Michigan, Howard City Settle Water Quality Violations
The Department of Environmental Quality announced a settlement with the village of Howard City regarding violations of Michigan's water protection laws and the village's National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System Permit.
Howard City owns and operates a wastewater treatment plant that was cited with violations including effluent limitation exceedances dating back to 2003 due to insufficient capacity in its system.
The administrative consent order agreed upon by both parties requires Howard City to complete construction of plant upgrades and submit an approvable operation and maintenance plan for the basin by December 2011. In addition, the village agrees to pay more than $12,000 for partial compensation of enforcement costs and a civil fine.
"I appreciate the village's commitment to working with the DEQ to devise a long-term corrective action plan that will better protect the public health and environment for their community," said DEQ Director Steven E. Chester.