DIYbanter - View Single Post - The Nation's Poisonous Water Problem Is Far Worse Than You Think

Bob F

On 11/28/2017 8:21 PM, wrote:
On Tue, 28 Nov 2017 20:04:34 -0800, Bob F wrote:

I agree that the time to replace the plumbing in Flint was when the
city had money. However, we can't jump in a time machine and do that.
We have to deal with the problem that's in front of us.

It would not have become a problem if the Republican appointed
"administrator" had not chosen to stupidly try to get cheaper water by
rejecting the safe Detroit water used previously, and use the unsafe
Flint river water with no effective treatment.

It was the city water authority who decided to not add the anti
corrosive that the Detroit system uses and it was also Detroit that
terminated the contract. The water was pretty much the same, it was
the missing chemical that caused the problem.
You really have to step back several years and see that it was the
city of Flint who decided to pipe in the water from Lake Huron to save
that money but their pipeline project was running at least 3 years
behind schedule.
They still would have needed the anti corrosive tho.

Really?

Here's the problem with that: City officials did not drive the decision
to take water from the Flint River. There was never such a vote by the
city council, which really didn't have the power to make such a decision
anyway, because the city was under the control of a state-appointed
emergency manager.

The council's vote in March 2013 was to switch water supply from Detroit
to a new pipeline through the Karegnondi Water Authority - but the
pipeline wasn't scheduled to be completed for at least three years. (And
even that decision was given final approval not by the council, but by
then-state Treasurer Andy Dillon, according to Snyder emails released
Wednesday.)

Snyder said that Detroit, after being informed of the Flint council
vote, sent a "letter of termination" of water service. Detroit sent a
letter giving Flint one year on its existing contract, but that didn't
mean Flint couldn't get water from Detroit after that date. In fact,
there was a flurry of negotiations between Detroit and Flint to sign a
new contract that would carry Flint through until it could connect to
the under-construction pipeline. That new contract was going to cost
Flint more money.

http://www.mlive.com/politics/index....who_appro.html