Image The Environmental Protection Agency’s failure to intervene earlier and stop the water crisis in Flint, Mich., exposed a need for wholesale changes to how federal officials monitor drinking water systems, a government watchdog said Thursday.
A report from the E.P.A.’s Office of Inspector General said management weaknesses hobbled the agency’s response to the lead and other contaminants that poisoned Flint’s drinking water for more than a year and that federal officials should have taken stronger action to correct repeated blunders by state regulators.
“While Flint residents were being exposed to lead in drinking water, the federal response was delayed, in part, because the E.P.A.
inspector general has previously faulted the agency’s response in Flint, and residents for years have blamed the tainted water on failures at all levels of government, especially the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, which is responsible for ensuring safe drinking water in the state.
Several state and local officials have been charged with crimes for their roles in the city’s water crisis.
could have used its authority under the Safe Drinking Water Act to intervene earlier and more forcefully in Flint.
Enesta Jones, a spokeswoman for the E.P.A., said in a statement that the agency agreed with the inspector general’s recommendations and “is actively engaging with states to improve communications and compliance with the federal Safe Drinking Water Act to safeguard human health.” The E.P.A.’s missteps and lax oversight outlined in the report occurred during the administration of President Barack Obama.
The report was seen by some as a powerful warning to other cities and states to not stray from federal drinking water standards.
And many residents were outraged earlier this year when Michigan officials ended free bottled water distribution and insisted that the city’s water now meets federal lead standards.
and other agencies that let his city down.

The City of Clio issued a drinking water warning due to a break in an operating water main that resulted in a loss of pressure.
Clio residents that live along Tacoma Court and 3450 W. Vienna Road were boiling their water following the issue.
The valve has since been opened, but the advisory remains in effect.
This is the second water advisory issued in Clio in the past week.
Turner is not happy about the boil water advisory.
"It kind of makes me wonder what will happen to me if I drink it or washed with it," Turner said.
The city said accidents are going to happen in projects like this, but the important question is how many times will this happen before the contractor faces some consequences.
They’re doing a good job," Wiederhold said.
Wiederhold said it will become an issue if the contractor continues to break water mains.
For more information, contact the city at 810-686-5850.

test test The Environmental Protection Agency must strengthen its oversight of state drinking water programs to avoid a repeat of what happened in Flint, Mich., where a sluggish federal reaction meant residents were exposed to lead-tainted water for far too long, an agency watchdog said in a report Thursday.
“While oversight authority is vital, its absence can contribute to a catastrophic situation,” EPA Inspector General Arthur A. Elkins said in releasing the findings, which found that “while Flint residents were being exposed to lead in drinking water, the federal response was delayed, in part, because the EPA did not establish clear roles and responsibilities, risk assessment procedures, effective communication and proactive oversight tools.” The EPA was not alone in its failure to address the crisis that crippled a city of nearly 100,000 residents, including exposing thousands of young children to lead.
In particular, state officials failed to implement proper treatments after Flint switched drinking water sources in early 2014, and for months ignored warnings from local residents about the deteriorating water quality.
But the EPA’s inspector general found that federal government deserved significant blame for not more quickly using its enforcement authority to make sure that state and local officials were complying with the Safe Drinking Water Act, as well as with federal rules that mandate testing for lead.
Only then will we as a nation be able to fully protect the potential of our children from this preventable neurotoxin."
This report indicated the potenial for serious human health risks and recommended potential EPA actions."
Even then, the agency’s inspector general found, months passed before the EPA took action to address the growing crisis.
In Thursday’s report, the EPA’s inspector general offered nine recommendations, including putting in place controls to make sure states and localities are complying with lead testing regulations and properly treating water source.
Only later, after Hanna-Attisha detailed skyrocketing blood lead levels in some local children and reporters continued to publicize the problems with the water, did governments begin to take more aggressive action.
The Michigan governor faced calls to resign, even as he apologized for the crisis, telling Flint residents in one State of the State address that “government failed you at the federal, state and local level.” “People have realized they’ve been lied to, and EPA knew about this, and the state knew about this,” Virginia Tech engineering professor Marc Edwards, a national authority on municipal water quality whose tests exposed the extent of Flint’s lead contamination, told the Post in early 2016.

RICHLAND, Mich. (NEWSCHANNEL 3) – Kalamazoo County residents will get a closer look at what is in their drinking water Wednesday, as local and state health departments meet in Richland to discuss testing results.
The testing centered around the site of the former Production Plated Plastics company along 34th Street near M89, northeast of Gull Lake High School in Richland Township.
That level is higher than the EPA allows.
Those families were provided water while testing continued.
PFAS can put you at a higher risk for cancer among other bad health effects.
There are 31 sites across Michigan where MDEQ confirms there are PFAS in the water.
This list includes two locations in Rockford and two in Plainfield Township.
3M, which makes products like Scotchguard and other firefighting foams, is being blamed for the large amount of PFAS found in 33 locations across the state.
Wednesday night’s meeting is expected to update local residents on the situation.
The meeting will take place at the Living Hope Community Church.

But city officials stressed drinking water wells were shut off well before it reached, and now exceeded, the EPA recommended advisory levels of safe drinking water.
City officials and the consultants contracted to monitor the drinking water have been keeping watch on contaminant levels at the monitoring sites and in the drinking wells, Storer said.
When the Ireland Well in the Pudding Hill Aquifer recorded a concentration of 48 parts per trillion of PFOA and PFOS parts per trillion on June 28, the decision was made stop drawing water from the well, Storer said.
PFOA stands for perfluorooctanoic acid; PFOS stands for perfluorooctanesulfonic acid; and PFHpA stands for perfluoroheptanoic acid — all human-made chemicals.
Storer said the Ireland Well had recently been recording levels of between 6-10 ppt.
He said while he would love to have zero level, it is just not realistic.
Storer said a recently dug well, known as Dover Pudding Hill 1 (DPH1) in the Pudding Hill Aquifer, was shut off as a precautionary measure until hydrologists can confirm that using the well isn’t sucking the plume towards it.
When online, the Pudding Hill Aquifer can provide about 1 million gallons of water per day, Storer said.
Still, without Pudding Hill, the city has a supply capacity of approximately 5 million gallons of water a day, Storer said.
Because of the contamination issue and because the region is considered in a moderate drought by the U.S. Drought Monitor, Joyal encouraged residents and businesses to be conscientious with their water usage.

KALAMAZOO, MI — Contamination from a shuttered electro-plating company was well-known in Richland Township in the 1980s and 90s, but recent tests showing PFAS compounds in nearby drinking water wells present a new environmental threat from the state-owned site.
Until recently, the groundwater discharge from the site had never been tested for PFAS, Dean said.
History of contamination Established in 1969, Production Plated Plastics engaged in molding, electroplating, and painting of plastic automobile parts at its Richland facility.
In 1986, the company began pumping tainted groundwater from wells at the site.
The electro-plating company was ordered to close its Richland Township facility and pay for environmental cleanup at the site.
Per the city’s request, the DEQ ceased discharge from the former Production Plated Plastics site on June 21, Dean said.
Meanwhile, the city of Kalamazoo provides drinking water to Richland Township.
Kalamazoo County Drain Commissioner Pat Crowley, a township resident, said the water system was expanded due to known contamination at the Production Plated Plastics site.
Baker said 99 wells that provide drinking water to area were tested for PFAS by the DEQ on June 22.
The EPA required all public water systems to test for PFAS under the Safe Drinking Water Act.

DOVER — The city has shut down a drinking water well connected to the Pudding Hill Aquifer because of migration containments after recent tests were above the EPA health advisory.
City Manager Michael Joyal informed the City Council of the developments in an email late Monday night.
This is occurring despite efforts made to protect the wells from the spread of contaminants from the former Madbury Metals site,” Joyal said, referencing the now-closed metal recycling yard located in the area of Pudding Hill and Knox Marsh roads in Madbury.
Joyal said the well had not been used for drinking water production since late last month.
At the time the well was discontinued for drinking water, the Ireland Well was below the EPA health advisory levels.
Joyal said the Ireland Well will be offline and the city will limit the use of its new DPH1 Well, which also draws from the Pudding Hill Aquifer.
“We have notified and will be seeking assistance from N.H. Dept.
PFOA stands for perfluorooctanoic acid; PFOS stands for perfluorooctanesulfonic acid; and PFHpA stands for perfluoroheptanoic acid — all man-made chemicals.
Joyal said the recent upgrades to the Lowell Avenue Treatment Plant along with the other wells operating in Dover, the city will be able to maintain an “adequate and safe supply of public drinking water.” Because of the recent developments and because the region is considered in a moderate drought by the U.S. Drought Monitor, Joyal encouraged residents and businesses to be conscientious with their water usage.
— This story may be updated.

TEPIC, Mexico, July 16 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – S upplying clean water and toilets for all could take hundreds of years in countries like Eritrea and Namibia unless governments step up funding to tackle the problem and its harmful effects on health, an international development agency warned on Monday.
WaterAid – which says nearly 850 million people lack clean water – predicted the world will miss a global goal to provide drinking water and adequate sanitation for everyone by 2030.
Meeting it will cost $28 billion per year, the non-profit said.
“We’re really calling for governments to pull up their socks,” he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation from the United Nations in New York.
From July 9-18, governments are reviewing progress on the Sustainable Development Goals, which were agreed at the United Nations in 2015, with a focus on six of the 17.
Last week, U.N. officials said barriers to achieving the 2030 water and sanitation targets range from conflict and water pollution to climate change, urging more efficient water use.
Drawing on U.N. data, the UK-based group calculated some countries will need hundreds of years to provide safe drinking water and toilets for all their people, meaning countries collectively are thousands of years off track.
At current rates, Namibians would have to wait until 2246 for everyone to have clean water, while all Eritreans would not get it until 2507 and Nicaraguans not until 2180, WaterAid said.
Governments should fund water and sanitation provision from their own budgets, and work with utilities and private companies to reach people in isolated areas, said Carvalho.
“There’s money around – it’s just not allocated in the right way,” he said, urging international donors to increase spending on water and sanitation.

WaterAid – which says nearly 850 million people lack clean water — predicted the world will miss a global goal to provide drinking water and adequate sanitation for everyone by 2030.
Meeting it will cost $28 billion per year, the nonprofit said.
"Water, sanitation and hygiene is a global crisis," said Savio Carvalho, WaterAid’s global advocacy director.
From July 9-18, governments are reviewing progress on the Sustainable Development Goals, which were agreed at the United Nations in 2015, with a focus on six of the 17.
Last week, U.N. officials said barriers to achieving the 2030 water and sanitation targets range from conflict and water pollution to climate change, urging more efficient water use.
Drawing on U.N. data, the UK-based group calculated some countries will need hundreds of years to provide safe drinking water and toilets for all their people, meaning countries collectively are thousands of years off track.
At current rates, Namibians would have to wait until 2246 for everyone to have clean water, while all Eritreans would not get it until 2507 and Nicaraguans not until 2180, WaterAid said.
It could be 500 years before every Romanian has access to a toilet, and 450 years for Ghanaians, it added.
Governments should fund water and sanitation provision from their own budgets, and work with utilities and private companies to reach people in isolated areas, said Carvalho.
"There’s money around – it’s just not allocated in the right way," he said, urging international donors to increase spending on water and sanitation.

Jammu Kashmir Jammu, July 15 The Jagti satellite township for displaced Kashmiri Pandits has been facing severe drinking water crisis due to frequent snags in the 4-km-long water pipeline.
Irate over the “indifferent” attitude of the authorities concerned, residents have made several complaints to Governor NN Vohra on his Twitter handle @jandkgovernor seeking early redressal.
They only supply water to their respective blocks.
Official sources said the township had been facing shortage of drinking water due to faulty pipeline that passes through a nullah before culminating at water storage tanks.
“The water requirement of the entire township is about 8-9 lakh gallons per day, but it is getting five lakh gallons.
It requires 38 lakh litres of water and we are supplying more than that.
ML Raina, Relief and Rehabilitation Commissioner (Migrants), admitted that there was water scarcity in the township and said it was due to flash floods in the nullah through which the water pipeline passes.
“We are making efforts to improve and ensure regular water supply to the township, but the pipeline suffers frequent snags due to flash floods in the nullah.
For improved and regular water supply, we require a dedicated power supply feeder, which will cost over Rs 55 lakh, while the shifting of pipeline from the nullah will cost around Rs 25 lakh.
We are hopeful of finding a permanent solution to the problem soon,” Raina said.