Please note: For a history of the City's Storm & Sanitary Sewer Study following the 2017 & 2020 flooding events and all flood-related work completed to date, please visit the Flood Response page. This page discusses the Concept 5 Sewer Improvement Plan only.

What is Concept 5?

The Concept 5 Sewer Improvement Plan is a $48 million project designed to address sewer and lift station capacities during wet weather events in the city. Through this work, we aim to reduce clean water infiltration into the sewer system and basement backups into residents' homes in impacted areas of the city. This project will allow for the system to convey flows during a design rain event of a 25-year, 24-hour event, ultimately reducing the risk of surcharging sewers and basement backups. The work done through Concept 5 will not mitigate overland flooding or basement flooding from non-sewer sources.

Given the history of flooding events, particularly the devastating events in 2017 and 2020, this project is a critical component to addressing current and future infrastructure needs and protecting the health and safety of residents and their property. The Concept 5 Plan was approved by the Midland City Council in March 2021. Click here to watch the meeting (discussion begins at the 5:30 mark).

Construction bids for the first phase of improvements were awarded by the Midland City Council on August 22, 2022. Click here to watch the meeting (discussion begins at the 2:05:00 mark).

Click the button below to read the Concept 5 Sewer Improvement Plan (PDF).

What's Involved in Concept 5?

Click the image above to view a larger map

Concept 5 will improve the sanitary sewer collection system through a variety of projects including increasing the sizes of certain sewers, adding off-line sanitary sewage storage, repairing structurally defective sewer pipes, and disconnecting footing drains from the sanitary sewer system in certain areas. 

The map listed above is a tentative timeline of key elements in the Concept 5 Sewer Improvement Plan. The larger map and box in the top left corner provide details on infrastructure improvements including new pipe installation, existing pipe lining and repair, and the installation of a 1 million-gallon underground storage area at the Sylvan pumpstation. Use the legend in the top right corner to see the projects color-coded by estimated implementation year. The smaller callout boxes detail phasing and property boundaries for two Footing Drain Disconnection Programs (FDDP) in the Moorland and Whitewood neighborhoods.

These timelines for construction are highly subject to change as the timeline progresses. A summary of the map's tentative information is listed in the table below. More detailed information on each individual project can be found in the next section.