Articles: Water Damage Clean-up

Water Damage Clean-up Macomb County, MI - Macomb County Design Standards to Prevent Flood Cleanup

Drainage and storm water management is one of the most important factors in a community. Insufficient or faulty ones can cause flooding to happen. While there is very little that can be done to control extreme weather, a locality can respond by having the proper equipment and facilities to deal with the weather's effects.

In Macomb Country, MI the group in charge with such a facility is the Macomb County Public Works Office (MCPWO). The group operates using its 1967 Rules and Regulations for Internal and External Drainage for Subdivisions as a guide.

In recent years, there have been new regulations that affected the MCPWO; an example of which is the second phase of the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System Stormwater Regulations. Under this set of regulations, the MCPWO has updated the design standards of storm water drainage for the purpose of avoiding the need of flood cleanup.

The occurrence of flooding and thus the need for water damage clean-up in Macomb County, MI is highly dependent on how excess water is managed. In addition to this, the health of river systems is rooted in how land in the watershed is managed. All of these consequences lead to the conclusion that each location should emphasize the need for proper management of drainage systems.

The management at the subwatershed and catchment scale is the top method used in order to protect the community. Researches done in the past has indicated that as the impervious surface area becomes larger, so does the probability of water quality decline, erosion, and detriments in the stream ecology. An impervious surface is defined as any area that does not allows rainfall to soak into the ground.

Examples of impervious areas include roads, bicycle tracks, rooftops, and cemented driveways. When a site or construction is made, the ground loses its natural ability to store rainfall. Thus, rain that is supposed to be absorbed into the ground or into the trees simply runs off. When all the changes in the runoff are taken together, it results in a change in the features of the watershed. A top example of such a situation is when the severity and frequency of flood events happen in a community. There is thus an increased need for flood cleanup and restoration from water damage.

To prevent such a situation from happening, the MCPWO requires that development projects create sufficient access for the existing drainage tributary within the site. The changes in the volume of water that runoff because of the alterations in the landscape should not create a situation that is detrimental to other properties, especially those that are located downstream. Downstream properties are more likely to experience the need for flood cleanup.

The negative situations that should be avoided include flooding, stagnation of water, overly saturated soil, damaging of crops, erosion, and even the deterioration of water quality or habitat. Developments in the County of Macomb should first propose a suitable drainage system that conforms to the county drainage requirements to prevent the need for restoration after water damage.