What’s the feasibility and cost to extend water under 1-94? This is something Sylvan Township wants to better understand, especially looking ahead to potential developments.

At their December meeting, the township board had an agenda item to consider how to move forward on figuring this out.

The board meeting packet explained: “Gathering data regarding the current capacity and possible ·growth of the Water System will be crucial to making responsible decisions. Due to various current factors, it is important to determine the feasibility estimated costs to extend the water system south under 1-94 to service those areas identified for growth.”

The township has been thinking about the water system. Another part of the meeting had the presentation of a Water Interconnect Feasibility Report and Capacity Study, which was put together by Ted Erickson of IMEG. This report, among a list of things, took a deeper look into both the city of Chelsea’s water system and Sylvan Township’s system, and what an interconnection between the two might entail.

One part of the report states: “An interconnection between the two systems has been discussed – connecting the distribution systems to provide reliability for the Township’s system, and the ability for the City to more comfortably provide water during the high usage times.”

When it comes to south of I-94, the report said: “Currently, all developments are located north of the I-94 freeway, however potential developable parcels are located south of the freeway. As no water main freeway crossings are currently present, these parcels were not considered in the capacity analysis.”

One of the summary points of the report said: “The Township likely has adequate capacity for their needs in the next 10 years. The addition of development south of the I-94 freeway would need to be evaluated both in terms of distribution capacity and reliability, and treatment capacity needs.”

The Sun Times News followed up with township supervisor Amanda Nimke to ask about the I-94 aspect to the water system questions. She said the board took action to solicit an engineering proposal to study the feasibility and determine the cost to bring water infrastructure under I-94, “a topic that has been discussed various times over the years, to service parcels identified for future growth.”

To see the full report, go to the township website and look in the documents center tab under board packets for the Dec. 3, 2024 township board packet. https://sylvantownshipmi.gov/