Matthew Dolan

Detroit Free Press

FLINT —The state could be $28 million short of where it needs to be to replace all of the affected lines responsible for the lead-tainted drinking water crisis in Flint, a top adviser to Gov. Rick Snyder said Friday.

In a private meeting Thursday in Lansing with House Speaker Kevin Cotter, R-Mt. Pleasant, and Flint Mayor Karen Weaver, Richard Baird, a senior aide to Snyder who is leading the state's response team to the Flint crisis, said the administration's original $27-million budget for pipe replacement has grown to $55 million. The elevated estimate came as a result of a new inventory of the city's lead service lines, which are blamed for leaching lead into the water supply, Baird said

Originally, the Snyder administration asked the state Legislature for $25 million in water line replacement as part of a nearly $200-million aid package for Flint, a city of nearly 100,000. The city already has $2 million from the state to replace about 500 lines, according to Baird.

But the governor's top adviser on Flint said in an interview that the figure is likely not enough given new information about the scope and cost to remove lead lines as well as galvanized lines, which are also suspected of leaching lead.

"Where we have lead lines or other non-lead lines that are unsafe, they need to be removed," Baird said. "It's not all about just getting the lead pipes out anymore."

Officials working with contractors have discussed that galvanized pipes along with lead solder joining pipes together could be boosting lead levels in addition to leaching from lead pipes.

A draft report from Flint-based engineering firm Rowe Professional Services to help identify and assess the condition of high-risk lead pipes in the city found about 5,200 lead service lines as well as up to an estimated 5,500 suspected of being a problem for other reasons, Baird said. The cost to remove each line could be very different, he said, from as little as $2,000 up to $12,000 based on removal of the first 30 lines in recent weeks.

The state Senate is expected to take up the $144.4-million supplemental budget bill for Flint aid next week that includes $25 million for pipe replacement and $45.5 million for "Drinking Water Declaration of Emergency Reserve Fund." The state House of Representatives approved a $38.8-billion budget Wednesday to fund state government for the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1, including about $30 million for Flint.

Early budget supplemental bills authorized about $67 million to Flint. But city officials say the need is much greater.

Boosting funding for Flint for pipe removal could come from a number of different sources, Baird said.

One option under consideration is redirecting some of the $188 million from the U.S. Treasury earmarked for Michigan under the Hardest Hit Fund for removal of decrepit, abandoned buildings. That plan could work by essentially forgiving a state property tax lien on homes in Flint in return for federal dollars to replace the home's lead lines. It's a move that would need federal approval, according to Baird.

Another option might be to use part of the proposed reserve fund in the Senate bill, according to Baird.

It is possible that, in the end, the Legislature may be asked to contribute more to the effort than initially requested, but it was too early to talk about specific budget numbers, Baird said.

Cotter has told reporters that he could also be open to additional supplemental appropriation.

"I think we're making incremental progress," he told reporters on Wednesday before his meeting with Weaver.

On Friday, Gideon D’Assandro, Cotter's spokesman, said the speaker and mayor "talked a lot about money already appropriated and how it has been dispersed and long-term plans that could use support. They didn’t get into that level of detail,” regarding the specific numbers on lead pipe replacement,

He added: "We’re willing to talk about anything to help the people of Flint.”

Baird's new estimate now matches ones used by Weaver for months in her $55-million Fast Start lead pipe replacement plan. The mayor spent part of last week lobbying the state's top legislative leaders for Flint aid.

"It's always productive when you can sit down ... and talk to people," Weaver told reporters after the hour-long meeting with Senate Majority Leader Arlan Meekhof, R-West Olive, on Wednesday. "We're trying to continuously build this partnership."

According to Baird, the two exchanged cell phone numbers in a sign of good will and pledged to call each other directly if they had important questions or disputes to resolve. A spokeswoman for Weaver did not return a call for comment Friday.

At the same time, the Flint mayor and governor are pushing for pipe replacement funding for Flint, other efforts are under way to encourage city residents to help the water system heal.

Flint is now under a state of emergency because of elevated lead levels that continue to be found in drinking water supplied to city residents. Officials in the Snyder administration said that they had hoped to restore drinking water to the city in stages, with a full assessment of the system completed by mid-April.

But random spikes in lead continue to plague the water system. More testing is expected through the summer.

A coalition of local, state and federal officials will roll out a month-long campaign starting Sunday. Residents are asked to turn a bathroom tub faucet and a kitchen faucet full-on for five minutes a day. That overall 10-minute routine needs to be repeated every day for 14 days. Businesses are also asked to participate.

Recommended flushing is intended to remove particulate lead that continues to contribute to spiked lead levels throughout the city. Running the taps is also expected to help move a water additive — orthophosphate — through the system more effectively and help stop lead from leaching from pipes into the drinking water.

After that, lead pipe replacement that could continue for months and years could at times disrupt the system, requiring residents to use filters on their faucets. It's unclear when Flint water will be safe to drink again without a filter, state officials said Friday.

The public service Flush for Flint campaign has printed 5,500 flyers to be inserted into water bills the city is mailing. A few thousand more will be printed in the coming weeks. The federal Environmental Protection Agency will continue to print additional flyers as needed beyond that.

"Of course, our goal is to reach as many places of worship, community organizations, and businesses as possible," said Tiffany Brown, a spokeswoman for Mission Flint, the state's coordinated effort to address the Flint crisis.

Contact Matthew Dolan: 313-223-4743 or msdolan@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @matthewsdolan.