Mayor Proposes Yet Another New Plan For Flint Water

Flint has a new plan for delivering water to its residents as it continues to grapple with problems in a system that suffered a major lead-contamination crisis.

Mayor Karen Weaver is recommending that the city “purchase pre-treated water as its primary and backup sources rather than attempt to upgrade and operate the plant with water from the Karengnondi Water Authority,” according to MLive.

The recommendation amounts to a major about-face in Flint’s plans to deliver water to its residents. Weaver’s recommendation is, essentially, to stay with the Detroit water system, known as Great Lakes Water Authority (GLWA).

Flint’s lead crisis, which left hundreds of children with high blood lead levels, followed the city’s switch from the Detroit water supply to Flint River water. When Flint changed sources, it became responsible for its own treatment processes. The city has since returned to Detroit water, but it had planned to switch to Lake Huron water delivered through the Karegnondi Water Authority.

Weaver said Flint should continue “to purchase pre-treated water from the GLWA, ranking a new 30-year contract with the GLWA as the top alternative available to the city,” MLive reported.

"We did not want to subject residents to another switch. Staying with Great Lakes Water Authority means Flint doesn't have to change its water source again," Weaver said, per the report. "This protects residents from any fears or anxieties that would come with another change."

Weaver said in a statement that the plan is a cost-saver and better choice for public health.

The plan still needs approval, but it has state and federal backing.

It has been years since the Flint lead crisis was revealed, yet new perspectives continue to come to light on the level of incompetence at the beleaguered water provider.

"No reasonable plant operator would have given the go-ahead and in fact they didn't," said Robert Kaplan, interim Region 5 director for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, per MLive. "It was a mistake. It was rushed. It was hurried ... It shouldn't have happened."