Ottawa County, MI Environmental Rules: Flood Elevation Requirements (2026)

Article XXIII, Section W of the Ottawa County Environmental Health Regulations, governing private and public water supplies, addresses systems in flood-affected areas directly: "It shall be unlawful for water supply systems to create a public health nuisance, as determined by the Health Officer, in flood affected areas. " The section also requires full compliance with Part 127 of the Michigan Public Health Code, Act 368 of 1978, for any water supply system located in a flood-affected area, and requires abandoned wells in those areas to be properly plugged.

A variance from the twelve-inch elevation standard exists but is narrow: the Health Officer may approve one only if enforcing the rule would put the county at significant risk of a legal finding of inverse condemnation, or if the property owner has committed in writing to sell the property to a government body for nonresidential use. Any variance must be in writing and signed by the Health Officer, cannot be relied on by a later buyer of the property, and the county can revoke it if the property is sold or the condemnation risk that justified it goes away. This elevation standard is distinct from Article VIII's separate bar on siting a sewage disposal system within the ten-year flood plain.