A decade after Flint, Michigan, was beset by widespread lead contamination, officials confirmed the city has replaced its lead pipes, as ordered by a federal court.
Flint’s lead crisis began in 2014, when the city began drawing water sourced from the Flint River instead of from Lake Huron. The river water was more corrosive than the lake water, and the city failed to take the additional steps needed to prevent lead from leaching out of pipes and into drinking water, in violation of federal law.
Tests of drinking water later revealed heavy contamination, and children were found to have high levels of lead in their blood, putting them at risk of brain damage. Flint also saw an outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease, a lung infection that killed 12 people. Scientists said the outbreak was linked to iron leaching from pipes.
In 2017, a federal court ordered the city to replace all lead pipes within three years, a deadline that officials failed to meet. “The city’s overall management of the program was ineffective,” Sarah Tallman, of the Natural Resources Defense Council, told the Associated Press.
Only eight years later is the project finally complete. State officials told a federal court this week that the city has excavated more than 28,000 properties in search of lead water lines and replaced nearly 11,000 pipes. Notably, some 700 households declined to have their pipes replaced.
Under former President Joe Biden, the EPA finalized a rule that would require water utilities across the country to replace lead pipes. The rule is now facing a legal challenge, however, and it is unclear if the Trump administration will defend it in court.
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