Flint mayor, governor split on pace of lead pipe replacement

Amid the ongoing water contamination crisis in Flint, Michigan, and refusal of authorities to accept responsibility, new reports have shown that the city’s residents were not only slapped with the highest water bills in the country for their lead-poisoned water, but were also likely drinking more toxic substances than just lead.

The financing will come in the form of grant funding, meant to reimburse the city for the $2 million it paid as part of the state-local agreement to reconnect with the Detroit water system last October. He said he wanted the water service line replacements to start quickly but not so fast that the repairs might lead to other troubles.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell meets with Hamilton Community Health Network Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Michael Giacalone Jr., left, and CEO Clarence Pierce, after addressing the media, Thursday, Feb. 18, 2016, in Flint, Mich. The secretary announced $500,000 in funding to help two area health center increase and expand activities in response to the lead contamination of Flint’s water.

The state continues to work closely with the city of Flint on a comprehensive approach to identify lead service lines and replace them, beginning with the highest priority homes – ones with very high lead levels and those with young children or pregnant women in the home. A lack of corrosion control in the water caused lead to leach from old plumbing.

High lead rates have been detected in a section of high-end homes along Miller Road and in some tidily kept Tudors in the city’s College Cultural neighborhood. Democrats have said the state should fully cover waters bills, including water not consumed or used to cook or bathe. She elaborated on that statement, saying the United Nations recommends water bills stay below 3 percent of a resident’s household income, but the Flint water bills averaged about 7 percent.

Since April 2014 the residents of Flint, Michigan have been paying for bottled water to prevent consuming unsafe levels of lead – discovered in the water system a year ago. This is the second step to know what you’re dealing with in terms of underground infrastructure and how best to approach it. The third step is this replacement of pipes. McDaniel – who is assisting in coordinating activities between the city, the Lansing Board of Water and Light, state and federal agencies, and other stakeholders – said the project could begin within the next month. Targets of the litigation include government officials, a hospital tied to the Legionnaires’ disease outbreak, and the engineering firm that advised Flint on its water treatment facility.

Residents have seen a noticeable difference in water quality since the city switched back to the water authority’s supply, McCormick added.