Monday, the Flint city council may reconsider a contract to build a back-up drinking water source.
Saturday was the 6th anniversary of the Flint Water Crisis. On April 25th, 2014, Flint’s drinking water source was switched as part of an effort to save money. But improperly treated water from the Flint River damaged city pipes and released lead into Flint’s tap water.
In 2015 Flint was reconnected to the Great Lakes Water Authority. Later, federal and state agencies required Flint to create a backup system. The federal government is funding the project.
But construction has been stalled as the council has been divided on whether to approve the low bidder on the $14 million project.
Mayor Sheldon Neeley says the project was originally supposed to be completed by December of last year. He says it’s time for the long-delayed project to move forward.
“The city of Flint has no back-up source of water. If we had a catastrophic failure to our primary source, it would leave us in a very, very, very bad situation,” said Neeley.
Once completed, Genesee County would become Flint’s secondary water source. The county gets its water via the Karegnondi Water Authority pipeline.
