As part of its new system approval process, the DEQ requires new privately-owned CWSs to submit proof of refusal to accept ownership or operational responsibility from the governing body of a city, county, village, township, or other governmental entity where the new system would be located. In addition, the owner of the privately-owned CWS must stipulate (prior to the DEQ issuing a permit) to transfer the ownership and operation of the system to a governing body of a city, village, or township, or its designated public entity (Michigan Safe Drinking Water Rules R 325.11705-11706), if connection to the publicly-owned system becomes practical.

Helpful Links to State Resources