1 automaker, the one that has operated a famed testing facility nearby known as the Milford Proving Ground since the 1920s and has paid for bottled water deliveries to her family’s home and their neighbors since 2014: General Motors.
But several months later, they received a letter from the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, notifying them of excessive levels of salt in their water.
O’Nions is now one of several plaintiffs named in a lawsuit filed last autumn against General Motors, alleging the automaker’s decades-long use of salt on roads and in vehicle tests at the 4,011-acre vehicle testing and development facility has contaminated ground and drinking water supplies for The Oaks.
At the facility, GM says, salt is used to de-ice the facility’s roads, test tracks and parking areas, as well as for a variety of corrosion tests on vehicles.
But the study concluded that road salt “appears to be a major source of chloride” at the facility.
That’s when the developer of a new subdivision located just southwest of the proving ground discovered high chloride levels, after drilling wells for homes set to be built in the neighborhood.
“GM may be responsible as they have salt storage on site and use salt in splash testing for cars, etc.” Local county officials conducted tests that confirmed excessive levels of chloride, and that October, Michigan’s environmental quality department told GM that, based on the results of the samples taken, “it appears that a source of sodium and chlorides may therefore emanate from the GM Proving Grounds.” The letter set off a war of sorts between GM and MDEQ that went on for years.
“I had always admired it,” Moore told Jalopnik this month in the living room of her 3,000-square-foot home.
Some residents took up the reverse osmosis option, but Moore and O’Nions said the company balked at installing them for every location in their homes.
When people come to your home and they’re saying, ‘Oh, you live in such a nice neighborhood.

MARQUETTE, Mich. (WLUC) – Northern Michigan University students will host a bottled water drive to collect donations for Flint residents.
The bottled water drive will be held on Friday, May 4th, from 10 A.M. to 2 P.M. in front of the Superior Dome.
NMU students have announced their opposition to the selection of Governor Snyder as commencement speaker, mostly due to his handling of the Flint Water Crisis.
"This allows us to put our time and energy where our mouths are," said graduating senior Nathan Frischkorn.
"By collecting bottled water donations for Flint, we are able to take action that allows us to use this platform to help a community that has been negatively impacted by the governor’s policy."
Students organizing the drive welcome all members of the NMU and Marquette communities to bring cases of bottled water or sealed jugs of water to donate.
All donations will be sent home with Flint residents who will be joining the protest on Saturday.

The Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) says it has received complaints regarding the increase in the price of bottled water following the suspension of the manufacturing, packaging, supply and retail of the commodity by Zambia Metrological Agency.
The suspension were on quantities which include 18.9L, 20L and 21.8L of bottled potable water.
CCPC Public Relations Officer, Namukolo Kasumpa said CCPC has launched investigations into the matter following the complaints the Commission received from the public.
Ms. Kasumpa said all the manufacturers and traders that will be found to have increased the prices of water without reasonable justification of corresponding increases in the sourcing costs will be taken to task.
She said the commission has repeatedly warned businesses to desist from engaging themselves in conducts that are unfair and anti-competitive.
Ms Kasumpa said the commission will not sit idle and watch consumers being exploited in the wake of the suspension and has since requested members of the public with supporting evidence to report unjustified price increases in bottled water that has occurred in the last two weeks.

Bottled water is being handed out at St. Marys as Mayo Clinic investigates what caused dark-colored liquid to appear in the hospital’s water system.
Staff and patients were first alerted Monday afternoon that the water on campus was not safe for consumption or use in clinical care.
As of Tuesday afternoon, people were still being advised to drink bottled water.
"Mayo Clinic is investigating instances of dark-colored water on our Mayo Clinic Hospital – Rochester, Saint Marys Campus," said spokesperson Sharon Theimer.
We will provide an update when the issue is resolved."
The water is suitable for hand washing, said Theimer, but hand sanitizers are being placed in bathrooms as a precautionary measure across the hospital.
Rochester Public Utilities said Tuesday it is confident that the issue is internal to the St. Marys campus and that water throughout the city is safe to drink.
"RPU and Saint Marys officials will continue to address the discoloration issue and work to determine the cause," RPU said in a blog post.
The water concern was brought to RPU’s attention mid-morning on Monday after "sediment and rust or black colored water" began showing up in sinks and toilets at Saint Marys.
Updated 5.1.18 at 12 p.m.

As of Tuesday, the people of Flint, Mich., have been without clean water for 1,468 days.
Last week marked the four-year anniversary of the water switch that began the contamination that has left city residents dependent on bottled water and water filters.
Rick Snyder to try to get the program reinstated, but that discussion was unsuccessful.
Weaver said Snyder was dismissive about the concerns expressed over the shutdown of bottled-water stations and that he essentially told her that Flint residents needed to “get over it.” “I told him that this is a moral and an ethical issue and the people of Flint deserve to be comfortable and have peace of mind and continue to use bottled and filtered water while we get through this process,” Weaver said.
In an April 17 email announcing the meeting was canceled, Ari Adler—a spokesman for Gov.
Snyder—said, “The state’s legal counsel has advised against proceeding with the FWICC meeting until the city’s intentions have been established.
Weaver said in a press release that she asked Korleski and the EPA to “intervene due to state officials’ actions, in hopes of preventing other meeting cancellations and any similar actions in the future.” She called the state’s cancellation of the meeting “unconscionable” and said it “could be detrimental” to further progress.
“And we can’t move on when people’s in-home plumbing and water heaters have been damaged through no fault of their own, and nothing has been done to help them fix it,” Weaver said.
In the meantime, it has been 1,468 days since the people in the city of Flint had clean water in their pipes.
With all of this back-and-forth fighting between the city and the state, the residents still don’t have clean water.

ROCHESTER, Minn. (KTTC) – An unusual emergency impacted thousands of people at Mayo Clinic-Saint Marys on Monday and continued into Tuesday–the water in the complex was declared unfit to drink.
Signs went up Monday inside the campus directing people: "do not drink the water."
New signs went up on Tuesday saying “Don’t drink water because of sediment.” When people flushed toilets at Saint Marys, dark-colored water came into the toilet from water supply lines.
On the internal Mayo Clinic News Network, the direction to staff was more specific, saying, "Refrain from consuming the water and using it in clinical care until further notice."
After 3 p.m. Monday any Saint Marys units that needed more bottled water were instructed to call an emergency phone line.
Bottled water is being made available to all.
"The water is suitable for hand washing, but hand sanitizers are being placed in bathrooms as a precautionary measure across the hospital."
Rochester Public Utilities advised KTTC at 11:30 a.m. Tuesday that it had become aware of the problem on Monday morning, and sent utility crews to flush water and test it outside of the Saint Marys complex.
"RPU is confident that the issue is internal to the campus," said spokesman Tony Benson.
In order to verify that it was isolated to the Saint Marys campus, RPU flushed the areas surrounding the campus immediately and found no discolored water."

A TOT who drank from a water bottle which allegedly contained an earwig, has been awarded almost €6,000 in damages.
1 The Circuit Civil Court heard that later that day Ms Tyrell had given Hazel one of the bottles to drink.
Judge Terence O’Sullivan heard that, after the toddler drank the water, her mother noticed an earwig floating inside the bottle.
Defendants Musgrave Group of Ballycurreen, Co Cork, and Munster Soft Drinks of Ballyneety, Co Limerick, denied the claim the water had been contaminated and unacceptable for human consumption.
She was ill for a few days and had been seen in Drogheda Hospital.
She was told her daughter had likely suffered a mild allergic reaction.
The cause of the symptoms is unknown.
A settlement offer of €5,000 was made in the case and €956 in expenses.
The defendants denied negligence or liability in the case.
The judge approved the offer.

There are currently more than 6.3 billion metric tons of plastic waste sitting in landfills or accumulating in the ocean, where it chokes and poisons marine life.
maxthanakorn/Shutterstock London-based bottled water company Choose Water has developed a biodegradable and recyclable water bottle with the intention of reducing the amount of toxin-laden, ocean-smothering plastic containers that are used and tossed every day.
The vessel is made from 100 percent recycled paper pulp that is vacuum formed around a sustainably sourced watertight lining and topped with a thin steel cap, according to inventor and company founder James Longcroft.
So no matter where it ends up, it won’t do any damage,” Choose Water states on their IndieGoGo campaign page.
A recent study has calculated that a staggering 8.3 billion metric tons of plastic products have been produced since the 1950s, and 79 percent of these items were not recycled or incinerated.
Putting his University of Durham chemistry degree to good use, Longcroft spent a year tinkering with formulas for a fully functional yet fully guilt-free design.
The end result is his proprietary waterproof lining material that prevents leaks when in use but begins to break down immediately when submerged in water or exposed to the conditions of a landfill.
The production is only 5 pence (7 cents) more per unit than that of creating a plastic container.
The £25,000 target of the IndieGoGo campaign will reportedly help work out a few last-minute design improvements and expand the scope of production.
“We can’t get our bottles onto shelves without you guys.

Black-colored tap water on Mayo Clinic’s Saint Marys Campus has spurred the hospital to start using bottled water throughout the facility.
"Patients, visitors and staff should refrain from drinking the water or using ice from the ice machines.
Patients and visitors are being advised to drink bottled water," stated Sharon Theimer of Mayo Clinic’s media relations team via email this morning.
Rochester Public Utilities was notified mid-morning Monday about black-colored water coming from the taps and in the toilets on the hospital campus, according to RPU’s Tony Benson.
Visitors and staff are reporting that water in toilet bowls turned black on Monday.
RPU confirmed through tests Monday that the situation is restricted to Saint Marys campus and the surrounding homes and businesses on Second Street Southeast are not being effected, said Benson.
No cause for the discoloration has been identified yet.
While Mayo Clinic is recommending that people not drink the water, officials are saying that it is OK for washing.
"The water is suitable for hand washing, but hand sanitizers are being placed in bathrooms as a precautionary measure across the hospital," wrote Theimer.
Mayo Clinic has not addressed what this might mean for food preparation on the Saint Marys hospital campus.

To the Editor: As the bottlers of Berkshire Mountain Spring Water, we hope the voters in Great Barrington will reject the proposed ban on bottled water in containers 1 liter and smaller in size.
Berkshire Springs Inc. is a family-owned and -operated small business that has​ ​been bottling at our spring water source in Southfield since 1970​.
Our customers choose our spring water over tap water for both taste and health preferences.
There is a myth that tap water is more strictly regulated than bottled water.
Our water is tested daily in-house, weekly by an outside lab and extensively on an annual basis.
We meet the highest standards set by the five New England states, plus New York and New Jersey where we are licensed.
The single-serve bottles of spring water are a convenient and healthy choice for those who do not want to purchase soft drinks, teas, energy drinks and any other beverages that are also​ sold in single-serve, plastic containers.
These PET bottles are recyclable and have many uses as a recycled material.
Berkshire Springs’ bottling plant recycles the single-serve bottles as well as unusable 5- and 3-gallon bottles, plastic wrap, all discarded caps and cardboard.
Please rethink this proposed bottled water ban and focus your efforts on recycling all plastic containers, which can be used in many new ways.