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Dean Lawrence

Comp 105-007

WA #5

13 November 2017

The Fraser Sinkhole

Back in December of 2016, a sinkhole was discovered along 15 Mile road in the city of

Fraser, MI. The presence of the 250 foot long sinkhole put many houses in immediate danger and

required that a number of people temporarily relocate to a safer area. The sinkhole also caused

the collapse of a sewage line, which was the main priority for the government when working on

repairs. Repairs on the sewage line and sinkhole finally concluded in September 2017, a whole

nine months after the sinkhole originally appeared. During that time, sewage was pumped

through a large pipe above ground, lowering the quality of the air for people living in that area,

and a number of major roads were closed rerouting traffic through neighborhoods and generally

making it more difficult to navigate the area. It is easily argued that the local government has

been mismanaging the issue for a long time, with reasons ranging from the less than timely

repair, to prior warning signs, to questionable choices made during repairs.

While it would usually be assumed that local officials could have no possible way of

knowing that a sinkhole may have appeared, there have been a few warning signs along the way.

Last year was not the first time that it had happened. Back in 2004, along the same sewage line,

less than a mile down 15 Mile, a sinkhole appeared. Caused by the degradation of soil from the

leaking sewage pipe, this sinkhole was up to 30 feet deep and up to 160 feet wide. Some houses

had to be evacuated and some telephone lines were damaged disrupting service for many people.
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While two sinkholes along the same sewage line could potentially be a coincidence, the

same sewage line collapsed twice prior to 2004! Once in 1978, about a decade after it was

installed, and again in 1980 (Selweski). All four of these collapses occurred within a mile of each

other along the same road; all because of problems with the same sewage line. Altogether, the

repairs for the sewage lines and sinkholes cost the county over $250 million. About $150 million

of that total is from the 2016 sinkhole repairs. The sewage line was constructed 40 feet

underground, in what was found during later investigations to be poor soil conditions. It mostly

consisted of weak soil and sand, which easily wears away from leaks.

It is theorized by Macomb County Public Works Commissioner Candice Miller that both

the most recent sinkhole and the 2004 sinkhole were caused by mistakes made while repairing

the collapses in 1978 and 1980. Specifically, two boreholes made to test the newly repaired pipes

in 1978 were not properly filled back in, which allowed water and sewage to leak out in both

locations and erode the surrounding soil. These boreholes were not visible during inspections of

the line because they were constantly submerged by water at the bottom of the pipe (Hall).

As previously stated, during the repairs of the most recent sinkhole, sewage was pumped

above ground, as the collapsed pipe was being worked on and couldnt function properly. For the

nine months or so that sewage was being pumped above ground, the quality of air in the area

around 15 mile and Garfield massively decreased. There was a very noticeable sewage smell

surrounding the area. To add to this, later in the repair of the sewer, a trench was dug for sewage

backups to drain into. At least one time, the trench filled with 1.5 million gallons of raw sewage,

further adding to the smell of the area. When the trench flooded, there were three vehicles left

behind in the trench for construction that were consequently ruined by the sewage (Martindale).
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It was also necessary that a few houses were demolished both because of their damaged

structural integrity, as well as to make way for the repairs of the sewer.

Another side-effect of the sinkhole crisis was that about a week after the sinkhole was

discovered, local officials made the decision to begin pumping raw sewage into the Clinton

River to prevent it backing up into peoples basements. Officials stated that they were

considering skimming solid waste and disinfecting sewage, but were not doing that at the

beginning (Fraser Sinkhole). While potentially necessary to stop the damaging of peoples

property, it wasnt a particularly ecologically centric way of thinking, and could have been

implemented in a more thoughtful way.

According to a survey ran in November of 2017 among people that lived within a few

miles of where the sinkhole occurred, and frequently had to deal with driving to locations

through or near the construction site, most respondents said that the sinkhole situation hadnt

been handled as well as it could have been. Most respondents voiced displeasure over the whole

situation, and of those that recalled the 2004 sinkhole, many were frustrated that such a similar

situation could occur in almost exactly the same way. Most said that they tried to avoid the area

of the construction because of the heavy traffic and unpleasant smell. A majority of respondents

also disapproved of the local governments choice to pump sewage into the Clinton River

(Lawrence).

In the end, the Fraser sinkhole was an unfortunate situation that had plenty of warning

signs, and could have been prevented if the pipe had been planned more thoughtfully in the first

place, had been more properly inspected, or if the many reconstruction efforts hadnt had various

flaws. It created an unpleasant environment for many living in the area, and greatly disrupted the

lives of hundreds of people living around the sinkhole. The repair process was tumultuous, with
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multiple setbacks and a few instances of destruction of equipment, and overall, the entire

situation cast a very weak image on the local government and demonstrates a feeling of

incompetence after the fourth failure of this sewage line. We can all hope that there isnt a fifth.

Works Cited

Fraser Sinkhole: What We Know. The Detroit Free Press, USA Today, 29 Dec. 2016,
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www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/macomb/2016/12/29/fraser-michigan-

sinkhole-mile/95967096/.

Hall, Christina. Did Test Hole Bored 4 Decades Ago Cause Fraser Sinkhole? The Detroit Free

Press, USA Today, 23 Aug. 2017,

www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/macomb/2017/01/04/fraser-sinkhole-update-

candice-miller-macomb/96165824/.

Lawrence, Dean. Opinion on Fraser Sinkhole. Paper Survey. November 2017.

Martindale, Mike. Miller: Sewage in Trench Shouldnt Slow Sinkhole Repair. The Detroit

News, The Detroit News, 23 Aug. 2017,

www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/macomb-county/2017/08/23/sewage-enters-

fraser-sinkhole-repair-trench/592982001/.

Matheny, Keith. $170M In Repairs to Macomb Co. Sewer Pipe, so Why Another

Sinkhole?The Detroit Free Press, USA Today, 27 Dec. 2017,

www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/macomb/2016/12/27/sinkhole-causing-sewer-

pipe-failure/95884700/.

Ockerman, Emma. Fraser Sinkhole Leads to Sewage Discharge in Clinton River. The Detroit

Free Press, USA Today, 26 Dec. 2017,

www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/macomb/2016/12/26/fraser-sinkhole-sewage-

clinton-river/95859232/.

Selweski, Chad. The Ugly Truth About a Series of Sinkhole Disasters in Macomb
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County.Deadline Detroit, Deadline Detroit, 2 Jan. 2017,

www.deadlinedetroit.com/articles/16529/selweski_the_ugly_truth_about_sinkhole_disast

ers_in_macomb#.WgjyvGhSyUl.

2 Homes Being Demolished at Fraser Sinkhole Site. The Detroit Free Press, USA Today, 24

Mar. 2017,

www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/macomb/2017/03/24/fraser-sinkhole-

macomb-county/99600002/.