Michigan Governor OKs Faster Lead Notification Requirements After Flint Water Crisis

The Republican governor, who has apologized for his administration’s role in contaminating Flint’s water supply, signed the legislation at a Flint church. “This is an important step in our ongoing efforts to strengthen Michigan’s water quality and infrastructure,” said Snyder, who was joined by local lawmakers.

The state previously allocated nearly $300 million toward the crisis in which 12 people died from Legionnaires’ disease that also has been blamed on improperly treated water from the Flint River. An ongoing investigation has led to charges against 13 current or former government officials, including two managers that Snyder appointed to run the city while it was under state management.

“It is my hope that this bill will protect the public from unknowingly using or consuming unclean water in the future and prevent another water crisis from occurring in a Michigan community again,” said Democratic Rep. Sheldon Neeley of Flint, who sponsored the legislation.

Flint’s nearly 100,000 residents continue drinking either filtered tap water or bottled water. The state acknowledged the lead problem in October 2015. The water source had been switched in April 2014, when lead from old pipes began leaching into the water supply because corrosion-reducing phosphates were not added due to an incorrect reading of federal regulations.

The signing preceded a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency “data summit” that will be hosted Tuesday in Chicago. City, state and federal officials will join other water experts to share and review testing data from Flint.

The last round of state testing showed the 90th percentile of lead concentrations in Flint was 8 parts per billion, below the federal “action level” of 15 parts per billion and a 10 ppb threshold that Snyder wants to enact as part of a proposal — outlined last April — to have the country’s toughest lead rules. Despite the improved water quality, the state Department of Environmental Quality said Friday that a declaration that unfiltered water is safe is not imminent.

George Krisztian, the DEQ’s Flint action plan coordinator, told The Associated Press that such a discussion is not on the summit agenda. He said the summit is an “opportunity for all of the various partners to come together and to share their data and basically take a look at the water from a bunch of different perspectives and see how the system is coming along.”

Test results for the full six-month monitoring period that ended Dec. 31 are being compiled, but Krisztian said “we anticipate that that number will be in compliance with the action level.”

Officials have cautioned that even if a water system’s overall lead levels are OK, individual houses can have problems. One significant issue in Flint, for instance, is that the ongoing replacement of thousands of lead service lines can actually spike lead levels for a few months.

“It’s not a wise thing to try to anticipate a date or anything like that,” Krisztian said of any announcement. “The conversations with all the partners need to take place. We’re going to give it very thoughtful consideration.”