How much water does the average single family home in Oxford Township use?
That’s one of the main questions Giffels-Webster Engineers has been hired to answer.
Last week, township officials voted 4-3 to have the Rochester Hills-based engineering firm conduct a Residential Equivalent Unit (REU) allocation study for the sum of $7,200.
An REU is a way to equate higher volume water users to single family homes, which are used as the standard. The single family residence with its value of 1 REU is the unit around which all other facilities? average water and sewer usage is estimated.
For instance, an automatic car wash is assigned 33 REUs per lane, which means it’s estimated average water usage is the equivalent of 33 single family homes. However, a mobile home is viewed as using less water than a single family home, so it’s assigned 0.6 REU.
Township officials decided to have a professional study conducted following public outcry and the threat of possible legal action that occurred after they voted in late February to stop using Oakland County’s REU assign ments and adopt a new REU schedule effective April 1.
The controversial new schedule was created by township Trustee Doleen Behnke and Planning Commission/ZBA Coordinator Barb Walkaus as part of a capstone project to earn their Master Citizen Planner certification.
At the end of March, the township board reversed its decision and voted to continue using the county’s REU schedule until July 1.
As part of the REU study, Giffels-Webster will study the amount of water usage for a single family residential family home in the township based on ‘actual meter readings,? then use this information ‘to establish a base REU.?
The firm will then take this ‘base REU? and compare it to the six existing usage categories that were given new REU assignments under the rescinded Behnke/Walkaus schedule and the five new usage categories created because they weren’t defined on the county schedule.
Bowling alleys, hotel/motels, mobile home parks, multiple family residences (apartments, condominiums and duplexes), restaurants and service stations all would have experienced changes in their current REU assignments under Behnke/Walkaus schedule.
Day care centers, fire stations, group homes, landscape nurseries and public golf courses were the new usage categories the ladies created. Each was given its own specific REU assignment.
Once Giffels-Webster is finished, a final report and presentation regarding the study’s key findings will be made to the township board.