Nearly All Of Beleaguered Benton Harbor's Lead Service Lines Have Now Been Replaced
Roughly one year after an emergency petition was filed with the U.S. EPA, a drastically underserved water system in Michigan has found a permanent fix for its lead contamination problems.
“Almost all Benton Harbor residents’ lead water lines have now been replaced, a major milestone in the effort to stem the community’s chronic problems with elevated lead in its public water supply,” the Detroit Free Press reported. “Nearly 4,500 water service lines have been replaced or verified as nonlead, and only 40 inspections remain in the community of 9,800 residents, 85% of whom are Black.”
In November 2021, federal regulators directed Benton Harbor to make technical changes at its drinking water plant and launch a study into its operations after 6,000 lead-based pipelines were identified there. The intervention echoed one of the country’s most dramatic drinking water contamination sagas, as Flint, Michigan is located less than 200 miles away. While local officials were able to wrangle the contamination with corrosion control measures, the only permanent fix for the issue is in replacing outdated infrastructure.
“The new copper water service lines, along with ongoing technical support to the city’s drinking water plant, will improve the long-term reliability and safety of Benton Harbor’s drinking water infrastructure,” according to the Free Press.
Though it’s unfortunate that it took a contamination emergency to compel the replacement of this outdated infrastructure, Michigan’s commitment to this fundamental though expensive fix could also help mitigate one of the country’s more existential drinking water issues: eroding consumer trust.
“[Michigan Governor Gretchen] Whitmer said the work that’s been done over the past year to replace Benton Harbor’s lead water service lines is an example of the work her administration has done,” per The Herald-Palladium, reporting on a campaign stop the governor made there in hopes of rallying voters.
“People in Benton Harbor know that their water infrastructure is fixed,” Whitmer said, per the Herald-Palladium. “We’ve navigated the toughest environment anyone could have imagined with all the challenges that have come our way and we are making progress and it’s time to move forward faster.”
To read more about how water systems address the underlying cause of lead contamination, visit Water Online’s Lead and Copper Rule Solutions Center.