At the request of the Neeley administration, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has granted a one-year extension to the City of Flint for over $100 million in federal funding. This funding will be used to complete the remaining 5% of residential addresses that still need excavation and replacement of their water service lines.
Most importantly, Flint residents can still take advantage of this no-cost opportunity to remediate potential lead water pipes leading into their homes. Flint residents can still schedule service line replacements at this website: https://www.cityofflint.com/get-the-lead-out/.
“More than 95% of lead pipes in Flint have been replaced, and we will continue the work until the job is done,” Flint Mayor Sheldon Neeley said. “I will work with anyone who is committed to making that happen. I ask those remaining homeowners to give our crews right of entry so that we can fix this once and for all.”
Flint is in the final phase of its water service line replacement efforts and has completed over 27,000 excavations, replacing any lead or galvanized steel service lines identified. Approximately 1,000 addresses still need to be excavated, and an indeterminate number of residences still require restoration. Flint already has contracts with Rowe Professional Services Co. and Lakeshore Global Corporation to complete all remaining work by the end of 2023.
Pending City Council approval, the City of Flint has tentatively agreed to implement changes requested by Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) to the Concerned Pastors for Social Action settlement agreement, to refine the planning and data management for this final phase of the City’s service line replacement project.
The City looks forward to working collaboratively with NRDC as the pipe replacement project nears completion.
This year, for the first time since these activities began in 2016, the City of Flint centralized the oversight of excavation, replacement, and restoration activities under a single project management team.
Centralizing management consolidates disparate recordkeeping from 2016-2019. Enhanced data collection and tracking procedures allow the City to prepare weekly reports on replacement progress and share that information among its partners. Those reports are now being provided to NRDC on an ongoing basis.
The City is working to complete lead pipe replacement and restoration as fast as possible, in the face of national supply chain challenges affecting the availability of materials like asphalt, concrete, and parts. The City is working with the State of Michigan to source critical supplies from across the state.
For the past six years, Flint water has met state and federal standards for lead in drinking water. Since July 2016, the city’s water system has tested below action levels for the state’s lead and copper rule during 12 consecutive monitoring periods. Notably, in 2018 Michigan adopted the nation’s most stringent lead rules for drinking water mandating that all lead service lines in the state be removed.
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 website includes valuable guidance and information on reducing lead exposure.
Original source can be found here.
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