WATER RESOURCES COMMISSIONER – DEMOCRAT
Four-year term
JIM NASH
Jim Nash is a resident. Farmington Hills He has been the Oakland County Water Resources Commissioner since 2013. He received his bachelor's degree from Florida State University in political science, with a minor in peace studies. Prior to being elected at the water resources commissioner, Nash was an Oakland County Commissioner from 2005-2013. He also served on the Farmington Hills Zoning Board of Appeals, chaired the Sierra Club Southeast Michigan Group, is the president of Farmington Hills Commission of Children, Family and Youth, and is president of Pure Oakland Water.
Role of water resources commissioner
This office was called the Drain Commissioner until 2009, like most of the commissioners across the state. The name change came during my predecessor’s term but is important because, like about 10 counties across the state, we do far more than storm drains. In Oakland County my office operates and maintains over 450 stormwater drains, water and/or sewer systems in 23 communities under contracts going back as far as 55 years, large sanitary sewer interceptors serving over 1.5 million people, three wastewater treatment plants (the largest one being the most advanced in Michigan), the largest combined sewer retention treatment basin in Michigan, erosion control services for most Oakland County communities, lake level control systems in 54 lakes (the most in Michigan), members on all lake improvement boards and many other services. In recent years, we have become a regional actor on many issues that affect our water and environment, including a regional stormwater ordinance, developing our regional waster water master plan, developing green stormwater infrastructure plans locally, regionally and statewide, addressing our aging infrastructure and looking at affordability as an important issue that must be addressed if we are going to address our other problems.
Underground and surface waters
Oakland County has more lakes than any other county so we have to understand that what we do on our property has an effect on these environmentally and economically important resources, especially for those living along a lake, river or stream. My office has been working on this issue for years now and we support efforts to educate the public and encourage local governments to limit fertilizers to those containing no phosphorous and only timed-release nitrogen. We also encourage riparian property owners, those with waterfront property, to install a riparian buffer of native plants along the shoreline, to let fertilizers follow the deep-rooted plants into the ground rather than allow the chemicals to flow off the grass directly into the water. Both these efforts limit fertilizers entry into the water and reduce the chances of bacteria and algae causing dangerous conditions and even fish kills. I would support state efforts to educate the public and limit the commercially available fertilizers to those not threatening our water resources.
Septic testing at point of sale
As you mentioned, my office does not directly oversee septic systems, unless they directly affect one of our systems. The Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy estimates that between 20 to 25 percent of all septic systems in Michigan are failing and Oakland County is no exception. Mostly in the Northern and Western parts of the county, where most folks on septic systems live, we are seeing a real problem. In recent years we have been working with the Northern tier communities on a project to include the industrial and environmentally sensitive areas to hook up with a sewer system in lower Genesee County and get off their failing septic systems. Michigan is the only state I am aware of that has no statewide septic ordinance and we contribute all our water into the Great Lakes. Oakland County is headwaters of five watersheds and our health department is very active in this area. To save our local water quality and limit the damage to the Great Lakes we need a statewide program. I would support legislation to do that, but we need a program to help low income people do that work without the threat of losing their homes because of the cost.
Global warming prevention
Climate change is the most important long term issue facing mankind. Though the Great Lakes Basin has not seen the extreme high temperatures, drought or sea level rise, we have seen a dramatic increase in extreme weather events that will only get worse as time goes by. My office, and Oakland County government in general since 2018, has been working on the two sides of climate change response. We are working on resiliency, preparing our systems for extreme weather, and mitigation, getting off fossil fuels and moving to renewable energy systems. We have been organizing our local communities, working regionally and with the state and federal governments to develop green stormwater infrastructure programs for local governments, businesses, industry and residents. This program seeks to build simple but effective native plant rain gardens, rain barrels, tree planting, parking lot bio swales and other surface storage that limits stormwater going into separate or combined storm drains and instead soak into the ground. This will limit pollution and future flooding. Additionally, my office has been working on climate mitigation by building leading edge projects. One such project pretreats sewage solids at our Pontiac plant so we can use them to create far more natural gas in an airtight system, allowing us to run our infrastructure without using the fossil fuels we have traditionally used. We are currently seeking a grant that would make us the most efficient sewage plant in the world for creating methane from solids. All these new technologies help mitigate climate change but they also save money. In Pontiac we went from $1.7 million annually to dispose of solids to $400,000, and we will not be paying for our fuel from the grid.
Major issues facing water resources commissioner
Beyond climate change we work on our aging infrastructure issues by replacing older systems with modern technologies and materials, lead pipe removal programs, affordability among all communities (water and sewer costs have gone up more than 180 percent, after inflation, since 1989), maintaining and operating our many systems, finding young people to replace the retiring trades-people who are retiring at a high rate… And we can’t forget funding for all these issues for the long term, because the rate-payers alone cannot afford to do all the work by themselves. SEMCOG, the Southeast Michigan Council of Governments, has done research showing our region needs to spend $2 billion a year for 20 years just to bring our infrastructure up to a sustainable level.
Validity of voting returns
Yes, I accepted the 2020 election (as I did in 2016) and I will accept this year’s election. I have never in my life seen evidence of voter fraud on any scale that would affect a national election. The only people who have made these claims are partisan Republicans and they have never shown any actual evidence for their accusations. Just last month a Court in Georgia was told by Sidney Powell, the Kraken case lawyer, that she had no evidence to support her fraud claims.
Why vote for you?
I have served the citizens of Oakland County for almost 20 years, first as Oakland County Commissioner for eight years and as Water Resources Commissioner for the last twelve. As County Commissioner I focused my efforts on mental health (I have a son on the spectrum), veterans’ affairs (I’m a vet) and environment and climate. I organized six Green Building Workshops (2006-2011), bringing experts on climate, engineering and environmental protection to a day-long seminar to help local government officials, businesses and citizens understand the issues and meet industry and academic experts. As WRC I have held 12 annual Regional Stormwater Summits, bringing experts from across the state and nation to talk about stormwater, climate change, green infrastructure and mitigation efforts. Bringing people together to solve problems is my passion and we have had a significant effect on how these issues are seen and addressed in Southeast Michigan and around the state.
JIM STEVENS
Jim Stevens is an engineer from Rochester Hills.
Role of water resources commissioner
Provide the best service to our residents is job 1.
Underground and surface waters
Yes, I agree, we should be using only weed control that is safe for our ground water. I do not fertilize my lawn.
Septic testing at point of sale
And all homes that can’t show a cleaning of reasonable timeframe will need to have tanks empty
before a sale.
Global warming prevention
Global warming will reverse over time. But more green space would help. Plant more trees.
Major issues facing water resources commissioner
I like to keep cost down while providing first class services.
Validity of voting returns
Yes, I believe if you are a legal voter, legal votes are counted.
Why vote for you?
I always say Why not me! I use common sense, conservative on spending, for example our city is having a rope bridge built over the Clinton River, hired a large freeway bridge company, cost was quoted over 3 million dollars, this project if done by city workers should be only $500,000- $700,000.
I’m saying let’s use common sense on spending taxpayers’ money.
