Macomb County Residents Asked To Restrict Water Use Amid Flooding

MACOMB (WWJ) - Water, water everywhere... with a call to use less of it.

Macomb County officials are encouraging residents to restrict water usage to reduce pressures on the sewer system and prevent possible overflows into Lake St. Clair.

Public Works Commissioner Candice Miller says holding off doing laundry, running fully-loaded dishwashers and taking quicker showers can help the effort.

"Many of our communities have combined sewer systems, where both storm water and sanitary sewage travels in the same pipes," Miller said in a statement. "If we can reduce the amount of sewage entering the pipes, we can reduce the amount that is spilling in to Lake St. Clair during this heavy rainfall."

Localized flooding is already occurring in some areas. A Flood Warning remains in effect for all of southeast Michigan until 4 p.m. Wednesday. Heavy rains, coupled with extensive snow melt over the past several days, has local storm water systems over capacity.

"We have already had a combined sewer overflow into Lake St. Clair. This water has been treated to state standards, but any action we can take to reduce this overflow helps reduce this impact," Miller said.

The following actions can be taken to reduce water usage:

• Reduce the length of showers.
• Only flush solids in the toilet.
• Only run full wash loads, or, if possible, postpone laundry until Thursday.
• Don't run the water while brushing teeth.
• Run full dishwasher loads only.