By Jon King / jking@whmi.com


Area residents with concerns and questions about their water quality were able to take part in an online and interactive event Wednesday night.

Livingston County Drain Commissioner Brian Jonckheere was among four water resource representatives from Oakland, Livingston, and Washtenaw counties and South Lyon who participated in the Water Roundtable hosted by the Salem-South Lyon District Library and the South Lyon Community Television. Joining Jonckheere was Douglas Varney, Director of the Department of Public Works and Utilities for the City of South Lyon, Oakland County Water Resources Commissioner Jim Nash and Evan Pratt, Water Resources Commissioner for Washtenaw County.

The panelists discussed a variety of concerns from the public and answered questions that ranged from PFAS contamination to storm water management. Toward the end of the event, Jonckheere was asked how the COVID crisis has impacted water resources, which he said really emphasized how important wastewater workers are, as they continued their jobs without interruption at the height of the shutdown making sure that the public’s access to clean, safe water remained uninterrupted.

Jonckheere also said that out of the crisis has come a silver lining of sorts as well. "We've changed the way we've done operations and as a matter of fact I thin what its helped us to do, is there's been some inefficiencies and old policies. It's help us push those policies aside so ultimately I think there's some advantage to us in the future."

You can watch a video of the event through the link below.