Atiached is a draft of the hot issue for Flint ~it has a placeholder paragraph on the SRF piece as Pm waiting on
STPE to give me language or principal forgiveness this week.
Tom
Torn Poy
Chief, Ground Water and Drinking Water Branch
USEPA - Ragion 5
{312} 886-5994
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Issue: Flint Drinking Water Issues
Background/Status: Flint has been having issues since changing the source of their drinking
water — from purchasing finished water from Detroit (which comes from Lake Huron) to treating
Flint River water themselves at the end of April 2014. The quality of the water in the Flint River
is different than that from Lake Huron, and requires additional treatment to ensure an acceptable
quality drinking water. The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) has been
working closely with the Operator-in-Charge at Flint’s Water Treatment plant to ensure that the
citizens of Flint are provided drinking water that meets health standards. The use of Flint River
water is an interim decision as Flint plans to connect to the Karegnondi pipeline, which will draw
water from Lake Huron, in 2016.
Flint exceeded the health standard for E. coli in August 2014 and total coliform in September
2014 due to issues with malfunctioning valves in the distribution system creating stagnated water
flow in certain areas. Additional chlorine was added to deal with the bacteria problem and these
two violations have returned to compliance. However, the additional chlorine has likely
contributed to a Disinfection Byproduct violation — Total Trihalomethane (TTHM) - in the fourth
quarter of 2014, Compliance with the TTHM health standard is based upon the average of one
year of quarterly sample data. The initial monitoring in summer 2014 reported elevated levels of
TTHM compounds throughout the City’s distribution system. MDEQ staff has worked with
Flint to implement operational techniques to reduce TTHM levels. Current levels are below the
MCL but consumers will continue to receive public notice of a violation until the running annual
average gets below the MCL.
In addition to the MCL violations, there have been other potential issues that have been
attributed to the water including, complaints about rashes when using the water to bathe, one
home has very high lead in the drinking water (R5 is working with Flint and the homeowner; not
sure if this is system-wide issue), and the Genesee County Health Department is looking into an
increase in the number of reported cases of Legionaire’s Disease in the county in 2014 (still in
the investigative stage by the Health Dept — not public knowledge yet). Flint has hired a
consultant to help with their drinking water utility. Also, a technical advisory committee has
been formed, including Dr. Michael Wright, an EPA-ORD toxicologist, who is providing
assistance on health effects.
Flint has a number of DW-SRF loans outstanding. The State recently restructured their loans to
allow Flint to defer 2015 payments to future years. Rep. Dan Kildee has been inquiring to EPA
on whether principal forgiveness can be applied retroactively to existing loans. EPA is working
on a response.
Message:
e Flint switched from purchasing treated Lake Huron water from Detroit to treating Flint River
water themselves until a pipeline being constructed can provide them with raw Lake Huron water
to treat in 2016.
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e Flint has/had MCL violations and has been working with MDEQ staff, a consultant, and a
technical advisory committee to improve operations.
Contact: Tom Poy, Water Division, (312) 886-5991,
[email protected]
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