Benton Harbor Minimizes Lead Contamination Without Replacing Infrastructure
After the U.S. EPA directed the City of Benton Harbor, Michigan, to bring its drinking water system into compliance with federal lead contamination laws, it appears that officials there have been making progress, even without solving the underlying infrastructure problems causing that contamination.
“The amount of lead in Benton Harbor, Michigan’s drinking water has declined, new testing shows, after three straight years of elevated results compelled residents to consume bottled water,” the Associated Press reported. “Michigan officials said the new results indicate that corrosion control to prevent pipes from leaching lead into drinking water is helping. But the nearly 100,000 residents of Benton Harbor should still use bottled water for basic activities such as drinking and cooking, officials said.”
Benton Harbor, which is less than 200 miles away from Flint, Michigan, the site of the country’s most notorious lead contamination saga, has been suffering from dangerous drinking water for years. The root cause is outdated, lead-based drinking water infrastructure, which introduces the contaminant into effluent as it travels from the treatment plant to consumers’ taps.
While corrosion control measures have apparently brought the drinking water back into compliance, the fundamental and permanent fix to the problem will have to be in replacing the city’s infrastructure, a relatively expensive effort that was started earlier this year.
“In early September, a coalition of environmental and community organizations demanded the removal of lead service lines in Benton Harbor,” according to ABC News. “Soon after, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer announced a commitment to remove all of the lead service lines within 18 months, a project that will cost approximately $30M.”
Even as lead service lines are removed in Benton Harbor, as they are now being removed in many communities throughout the country, consumers will likely have to rely on bottled water for the foreseeable future. Though corrosion treatment methods seem to be working, the permanent fix is not complete.
To read more about the ongoing lead line replacement effort among the country’s water systems, visit Water Online’s Drinking Water Distribution Solutions Center.