Flint mayor, governor split on pace of lead pipe replacement

MI has come to an agreement with Rowe Professional Services, a Flint-based engineering firm, to survey and analyze the city’s network of water pipes, Governor Rick Snyder announced Tuesday. Snyder is planning to get $25 million to fix the contaminated pipes. It won approval from the Senate almost two weeks ago.

Residents would have about 65 percent of the drinkable water portion of their bills paid by the state.

“That frees up $2 million that could be … several hundred lead service line replacements”, says Snyder.

EPA officials said the agency worked within the framework of the law to “repeatedly and urgently communicate” steps that the state of MI and city of Flint needed to take to properly treat Flint’s water.

The city’s supply was switched from Detroit water to the Flint River in 2014. He said he wanted the water service line replacements to start quickly but not so fast that the repairs might lead to other troubles.

The Financially Distressed Cities, Villages and Townships Grant is created to ensure that funding can be used to ensure the safety, reliability and sustainability of the city’s water system. “We don’t want to reject anything that’s going to provide some level of relief from ratepayers”. Local and state officials insisted for months the water was safe to drink but reversed course after independent testing discovered unsafe lead levels throughout the system believed to be caused by leaching from lead piping. Never mind that the corrosive river water caused lead to leach from the city’s pipes into the water that every resident uses. Joseph, applauded the swift passage of H.R. 4470, the Safe Drinking Water Act Improved Compliance Awareness Act, by the U.S. House of Representatives today in a 416-2 vote. Yet the situation in Flint is a mere microcosm of a deep-seated dilemma involving the United States’ water safety systems, power politics, socioeconomic inequalities and enduring legacy of racism.

The report, which tested surface water and fish for PFCs in 13 sites around the state, was not created to evaluate drinking water, Jennifer Eisner, a public information officer for the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, told the Intercept.

The CRS identified regulatory implementation, monitoring protocols, compliance, oversight issues and the lead regulation itself as contributing factors in the failure to effectively prevent, identify and respond to high lead levels in Flint’s drinking water.