95.3 / 88.5 FM Grand Rapids and 95.3 FM Muskegon
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Flint mayor wants to keep Detroit water after lead crisis

wiki commons

Flint's mayor is recommending that the Michigan city continue getting its drinking water from a Detroit-area system on the long term, following a crisis that left the supply contaminated with lead.

Karen Weaver's announcement Tuesday is a reversal. Last year, she said the city of 100,000 residents would stick with a plan to draw from a pipeline to Lake Huron that is under construction. But she reevaluated that decision as a condition of receiving $100 million in federal funding to address the man-made disaster. Weaver says switching the water source again is too risky and staying with Detroit's water is less expensive.

Flint returned to that source in 2015 after it was discovered that Flint River water was not treated to reduce lead pipe corrosion for 18 months.