It looks like a system that monitors drinking water for at least three million people in southeast Michigan will stay online for another year.
The monitoring system gives early alerts if chemical spills are detected—so it keeps contaminants out of the drinking water system.
The system was in danger of shutting down when federal and state dollars ran out. But officials from Macomb and St. Clair counties have each come up with enough money to keep the system going for another year.
But policymakers are still searching for a long-term solution.
Macomb County Commission Chair Kathy Vosburg says a long-term fix will likely mean a small consumer fee.
“Consumers are very willing to pay for that, it comes out to be something like 50 cents to a dollar per household per year.”
But implementing that would take cooperation from the many different cities that send out water bills--and the city of Detroit, which owns and operates the whole drinking water system.
