The Office of the Washtenaw County Drain Commissioner is responsible for the design, construction, and operation and maintenance of over 500 storm water management and flood control systems (County Drains), for emergency flood response, maintenance of seven court set lake levels, for financing drain projects through sale of notes and bonds, managing Drain financial accounts, and for recovering costs of operation by levying special assessments on private property, local government, and others who benefit from drainage and storm water management improvement projects.  The Office also publishes design standards for storm water systems (Rules of the Washtenaw County Drain Commissioner), and reviews and issues approval to plans for private storm water systems in new developments and redevelopments.

Our responsibilities also extend to water quality protection, with activities including implementation of the federally-mandated "Phase II" Storm Water Permit Program, watershed plan development and implementation, and a wide range of public education and involvement programs, including Community Partners for Clean Streams, the Riversafe Homeowner's Program, Raingarden Grant Program and others.

Our staff includes professionals in the fields of storm water system operations, public administration, financing, accounting, drain special assessing, engineering, construction management, environmental planning, geographic information system technology, and more.

Please click on any of the categories listed on the left side of this page for more information on our staff and programs.