Flint Mayor: City Needs 2 Years Before it Can Treat its Own Water.
Mayor Karen Weaver wrote to EPA officials earlier this week to inform them that the Michigan city will not be able to treat its own water for lead and other contaminants until 2019, citing a lengthy construction and testing process for a new water treatment plant.
“Based on this approach, an August, 2019, completion date is anticipated for the treatment plant improvements.” In 2014, officials implemented a cost-cutting plan to switch the city’s water source from Lake Huron to the Flint River, which is 19 times more corrosive, according to researchers from Virginia Tech.
“The water would come in brown and my daughter was like ‘Mom … why is the water brown?,’” Flint resident Rhonda Keslo told CNN last year.
The EPA intervened in 2016, following studies that revealed dangerous levels of lead in the city’s drinking water and a class-action lawsuit alleging that the Department of Environmental Quality wasn’t treating the Flint River with an anti-corrosive agent.
These efforts include rerouting the water supply, replacing corroded water pipes and distributing bottled water and filters.
Lead levels below federal limit The EPA has also required that the city receive public input on its final water source and treatment plan.
The current proposed long-term water source is Lake Huron, according to Weaver’s letter.
The city will also select a backup water source for use in emergencies.
However, many residents still rely on bottled water, and the state still recommends that residents use filtered water for cooking and drinking.