Macomb County to begin testing prison sewage
As prison populations are reduced in Michigan and other states during the pandemic, the sewage from a state prison in Macomb County will be tested soon for the presence of the coronavirus and to determine whether an outbreak of COVID-19 may be likely there.
Sewage samples will be pulled from just outside the Macomb Correctional Facility on 26Mile Road near Interstate 94 in Lenox Township, MacombCounty Public Works Commissioner Candice S. Miller announced Friday.
“We’re very concerned about the early release of prisoners. News reports of some convicted criminals and newly-charged suspects committing crimes following their release from custody over virus precautions are very troubling,” Miller said. “We’re very interested in what the data will show.”
As the number of prison and jail inmates have been cut amid concerns COVIDmay spread rapidly in corrections facilities, sewage fromthe prison in Lenox Township will be pulled and sent to a lab to determine whether Michigan Department of Corrections staff and the inmates there are at risk. Testing equipment is expected to be installed soon, with samples drawn starting in the first half of October.
Laboratory tests of the sewage sampling to be conducted at the prison is one of two expansions of Macomb County’s leading-edge pilot project that began with samples of raw sewage collected fromsewers in Clinton Township during the past twomonths. Theother is the
As thenumber of prisonand jail inmates have been cut amid concerns COVID-19may spread rapidly in corrections facilities, sewage fromthe prison in
Lenox Townshipwill be pulled andsent to a labtodetermine whetherMichigan Department of Corrections staff and the inmates there are at risk.
addition of Sterling Heights where sanitarywastewill be collected fromseveral sewers across the city to determine whether the level of infection maybehigher thannumbers indicated by clinical tests of residents.
“Using a state grant of more than $400,000 and without having to tapcounty funds, we’re excited and eager to widen our innovative program to Sterling Heights and Lenox Township,” Miller said.
Using federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act funding to Macomb County, the MCPW has used an automated systemsince mid-August to collect samples from sewers in seven locations in Clinton Township.
“We have preliminary data fromour testing in Clinton Township which we’re still studying,” Miller said. “We’re working with our contractor to get timely results. The goal is toassist the Macomb County Health Department with contact tracing and other efforts to reduce the spread of the virus.”
“Our project is a state model which our experts say could become a national model,” she said.
The pilot project in Clinton Township caught the eye of theMichigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes & Energy (EGLE). Using federal funding to the state under the CARES Act, EGLE and theMichigan Department of Health and Human Services recently announced it would award grants totaling up to $10 million to county health departments plus municipalities and other entities that manage wastewater treatment facilities, to collect sewage for testing. TheMacomb Public Works Office and the Macomb County Health Department promptly submitted a joint application to the two state agencies for funding to expand the project in Macomb County. The county was awarded $404,553 in funding by the state.
“Furthermore, it shows that beyond our everyday efforts at the PublicWorks Office to protect the environment, it’s another way that we’re positioned to offer another critical component to detect other disease outbreaks. After COVID, what’s next?” Miller said. “Hopefully itwon’t be a pandemic.”