Four years ago in 2011, the city of Flint commissioned a report to investigate the use of the Flint River to supply water to the city. The report, which was sent to state officials in 2013 detailed the risk of lead leaching by the more corrosive river water and emphasized the need for phosphate corrosion control to prevent lead from […]

As the water crisis has unfolded in Flint over the past few months, there has been an enormous amount of finger pointing and blame shifting going around. Just this week, Darnell Earley wrote an op-ed piece for The Detroit News absolving himself of any of that blame, despite the fact that he or one of his predecessors was in charge […]

In April of 2014, under the direction of Flint Emergency Manager Darnell Earley, the City changed the source of its drinking water from the Detroit water system (drawing from Lake Huron) to the Flint River. The move was touted as a cost-saving measure which would save $7 million annually. However, there were problems from the start. High levels of bacteria […]

The following post was co-authored by David Holtz, the Chair of the Michigan chapter of the Sierra Club, and Anne Woiwode, the chapter’s Conservation Director. As leaders of one of the primary watchdog groups in Michigan when it comes to water quality, I asked them to weigh in on the ongoing crisis with Flint’s water supply. In their essay, Holtz […]