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Grand Rapids stormwater project said to be largest to-date

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Grand Rapids kicked off what officials call the largest single stormwater control project in the city’s history.

A ceremonial groundbreaking ceremony was held Monday for a new $1.2 million underground stormwater storage facility at Mary Waters Park.

Mike Lunn manages the Grand Rapids Environmental Services Department.

“This will be our largest underground storage and filtration basin that we’ve put in," he says. "We previously put one in that’ll do about 40 acres of urban land.”

Lunn says the new basin will do about three times that – between 120 and 130 acres.

He says all told, it’ll treat more than 11 million gallons of storm water annually.

“As we move forward with Restore the Rapids and other things," Lunn says, "the cleaner the water in our river, the better off we’re going to be.”

The facility follows a $400 million overhaul of the city's combined sewer operations.

City officials say those infrastructure improvements could also benefit property values overall.

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