Wednesday, March 30, 2016

If true, this is BIG!!-----Flint ill-prepared for corrosion control at time of water switch

Flint ill-prepared for corrosion control at time of water switch | MLive.com:
FLINT, MI-Even if the state had ordered Flint to use corrosion controls when it switched to the Flint River for the city's drinking water, the city would have been unable to do so because it lacked the necessary equipment.
And installing the equipment would have taken up to six months, Flint Utility Director Mike Glasgow told state lawmakers on Tuesday.
"There was so many different things to look at, so many I's to dot and T's to cross that it was somewhat easy for things to be overlooked or looked past," Glasgow told a special Joint Committee on the Flint Water Public Health Emergency.
Flint Utility Administrator Mike Glasgow discusses the city’s water crisis Tuesday, March 29, with reporters following his testimony in front of Michigan's special Joint Committee on the Flint Water Public Health Emergency.
Glasgow told the committee's lawmakers that the decision to use the river was rushed and the speed of the change could have caused things to be overlooked.
The city switched to the river in April 2014 -- the same month that terms ended for Flint's former drinking water supply from Detroit.
Instead of ordering Flint to use chemicals to treat the more corrosive river water, Glasgow said the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality district engineer directed the city to forgo corrosion controls immediately at the time of the switch and instead wait until two six-month monitoring periods had been conducted.
He added that he relied on the DEQ to make the appropriate decisions in terms of treating the city's water supply.
The Flint Water Advisory Task Force appointed by Gov. Rick Snyder has put the blame for the city's water crisis on the DEQ, saying the agency misinterpreted the federal lead and copper rule that would have required corrosion control on the city's water supply.
"There was and remains no justification for MDEQ not requiring corrosion control treatment for the switch of water source to the Flint River," the task force concluded in its final report.
Glasgow, just eight days prior to the city's use of the Flint River, warned state regulators of a potential disaster on the horizon.
"I have people above me making plans to distribute water ASAP," Laboratory & Water Quality Supervisor Mike Glasgow said in an email to the state Department of Environmental Quality on April 17, 2014.
The email was among more than 20,000 pages of documents related to Flint's water crisis and released Feb. 12 by Gov. Rick Snyder.
"I was reluctant before, but after looking at the monitoring schedule and our current staffing, I do not anticipate giving the OK to begin sending water out anytime soon," Glasgow's email says.
"If water is distributed from this plant in the next couple weeks, it will be against my direction.
"I need time to adequately train additional staff and to update our monitoring plans before I will feel we are ready. 
I will reiterate this to management above me, but they seem to have their own agenda."

No comments: