Panel to Advise State on Reducing Lead in Drinking Water
LANSING, Mich. (AP) — A panel of experts is being assembled to advise Michigan officials on how to reduce lead in drinking water.
The creation of the seven-member panel was announced Friday by the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE).
Academic and water system engineering experts will be selected for the panel which will meet on a regular schedule and be available as a resource on an as-needed basis, EGLE said.
The state is pushing efforts to reduce lead exposures caused by aging water distribution infrastructure in several communities with the goal of removing lead contamination from drinking water statewide.
The agency said its Drinking Water and Environmental Health Division regulates 2,685 public drinking water systems under the state’s Lead and Copper Rule.
Last month, the state said it would provide bottled water and water filters in Benton Harbor, where tests have revealed elevated levels of lead.
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has called for spending $20 million in Benton Harbor to replace nearly 6,000 service lines, most suspected of containing lead, within five years.
Benton Harbor is in the southwestern corner of Michigan, roughly 200 miles from Flint, where lead flowed through old pipes in 2014-15 because water pulled from a river wasn’t properly treated to reduce corrosion.
Related News
From Archive
- TxDOT advances massive drainage tunnel beneath I-35 in Austin
- Glenfarne Alaska LNG targets late-2026 construction start for 807-mile pipeline project
- U.S. water reuse boom to fuel $47 billion in infrastructure spending through 2035
- $2.3 billion approved to construct 236-mile Texas-to-Gulf gas pipeline
- Major water pipe break in Puerto Rico hits over 165,000 customers
- Pennsylvania American Water launches interactive map to identify, replace lead water service lines
- Trump's tariffs drive $33 million cost increase for Cincinnati sewer project
- Utah city launches historic $70 million tunnel project using box jacking under active rail line
- Tulsa residents warned after sewer lines damaged by boring work
- Fatal trench collapse halts sewer construction in Massachusetts; two workers hospitalized
Comments