Experts recommend Flint reconnect to Detroit water

A panel of experts recommended Wednesday that Flint reconnect to Detroit's water system to improve the quality of drinking water in a city plagued by elevated lead levels among children.

"It's estimated to cost $12 million over nine months," Flint Mayor Dayne Walling said after the meeting, referring to how long it will take Flint to go online with a new water authority. "I've made a request to the governor to work with the Legislature to identify the funds."

Gov. Rick Snyder’s office did not immediately return a request for comment.

The committee is an informal body created by the mayor earlier this year. It's made up of experts from the water industry, public health and other areas.

State officials last Friday released a 10-point plan to address Flint's controversial water system that included free testing of water, $1 million for water filters for residents and complete anticorrosion treatment of the city's water system.

Residents have complained for more than a year of smelly, discolored water coming out of their taps.

Last week, Hurley Medical Center pediatrician Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha released research showing that the number of Flint children with elevated blood-lead levels — 5 micrograms per deciliter or more — jumped from 2.1% in the 20 months prior to Sept. 15, 2013, to 4.0% between January 1 and September 15 this year. In certain ZIP codes, the change was even more troubling, she said — jumping from 2.5% of the children tested to 6.3%.

Flint officials noted again Wednesday that water leaving their plant doesn't contain lead, but the chemistry in the water disturbs lead in delivery pipes and in the plumbing fixtures installed in homes and businesses.

But when a member of the committee asked whether anyone could think of a public health reason to maintain the current supply, which draws water from the Flint River, the room fell silent.

“The city has the money,” said Flint resident Arthur Woodson, 48, one of several dozen people who tried to attend the meeting and protested afterward. Woodson said the city is saving it to spend on a new pipeline to Lake Huron as part of the Karegnondi Water Authority.

Flint and Genesee County voted in 2013 to form a new water authority to draw their own water from Lake Huron and treat it. Flint had long complained about the price Detroit charged for water.

When Detroit calculates a water rate for a community, it factors in how far the water must be pumped. Elevation increases pumping costs.

Flint has been under state emergency management for several years, and the money isn't in the city’s budget, Walling said. In addition to finding the money, the city also must negotiate a contract with Detroit and with Genesee County, which owns the transmission lines that would carry the water from Detroit's main to Flint's water plant, where it would be fed into the city's distribution system.

William Wolfson, chief administrative and compliance officer for the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department, told the Free Press this week that the department has been in discussions with Flint.

He said when Flint disconnected from Detroit’s system last year, it was a “hard disconnect” so the pipes would have to be joined again. Detroit wouldn’t charge any special fees to reconnect, Wolfson said.

“The only cost would be our labor charges,” he said.

Wolfson declined to speculate on the price.

Reconnecting could be done in about “two weeks, once the agreement is reached with Detroit,” said John O’Brien of the Genesee County Drain Office.

The committee's recommendation came after a raucous meeting in a small room on the third floor of Flint's City Hall. Members of the committee filled the room, and the city stationed police at the door to keep the public outside the door, which was left open so people could listen.

Committee members noted that Flint River water is more difficult to treat than the water drawn by Detroit from Lake Huron. Because the chemistry of the river water varies more than lake water, treating it to make it safe for drinking requires far more treatment.

O'Brien cautioned that the switch to Detroit water isn't going to eliminate all lead issues in Flint, which like many communities, struggles with aging infrastructure.

"I think the expectation is zero lead," O'Brien said. "I think the expectation is too high."

Contact John Wisely: 313-222-6825 or jwisely@freepress.com