Client:  
City of Dearborn

Location:  
Dearborn, MI

Prime Consultant:
NTH Consultants, Ltd.

Client Name/Contact:
Kurt Giberson

Total NTH Budget:
$815,000

Project Start:
September 2000

Project Completion:
December 2003

NTH’s Value Added:  NTH experience with the Rouge River Program Office and MDEQ general permit requirements facilitated funding and creation of a GIS application for planning and stormwater management.

City of Dearborn 
Stormwater Management and GIS Application

Project Overview
The City of Dearborn had applied for the MDEQ General Permit for controlling and managing stormwater discharges to the Rouge River (as did many cities and municipalities within the southeast Michigan area). Under the General Permit, the City is required to perform stormwater management and discharge control to maintain the water quality in the Rouge River.

Specifically, the city needed to accomplish three major tasks:

• Implement an illicit discharge elimination program
• Develop a public education program
• Develop and implement a stormwater management plan

In addition, the City was required to develop a Geographic Information System (GIS) for its storm water sewer system and suitable software to track storm water management activities.

Project Scope
NTH assisted the City in applying for Rouge Program Office (RPO) grants to help pay for this work. NTH helped the city procure grants of more than $1.5 million for stormwater and CSO projects. NTH also helped the city to apply for and win other grants through the state (319 and CMI grants).

Using an RPO program grant, NTH completed a GIS pilot study for a part of the City of Dearborn. This pilot created a parcel base map using GPS survey, Wayne County
Digital Orthophotography and original engineering maps to create a base map accurate to within one foot. 

This accurate base map was used to construct a GIS model of the storm and sewer networks. Attributes for pipes, such as pipe length, diameter, material, and attributes for manholes and connections were loaded into the GIS database.

This data was used as part of the Storm Water Management System and as a base for Illicit Discharge tracking. The lessons learned and best practices from this pilot were used to define the methodology and budget to create a comprehensive storm, sanitary and combined sewer network model for the entire city.