MOUNT CLEMENS, Mich. -- After ending the longtime practice of allowing inmates to wash police cars, the Mount Clemens Sheriff's office will now have to take its cars to a commercial carwash.
The county's ongoing search to crack down on water polluters led to one of its own, and it will cost taxpayers.
Local pollution police discovered recently that the years-long practice of washing police cars at the Macomb County Jail contaminated a nearby storm drain that leads to Lake St. Clair. So the practice was halted last week. Instead of jail inmates washing cars in the jail garage for free, the county is paying $2.50 to wash each of the approximately 60 vehicles that are maintained at the jail. That will translate to thousands of dollars per year plus officers' lost time.
"Lucky for us, we've been able to do it for free for years and we got away with it, not on purpose but because we didn't know (about contamination)," Macomb County Sheriff Mark Hackel said.
The Macomb County Health Department a few months ago learned that the garage drain where cars are washed flows untreated into a storm drain that leads to the Greiner Drain, Clinton River and lake.
It violates state law enforced through the Department of Environmental Quality, said Steve Gold of the county health department. The soapy runoff from carwashes is not allowed to drain untreated.
"You can't put those materials down a storm drain," Gold said. "It's harmful to aquatic life and organic life."
Carwash businesses must have their water drain into a sanitary sewer or use a filter and reuse it. The filtering equipment costs tens of thousands of dollars.
The county health department neighbors the jail, located only about 100 yards from the facility near Elizabeth and Groesbeck in Mount Clemens.
Doug Martz, chairman of the county Water Quality Board, said Monday the discovery shows that many drain builders prior to the mid-1990s didn't consider pollution. Lake St. Clair beach closings because of pollution started in 1994.
"It shows we did a lot wrong in the past, and now we're doing things to correct them," Martz said. "If you look around, there's a lot more sins than the sheriff's department washing cars.
"Nothing against the sheriff department, but I'm happy. It shows the health department is doing its job."
Hackel said he believes the drains were installed when the jail was expanded in 1988.
Hackel last week discontinued the washes, and on Friday, county cars stationed at the jail and sheriff's office started getting washed at the Mobil Pit Stop at 21 Mile Road and North Avenue in Macomb Township, about two miles from the jail.
Cars used by deputies, administrators, detectives and undercover officers and vans to transport inmates were washed almost every day.
"Obviously, we're going to have to cut down on carwashes," Hackel said.
Possibly the most disappointed people are the handful of inmates who washed the cars every
day. The job was considered one of the better assignments for inmates.
"They're begging us to let them start doing it again," Hackel said. "They kept them nice and shiny and clean for us."
Keeping police cars looking spiffy is important to maintain a positive image of officers, Hackel said.
The sheriff said the fewer washes may result in more rusted vehicles and more costs to taxpayers.
"I certainly don't want rusty patrol cars driving around," he said.
Hackel said he hopes staffers may be able to figure out how to fix the problem by redirecting the drain or implementing another measure.
Inmates may be able to still perform some washing during warm weather because an outside drain is hooked up to a sanitary sewer drain, which is allowed by law.
Patrol cars stationed at substations in Macomb and Harrison townships already get their vehicles cleaned at carwashes, officials said.
Hackel, who has said the jail must be expanded, said a carwash may have to be included in the new construction.
Source: Macomb Daily