Crews Start Replacing Troublesome Lead Water Pipes In Flint
FLINT (WWJ/AP) - Crews in Flint are starting to dig up old lead pipes connecting water mains to homes as part of efforts to allay the city's contaminated water crisis.
Mayor Karen Weaver says work starting Friday will target lead service lines at homes in neighborhoods with the highest number of children under 6 years old, senior citizens, pregnant women, people with compromised immune systems and homes where water tests indicate high levels of lead at the tap.
Weaver and Fast Start program director Michael McDaniel say Friday's work is the first of 30 lines that will be dug up in the coming days. She said there could be as many as 5,000 lines that need to be replaced.
"We're looking to renew the whole water system," Weaver said. "This is bigger that just the lead service lines and what's going on -- we've got some other issues so this is bigger that that. This is our start, but we're talking about what we need for the entire structure."
On Thursday, a crew dug up a service line leading to a Flint home as part of a separate effort funded by group of private, charitable, business and community groups.
Among those on hand Friday was Lansing mayor Virg Bernero, whose own city is in the midst of replacing lead service lines. He told WWJ Newsradio 950 that the two communities are planning to create Michigan's first-ever instate sister city partnership.
"We tend to look abroad and say 'oh, look at these folks' in Haiti or wherever -- not that they're not worth of our help -- but when you have a community right here down the road that could use your help and the response from Lansing residents has been phenomenal," Bernero said.
Bernero said he hopes the Flint water crisis can be used as a national wake-up call for American cities in the same situations as Flint.
Also Friday, Democratic Rep. Dan Kildee of Michigan is set to lead a delegation of 25 members of congress to hear from Flint residents.
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