[Southsider2k12]

http://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/laporte...c2f132f640.html

MICHIGAN CITY | Michigan City has beat a court imposed deadline to come into full compliance with its once poorly run waste water treatment system now friendly to Lake Michigan.

Mayor Ron Meer said $13 million was spent the past three years on repairs and upgrades like new lift stations to replace failing ones and separating lines from ones that once held both sewage and storm water, avoiding potentially hefty fines.

Gone are regular overflows of raw sewage into the lake from an inundated system that often went unreported and potentially dangerous chlorine leaks at the treatment plant.

Besides water quality, the corrections should help efforts to make Michigan City and its lakefront more of a destination in recent years.

''The lakefront and Trail Creek, it's our identity in a lot of ways. It's a big milestone for our community,'' Meer said.

Meer, a sanitary district employee in 2010 when he reported violations directly to the Indiana Department of Environmental Management, triggered the investigation that culminated with a raid of the treatment plant by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Meer was fired after reporting the violations and later reached a $215,000 settlement with the city.

He was elected mayor in November 2011.

Correcting the nearly 100 violations has been expedited with help from Michael Kuss, a former environmental engineer with IDEM who took over as sanitary district superintendent in January 2012.

The changes in the administration brought with it new members of the sanitary district board and staff to help facilitate orders for coming into compliance.

The end of September deadline was met a few weeks in advance without once requesting an extension.

Meer said the treated water discharged into Trail Creek and Lake Michigan is now more closely monitored.

''The whole mindset and the culture of the Michigan City Sanitary District nowadays is completely different than it was four or five years ago,'' Meer said.

A rate increase and loans from the city now being paid back by the sanitary district financed the improvements.

The focus is now on maintenance by replacing equipment before it falls into disrepair or becomes outdated and keeping a now well-trained staff current on the latest developments in waste water technology.

"I don't know if there's not an aspect of the waste water operations that have not been improved over the past three years," Meer said.