WORTH TWP, MI – A small part of the Lake Huron beachfront is littered with rock, heavy machinery and segments of a concrete tunnel, with a 56-foot excavation shaft – a pit – the focal point as Karegnondi Water Authority officials prepare to install a water intake pipeline beneath the lake.
The $4.4 million, German-made microtunnel boring machine that will be used to horizontally drill 1.5 miles into Lake Huron sits at the site, located off M-25 at Fisher Road in Worth Township. It will sit next to the pit until next Tuesday, when it is slated to be lowered into the shaft.
The machine is the first of its kind – no machine this size has ever accomplished such a feat – and will help to bring higher-quality tap water to Genesee County residents.
Boring the tunnel, which will be more than 60 feet below the surface of Lake Huron, will take the most time in the $274 million project, requiring about 30 months to complete.
The rest of the pipe connecting Genesee County to the lake will be installed in open trenches. The pipe will be installed, and the trench filled and covered.
American Cast Iron Pipe Co., based in Birmingham, Ala., is supplying the 66-inch, 60-inch and 36-diameter pipe for the project.
American Cast Iron Pipe earlier this month announced it would build a plant to make pipe at Flint's old Bucik City property.
L. D'Agostini & Sons Inc., a Macomb-area contractor, will build the intake pipeline.
Overall, Genesee County can expect to use the new system in about three years, said Genesee County Drain Commissioner Jeff Wright, who also is KWA CEO.
By the time the water starts flowing, Wright expects no evidence of the excavation will exist.
"We'll re-landscape and everything," he said. "You won't even know we were here."
Wright also the intake system won't draw in fish or other aquatic animals.
"Our drinking water already comes from Lake Huron," he said. "We're not changing where we're getting our water from. It's just that we will own the system instead of borrowing it."
Currently, Genesee County residents get their water from the city of Detroit, which also draws from Lake Huron, and has repeatedly raised prices by as much as 15 percent, and are expected to raise them again within the next three years, the KWA website says.
Wright said he expects the $274 million project to save residents a minimum of $3 to $5 million during the first year the pipeline is in use, and every year after.