Projects & Initiatives

A number of special initiatives are underway with leadership from Water Resources Commissioner, John P. McCulloch.

ISO 9000/ISO 14000
The Oakland County Water Resources Commissioner's office successfully registered to the ISO 9000 Quality Management System Standard and the ISO 14000 Environmental Management System Standard.

Please click on the links below for additional information on these initiatives.

McCulloch Comments on ISO Benefits (file size 59 k).

Environmental Management System Initiative  (file size 1.2 MB)


Comprehensive Drainage Districts 
In order to further instructional arrangements, Commissioner McCulloch proposed the development of five comprehensive drainage districts (utilizing Chapter 20 of the Drain Code) covering the land within each of the five major watersheds in Oakland County in late 2001. Unlike previous drainage district projects, this proposal would focus on a management plan and program for storm water issues associated with land use and upland activities. This program is one mechanism that would facilitate the communities to organize and coordinate efforts to meet U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Phase II Stormwater Regulations (effective March 2003) and to protect water quality as a whole.

The following documents are available to further explain this program. 

Executive Summary of Comprehensive District Proposal, December 2001 (file size 91k)

Comprehensive Drainage District Proposal Paper, December 2001 (file size 156k)

Questions and Answers on the Comprehensive Districts (file size 113k)

For more information regarding Funding options, please visit www.semcog.org.

Watershed Management Program
The OCWRC Environmental Team is leading efforts for the Oakland County Phase II Storm Water Permit, by coordinating communication between Oakland County departments, including Facilities Management, Health Division, Parks and Recreation, Planning and Economic Development Services, Road Commission of Oakland County and Waste Resource Management.

Oakland County is working to protect and restore our water resources through watershed-based planning with other local stakeholders in the five Oakland County watersheds. Oakland County's watershed management program includes public education and illicit discharge elimination activities.

Geographic Information Systems (GIS)
The office has begun with the upgrading of relevant data regarding storm drains, water supply and sewer into a easy to use product for operations as well as data management and map products.

For more information regarding these initiatives, please call our Administration staff at 248-858-0958.