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Identified as a potential source of high quality groundwater for the Lansing metropolitan area in the future, fast-growing Bath Township is now working to enact groundwater protection measures before problems occur.
As growth pushes northward from Lansing, East Lansing, and Meridian Township, the Township needs to prepare for commercial and residential land development and resultant health risks.
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Planning consultant Jim Foulds says Bath Township is keenly aware of the importance of protecting groundwater for two reasons. First, as a participant in discussions of a mid-Michigan regional water authority, the Township became aware that its groundwater resources are of potential value to the region -- and could, in fact, become a source of revenue for the community as other supplies are consumed. Second, he says, township officials are aware of the environmental health importance of protecting this resource.
"I wouldn't say we have major problems at this time," says Foulds, "but we want to stop them before they occur. The potential is there, as development inches north our way."
Foulds says the Township is reviewing model efforts from other municipalities around the state and deliberating on whether to enact a freestanding groundwater protection ordinance or to integrate groundwater protection with site plan review. In either case, the Township will consider measures requiring proper storage and secondary containment of potentially polluting materials to prevent and contain spills.
Foulds predicts that the Township's planning commission will take up the proposed measures early in 1998.
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