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Highland Park In Violation Of Safe Drinking Water Act

HIGHLAND PARK (WWJ) - Some homes and businesses in Highland Park are seeing cloudy water, but there may not be enough money to fix the problem.

State Senator Bert Johnson sent letters to residents and business owners in the city, notifying them of potential problems with the quality of the water processed at the city's water plant. The letter says the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality found the city is in violation of the Safe Drinking Water Act.

Mike Hannah, who works at a business along Woodward Avenue, said he's in disbelief.

"When you opened the water the first time, you saw brown stuff coming out," he said.

Some residents haven't noticed any changes in their water, but others have taken buckets of the brown liquid to city meetings.

Johnson said the city needs to notify the residents soon of plans to correct the problems at the water plant.

Highland Park has its own water system which draws water from Lake St. Clair at an intake station shared with Grosse Pointe Farms.

The Safe Drinking Water Act, originally passed by Congress in 1974, requires many actions to protect drinking water and its sources. The act sets national health-based standards for drinking water to protect against both naturally occurring and man-made contaminants that may be found in the water.

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