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Guests get a look at the sedimentation process at the Flint Water Treatment Plant in this Flint Journal file photo.

(Flint Journal file photo)

FLINT, MI -- The city doesn't plan to treat water from the recently completed pipeline it partly owns until late 2019, but it could make final decisions on its primary and back-up sources of water in a matter of weeks, according to plans filed Wednesday, March 1, with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Mayor Karen Weaver told the EPA in a letter filed with the plans that the city will need more than two years before it can begin to produce its own water -- regardless of the source -- partly to carry out more extensive studies on corrosion control than were originally proposed.

Flint's plan also calls for extensive work at the city's water treatment plant, including upgrading ozone facilities, chemical mixing and filtration.

Weaver's letter says it is likely that Flint will use water from the new Karegnondi Water Authority pipeline, treated by Genesee County, as the city's "primary and/or backup source."

The formal source evaluation is required for the city in order to access $120 million in federal and state funds for Flint's water system.

Flint and the county are partners in the KWA pipeline, which will bring raw water from Lake Huron to the region, but the county is on track to produce treated water from its new plant sooner than the city.

So far, there is no agreement between the city and county for buying and selling treated water, and currently both the county and Flint are using pre-treated water from the the Great Lakes Water Authority.

State payments for Flint's GLWA water ended this week and the city will need to secure another source of water once the county begins to treat KWA water -- possibly later this year, a step that will cost the city it's current connection to the GLWA.

The city's New Source Treatment Plan is a requirement of the EPA's amended administrative order, which was issued in January 2016 and revised in November. The EPA order was issued as a result of the Flint water crisis.

Flint's treatment plan lays out a schedule with completion dates for major milestones in preparing for a new source of water and comes just days after EPA suggested the city needs to spend at least a year on corrosion control studies in advance of each change in city's water source -- something that potentially could happen two more times in the next two years.

Flint was also required to develop a plan for involving citizens in making the final decision on its future primary and back-up water sources.

"The city and its federal, state and local partners have been actively engaged in communicating with the public and seeking their input throughout this Flint water event," the plan says.

"These public engagement activities have included numerous community conversations, mailings to organizations and individual residents, press releases, publication distribution, and presentations at Gov. Rick Snyder's Flint Water Interagency Coordinating Committee meetings and Flint City Council meetings."



Weaver told EPA in November that Flint's long-term, primary source of drinking water would be the Flint treatment plant on Dort Highway and that a raw water reservoir that's planned for the same area and an emergency finished water interconnection with the county would be the city's backup water sources.

The new plan says the city's consultants will continue to gather information from potential water source providers regarding cost and technical feasibility this month and will meet with City Council to discuss the city's public participation plan on March 22.

Alternatives will be discussed during a news conference March 28, according to the city plan. At that time, the mayor will "encourage residents to express their opinions regarding the alternatives" through a March 29 town hall, by email or in writing.

At the March 29 town hall, "city leaders will go through the primary alternatives considered and present the pros and cons of each alternative considering the releated economic, social, and public health issues.

The city plan says the City Council's recommended drinking water source will be announced at a news conference April 6.

Because a meter replacement program and water treatment plan improvements were not discussed at a public hearing in June 2016, they must be included in a "yet-to-be-scheduled public hearing" in the future, the plan says.

EPA granted Flint more time to finish plans showing its technical, managerial and financial capacity to operate its own water system.

In her letter, Weaver said, "Since the competencies necessary to meet this goal will vary based on the water source alternative selected, it was requested that this requirement be extended until after the water source evaluation is complete."