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At day of deadline, Flint enters final phase of lead service line replacement

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The City of Flint and the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) announced today that the city has reached a major milestone of 95 percent of lead service lines replaced, capping off a multi-million dollar residential lead line replacement program and water system infrastructure modernization effort.

Flint has signed a $17.9 million contract with Lakeshore Global Corporation to complete the final phase of lead service line replacement targeting roughly 1,600 remaining water service lines. The lines will be excavated and replaced with new copper pipe if lead or galvanized pipe is found. EGLE estimates that roughly 30% of the remaining lines will be lead or galvanized.

Federal Water infrastructure Improvements for the Nation (WIIN) Act grant dollars are expected to provide the bulk of the funding. 

The 1,600 remaining lines represent the last five percent of suspected lead service lines in the city. The city has already completed 27,428 water service line excavations.

“This is great news and we’re making great strides,” Mayor Sheldon Neeley said. “I’m so happy to announce that we’ve reached 95% completion and we’re moving forward beyond all of our challenges.”

The pace of service line work slowed during the past several months as the city completed major infrastructure upgrades to the Flint water plant and worked through pandemic, supply chain and contractor issues.

In May of this year, Flint completed a nearly year-long, multi-million dollar infrastructure project modernizing the city’s water plant and establishing a critical secondary connection to Lake Huron.

At the center of this  infrastructure project is a $14 million pipeline connecting Flint to the Genesee County Drain Commissioner’s water treatment plant which, like Flint’s main supplier the Great Lakes Water Authority (GLWA), sources water from Lake Huron.

This new emergency back-up pipeline acted as an immediate back-up supply of water to the city in August when GLWA encountered a water main failure.

Other significant water infrastructure upgrades include:

  • Construction completed this year on a new, $5 million chemical feed building featuring state-of-art controls monitoring and treating water entering the water plant
  • $22 million in water main replacements
  • $11 million in new water meters

“We applaud the city’s steadfast work toward this milestone,” said EGLE director Liesl Clark.

“The team at EGLE including the Office of the Clean Water Public Advocate stand ready to help in the final stage of this effort,” Clark added. “We want to hear from residents who suspect they may still have a lead service line. There is still more work to be done and EGLE is committed to working with the City of Flint to complete this critical infrastructure work.”

City officials urge any remaining water customers who may potentially have lead service lines to call the city at 810-410-1133 and opt into the city’s free replacement program.

Flint is now in its sixth year of meeting state and federal standards for lead in drinking water. Since July 2016, the city of Flint’s water system has tested below action levels for the state’s Lead and Copper Rule (LCR) during 12 consecutive monitoring periods.

Michigan in 2018 adopted the nation’s toughest lead rules for drinking water. The state’s Lead and Copper Rule (LCR) requires that all lead service lines in the state be removed.

Meanwhile Former Flint Mayor Dr. Karen Weaver spoke out about the missed September 30 pipe replacement deadline.

She said:

“The City of Flint has reached the Friday, September 30 court mandated service line replacement deadline. I have grave concern for the state of the pipe replacement program. My administration worked tirelessly to secure funds and execute the most aggressive pipe replacement program this country has ever seen. We HAD to be aggressive because access to clean, safe, affordable drinking water is a matter of life or death. Since my administration has left office only 800 pipes have been replaced and on today the ability to replace the remaining pipes without a direct cost to the city is of major concern.
“Flint’s lead service line removal program was established by a 2017 court order issued in a landmark citizen suit to address the massive contamination of the city of Flint’s drinking water. The deadline extension agreement was approved by federal court in April 2022.
“This is one of the main reasons I’m running, to complete the unfinished business of my previous term. We were on track and the pipes would have all been replaced by now. The Neeley administration continues to show a complete disregard for our city and its resident’s safety. The lack of transparency and action to continue the recovery of our city from the largest man-made disaster in our nation’s history is unacceptable.
$97 million was contributed to the pipe replacement program from the state of Michigan and if they aren’t completed by today the money that remains will go back to the state and the pipes left to be replaced will be done so at either a direct cost to the resident or a cost to the City of Flint.
“The Neeley administration lacks a vision to see any project through. We see this with the lack of planning on the ARPA funds and now we see it with this looming deadline for the replacement of lead lines. Flint deserves better.”

Flint’s testing results can be found by visiting https://www.michigan.gov/flintwater/. Additional information about Michigan’s new testing requirements and results state-wide can be found at https://www.michigan.gov/mileadsafe/. The State of Michigan’s Mi Lead Safe web site includes valuable guidance and information on reducing lead exposure.

 

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