Flint pipe replacement program faces July 23 deadline

The city of Flint’s leadership exchange program will enter a critical phase in the next few weeks.

The Flint water crisis prompted the city to begin inspecting the utility lines that connect homes and businesses to the city’s aqueducts. Aging pipes were the main source of lead in the city’s drinking water.

More than 27,000 service lines have been inspected since the beginning of 2016. More than 10,000 lead and galvanized pipes have been replaced.

Flint’s experience led the von Biden administration to make lead service line replacement a national priority.

But now Flint residents have a July 23 deadline to have their service lines checked and replaced free of charge.

“Completing the lead service line exchange program is the single most important project aimed at reducing the risk of lead exposure in our community,” said Mayor Sheldon Neeley.

The city estimates that more than 2,500 households have not allowed work teams to check their service lines or have not cooperated with planning the excavation of service lines in their homes. The crews estimate that they may need to replace 200-300 more service lines.

It is unclear what, if any, punishment faced by owners for not voluntarily participating in the lead pipe replacement program.

“We’re so close to removing all of the lead pipes in Flint that it is time to finish what we started,” said Melissa Mays, one of the plaintiffs in the federal drinking water case and manager of Flint Rising.

In 2017, a federal court order issued an agreement in a landmark lawsuit filed on behalf of Flint residents to address massive lead pollution of the city’s drinking water. The agreement secured concrete steps the city must take to address the Flint water crisis. The state of Michigan has to pay for this and the city has to make thousands of replacement lines in Flint at no cost to Flint residents.

“Flint’s move to replace the vast majority of its lead water pipes within four years could help pave the way for a national requirement to replace the millions of lead pipes across the country within the next decade,” said Erik Olson. Senior Strategic Director for Health at the Natural Resources Defense Council.

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