The City of South Haven Public Works & Engineering Department maintains all City infrastructure, including municipal electric, water, sanitary sewer, storm sewer, and streets & highways. The City has an efficient and well-trained public works department that performs maintenance and construction tasks for these facilities.

Municipal Electric System

The City of South Haven owns and operates an electric distribution system which serves the City of South Haven and its three neighboring municipalities. The City purchases wholesale power from Indiana and Michigan Power Company for distribution to its customers. The City has approximately 10,000+ residential, commercial, and industrial customers on the system. Municipal ownership of the utility allows the City and its customers to control electric rates and system reliability through the local government process.

The total substation capacity is 40 MW. The peak demand to-date is 32 MW. The electric consumption for 1,000 REUs (.006 MW0 is 6 KW.

The Electric Department operates, maintains and expands the City's electric distribution system. City employees do the bulk of the maintenance work, while private contractors perform the majority of the new construction and underground construction. City employees and private contractors provide exceptional emergency response for the City's utility customers. Finally, private contractors perform tree trimming and tree removal for the electric system's tree maintenance program.

Municipal Water System

The City of South Haven is fortunate to have one of the largest fresh water supplies in the world - Lake Michigan. The City has been supplying potable water through a municipal supply and distribution system since the late 1890s. The maximum water sent out to-date is 3.9 mcf. The current "rated" plant capacity is 4.2 mcf. Currently scheduled planned improvements to the system is 5.0 mcf. Water consumption for 1000 new REUs at 200 gpd (gallon per minute) is 0.2 mcf. The Water Distribution/Sewer Collection Department provides new service connections, and preventive and repair maintenance.

Municipal Sewer System

The City of South Haven owns and operates a primary wastewater treatment plant. The current plant capacity (peak flow) is 3.5 mcf. The wastewater plant currently treats an average daily flow rate (summer usage) of 1.5 mcf. Sewer flow for 1,000 new REUs (based on 50% of water use is 0.1 mcf. The maximum wastewater treatment plant flow rate is a funcion of inflow and inflitration, not consumer use. The Wastewater Treatment Department is also responsible for the maintenance of the plant and the sewer system's seven lift stations.

The Water Distribution/Sewer Collection Department is responsible for the maintenance and repair of all sewer mains and manholes on the City's collection system. The Department is also responsible for clearing blockages that occur in the sewer mains.

Other Major Utilities & Services
The other utilities operating in the City of South Haven are as follows: gas is provided by Aquila; telephone service is provided by Verizon North; and cable television/communications is provided by ComCast, Inc.