After acceptance of HRC’s Design Report in 1953, the Twelve Towns Drainage System was built in the early 1960s, consisting of very large diameter sewers capable of convey- ing storm water without causing basement flooding. In 1965, the Royal Oak Sewage Treatment Plant was decommissioned and the sewage flow directed to the Detroit Sew- age Treatment Plant. e storage volume of the combined sewers was 32 million gallons and the excess flow discharged, over a weir structure at Stephenson Road, to the open ditch Red Run which became known as the Red Run Drain.
In the early 1970s, the open ditch Red Run, was replaced by two concrete boxes, each
18 feet high by 30 feet wide (inside dimensions). The double concrete box provided an additional storage volume of 62 million gallons and was designed for a flow of 7,500 cubic feet per second (3.3 million gallons per minute). e chlorinated, disinfected discharges were reduced to 6 or 8 times per year instead of at every rain event. e surface of the backfilled ditch has been transformed into recreational facilities: e Red Oaks Golf Course and the Red Oaks Water Park. In 1999, the Red Run Drain was re-named the George W. Kuhn Drain after the retired Drain Commissioner.
