Flint water woes put rush on Lake Huron waterline
The state’s 10-point action plan to fix Flint’s water includes expediting construction of a water line tearing up the roadway between St. Clair and Sanilac counties.
The state wants to find ways to speed up the construction of the Karegnondi Water Authority pipeline.
The Flint water line will bring water from Lake Huron through 74 miles of pipeline running through St. Clair, Sanilac, Lapeer and Genesee counties to the city of Flint.
Officials hope the relative stability of lake water will help alleviate issues Flint has encountered since it started drawing its water from the Flint River.
“We’re looking at anything we can do to bring reassurance to the folks in Flint. This is absolutely a piece of it,” said Brad Wurfel, a spokesman for the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality.
“We want to get the permanent water supply online sooner rather than later.”
Karegnondi Water Authority officials said they’re looking at ways to expedite the process, but the project’s targeted summer 2016 completion is largely contingent on good weather.
“What we’re looking at is legislation where we can tweak some of the rules to streamline the process,” said Jeff Wright, Genesee County drain commissioner and chief executive officer of the KWA.
“The most that we could expedite this, even with the extra assistance, is four to six weeks.”
The city of Flint discontinued its water contract with the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department — which also pulls water from Lake Huron near Fort Gratiot — in 2014 because of rising costs.
Instead, the city will get its water from the Karegnondi waterline when it’s complete. The city has been drawing water from the Flint River in the interim.
Since it switched to the Flint River, city residents have complained of discolored, smelly water that makes them sick. Last month, a Hurley Medical Center pediatrician reported the number of Flint children with elevated levels of lead in their blood had jumped from 2013 to 2015.
The state confirmed the pediatrician’s findings and came out with a 10-point plan — a plan that included free and increased water testing, free water filters, the acceleration of water system improvements that would replace lead service lines and the expedited completion of the Karegnondi pipeline.
But not even the lake water brought through the Karegnondi waterline can solve all of Flint’s water issues.
“Until they correct the issue of the lead service lines and the lead pipes in the homes you’re going to have the same problem,” Wright said.
Wurfel said the replacement of the lead service lines is a long-term goal, but the lake water at least will provide a more stable water supply than the surface water in the Flint River. Lake water is more consistent in its makeup, requires less treatment and is less corrosive than river water.
“The Flint River was never envisioned to be a permanent water source for the city,” Wurfel said. “This is intended to be a short term solution for a lot of reasons, not least that rivers are surface water that change with seasons, (and) change with weather.”
Wright said about 35 of the 74 total miles of pipeline between Lake Huron and Flint have been laid. He said the pump stations in Worth Township and Brown City are ahead of schedule and should be finished in the beginning of 2016.
He said the Karegnondi Water Authority plans to submit ideas to expedite the construction process to the DEQ this week.
Wright said, in the past, the authority was able to work with the state to change rules impacting construction, such as one that allowed a truck to haul concrete pipeline, but not the equivalent load of steel pipeline.
Wright hopes to work with the state to find similar ways to streamline the construction process.
But the biggest hurdle to finishing construction is outside the state’s control.
“It’s really still going to be just weather dependent,” Wright said.
Contact Beth LeBlanc at (810) 989-6259, eleblanc@gannett.com, or on Twitter @THBethLeBlanc. The Detroit Free Press contributed to this report.
