在据称被忽视后，替换密歇根城市中的铅管的努力正在加剧。

米克斯（Meeks）的签约开始取代密歇根州本顿港（Benton Harbour）的100个，估计在11月8日，纽约市计划于12月出价，从2022年春季开始，以取代其余的铅管。

The city’s lead pipes date back 120 years, and the installation of new lead pipes was outlawed in 1988. Michigan’s Lead and Copper Rule requires communities to replace 5% of their lead service lines each year, though state records show Benton Harbor has likely fallen short of that number, replacing 17 lines in 2019 and 89 in 2020, though its exact number of lead service lines remains unknown.

10月，州长格蕾琴·惠特默（Gretchen Whitmer）（D）承诺在18个月内为所有本顿港（Benton Harbour）的铅服务线提供快速替换。这项工作估计为3000万美元，环境保护局今年早些时候向本顿港提供了560万美元的赠款，以支付一些工作。同时，该州正在为居民提供免费的瓶装水。

“I cannot imagine the stress that moms and dads in Benton Harbor are under as they emerge from a pandemic, work hard to put food on the table, pay the bills and face a threat to the health of their children,” Whitmer said at the time.

The Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy (EGLE) released thousands of pages of documents related to Benton Harbor’s drinking water lead levels on Nov. 3 following questions about why officials didn’t act on the issue sooner. The records show that the lead 90th percentile value — the standard meaning 90% of samples were at or below a certain number — exceeded the EPA’s action level of 15 parts per billion at least as early as 2018, when the lead level was 22 ppb for the testing period from 2016-2018. Tests in 2019, 2020 and 2021 continued to show 90th percentile values past 15 ppb, reaching as high as 32 ppb.

However, while the situation in the city is urgent, it doesn't compare to the Flint water crisis, where samples tested as high as13,200 ppb.

Heading to Court

City and state officials are now also facing a lawsuit accusing them of negligence and breaking both federal and state drinking water laws. The lawsuit, which was filed in a U.S. district court in Michigan on Nov. 10, seeks class action status on behalf of Benton Harbor’s 10,000 residents, nearly 85% of whom are African-American, according to the most recent census estimate.

投诉称，居民直到惠特默（Whitmer）10月14日宣布，这意味着他们在不知不觉中使用水来喝水，烹饪和刷牙三年，铅的铅升高。

After 2018 testing results showed actionable lead levels, officials “treated the evidence that the water running through lead service lines in the City of Benton Harbor was poisoned with high levels of lead with deliberate indifference,” the complaint states.

本顿港（Benton Harbour）和埃格尔（Egle）官员均未回应ENR的询问。新利18备用但是在11月3日给州参议员Ed McBroom（R）的信中，Egle董事Liesl Eichler Clark承认了有关该机构处理本顿港水的问题，并写道，对其答复的审查将有助于该机构将来的有效性。

“Public confidence in our oversight and enforcement underpins public confidence in the safety of community drinking water across the state, which is vital to protecting public health, our environment, and quality of life,” she wrote.

One of the plaintiffs, Doretha Braziel, had her home’s water tested this year, which revealed a lead level of 886 ppb, according to the complaint. Other plaintiffs, Rebecca and Stacey Branscumb, had their water tested and found a lead level of 496 ppb. They believe the water killed their pet dog.

Another plaintiff, Emma Kinnard, has lived in her home since 1976 but says she stopped using her home’s water two years ago because of the smell and cloudiness. She’s suffering from ongoing medical conditions she believes are connected to the lead.

“During the more-than-three-year period, [officials] knew that the high lead levels exceeded the state and national lead and copper rule, and both kept this toxic lead emergency from Benton Harbor residents, and falsely assured the residents that the water was safe for all uses,” the complaint states.

In her letter, Clark wrote that multiple entities tried to inform Benton Harbor residents about the water lead levels, but added that there should be improvements to the government’s communications approach since many residents were apparently not reached.

EPA也是如此下令本顿港to better notify residents about lead levels on Nov. 2, as well as to make repairs to the city’s water treatment plant, following an inspection of the facility in September.

Emails released among the trove of EGLE documents show that city managers have struggled to keep up with its water issues. In one, the city’s former water plant superintendent complained to state workers about dealing with inexperienced staff, equipment not working as expected and extensive record-keeping.

“我没有时间”,他写道,促使一个offer from EGLE officials to assist with sampling, record keeping and other efforts.

Another Flint?

While Clark acknowledged in her letter that Benton Harbor’s situation is “particularly urgent,” it doesn’t compare to the water crisis in Flint, Mich., says Marc Edwards, the Virginia Tech professor who was instrumental inexposing the Flint situationin 2015. As ENR previously reported, Edwards got involved with Flint after a resident contacted him and a sample he took showed a lead level of 13,200 ppb.

爱德华兹说：“弗林特水危机首先是对公众信任的背叛。”“这是各级政府的失败。在本顿港没有发生的事情。法律已遵循。据我所知，没有人对这种情况撒谎。这是水中铅的完全常规问题，被发现并正在处理。由于弗林特（Flint）的宣传和更高的期望在如何解决这些问题方面的宣传和更高的期望之后，它的公众意识提高了。”

Benton Harbor isn’t the only community dealing with lead pipes that need to be replaced. TheInfrastructure Investment and Jobs Act,which President Joe Biden signed on Nov. 15, includes $15 billion for lead service line replacements.

“This will have a tremendous impact on reducing the danger of these lead pipes and starting to get them replaced, which in the aftermath of Flint, just has to happen,” Edwards says.