Flint Water Crisis Timeline

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Re: Flint Water Crisis Timeline

Postby seemslikeadream » Fri Mar 16, 2018 10:14 am

The regulators of the Flint water crisis are embroiled in a new scandal

Written by Zoë Schlanger
The Flint water crisis was the product of government inaction, mostly attributed to the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality. Now, the same state agency is in the spotlight for a delay in responding to another drinking water scandal, this time involving waterproofing chemicals and Hush Puppies shoes.

Last summer, private drinking-water wells in Belmont, Michigan—a small community just north of Grand Rapids, the second-largest city in Michigan—tested positive for extremely high levels of perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), an ingredient in Teflon, the chemical used to make non-stick cookware, and perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS), a widely used flame retardant. Both chemicals are part of a class of compounds called PFAS, and both happen to be great at waterproofing shoes. They’re surfactants, which means they reduce the surface tension of water, making it slide right off whatever the surfactant is applied to.

They are also both “more likely than not” linked to testicular and kidney cancer, as well as thyroid disease and several other health problems, according to a major study published in 2011 and 2012.

In the 1960s and 1970s, Wolverine World Wide, a global shoe company, was waterproofing its famous Hush Puppies shoe line with Scotchgard, a PFAS-based chemical cocktail made by American multinational conglomerate 3M. Wolverine was then dumping the PFAS-laden sludge into a wooded area in Belmont, long before laws required waste pits to be lined and sealed. Over time, it seeped into the groundwater, migrating underground into people’s drinking water supplies.

Residents were not warned about the potential for contamination in the intervening months.
But the potential for water contamination was only discovered in April 2017, when a geologist with the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality wrote an email to his supervisors, alerting them to the potential for toxic compounds at the Belmont dump site, and that the agency should be testing the drinking water of nearby homes. But, according to local news site MLive.com, instead of immediately heeding his advice, the agency did not start testing the wells he identified until July, and did not reach some of the most-contaminated homes until September. Residents were not warned about the potential for contamination in the intervening months.

The US Environmental and Protection Agency does not regulate PFAS, so state and local governments aren’t required to test for them in municipal tap water systems—and private wells aren’t tested by local governments at all. While it sets no legal requirements, the EPA does set a recommended maximum exposure level for PFAS at 70 parts per trillion.

As the scope of the investigation expanded, the environmental agency found that the underground chemicals had spread farther than they’d realized, crossing under an interstate and contaminating more wells along the way. The investigation has now turned up 100 wells with PFAS contamination that exceeds the EPA’s recommended limit for exposure—and some wells exceed it hundreds of times over. One well at a home across the street from the dump site, tested by the state in July, contained PFAS levels of 37,800 parts per trillion, 540 times higher than EPA recommendations.

While private drinking wells are the responsibility of their owners, it is the responsibility of the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality to enforce toxic waste management and investigate groundwater contamination. There would be virtually no way for a private homeowner to know to test their well for the relatively obscure, not-federally-regulated toxins without warnings from their government.

“The state couldn’t possibly afford to do this. Our funds are pretty much out for response activities like this.”
Due to budget problems at the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, the state’s investigation into the contamination is actually being conducted by Wolverine. By now, the investigation has grown beyond the initial Belmont location, to an additional 20 former Wolverine dump sites in the region, including one a half mile from a middle school, which has since switched to bottled water.

“The state couldn’t possibly afford to do this. Our funds are pretty much out for response activities like this,” Michigan Department of Environmental Quality field supervisor David O’Donnell told MLive.

The state agency also allegedly allowed Wolverine’s lawyers to draft both the talking points used by employees spoke to residents, and the letters it distributed to people who lived on the same street as the Wolverine dump site, copying the text onto official, state-of-Michigan letterhead. As MLive’s Garret Ellison reported:


The letter does not mention Wolverine or the dump site at all. O’Donnell told MLive that he allowed Wolverine to dictate public communication in order to maintain a “cooperative relationship” that “helps me get other stuff later.”

Wolverine told MLive.com that it didn’t know there was PFAS in the Scotchgard it was using until the contamination was discovered last year. But 3M, the maker of Scotchgard, shot back that in 1999, it warned Wolverine the Scotchgard was a potential problem.


3M stopped making its Scotchgard product with PFOA in 2000, after finding devastating health effects in its internal lab tests on monkeys. The results were significant enough to prompt the company to report them to the US Environmental Protection Agency in April, 2000. They discontinued manufacturing of the product a month later.

In a statement, Wolverine says it is “working diligently and cooperatively” with the state to address the contamination.

“Wolverine’s commitment to being part of a long-term solution is apparent from its actions – it has paid for over 1,500 groundwater tests, provided bottled water to over 1,200 homes, installed over 70 monitoring wells, and installed over 500 whole-house filters and over 100 point-of-use filters.”

A seven-year investigation by epidemiologists into the health effects of PFOA, published it in 2011 and 2012, concluded that there was a clear link between the chemical and two types of cancer in humans, as well as several other serious diseases. Since then, other research has found that children are especially susceptible to PFOA poisoning, and can suffer from behavioral and developmental problems as a result.

In 2017, rumors circulated that the EPA planned to begin to regulate the chemical. The federal agency hasn’t made any moves to do so since then. Under the Safe Drinking Water Act, the EPA is responsible for determining when a chemical needs to be regulated in the US water supply, but it hasn’t added a new toxin to its list since 1996. In the meanwhile, a recent reanalysis of old EPA data found that PFOA is likely present in about 20% of public water drinking supplies in the US.

But the case in Belmont, Michigan exposes a unique gap in water regulation: Even in a world where the EPA had added PFOA and PFOS to their list of regulated chemicals, the Belmont wells would likely not have been tested. The EPA does not require private wells to be tested for contaminants—that is the responsibility of the well owner. It also does not require water testing on tribal lands, or of water systems that serve less than 10,000 people, leaving it to local regulators to decide how it wants to manage those.

Update: This story has been updated with a statement from Wolverine, along with an updated number of confirmed Wolverine dump sites.
https://qz.com/1229634/the-michigan-age ... r-scandal/
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Re: Flint Water Crisis Timeline

Postby Iamwhomiam » Sun Apr 15, 2018 8:48 pm

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Re: Flint Water Crisis Timeline

Postby seemslikeadream » Fri Aug 03, 2018 10:35 am

Michigan governor and state dismissed from Flint water lawsuit

(Reuters) - A federal judge on Wednesday removed Michigan Governor Rick Snyder, a former mayor of Flint, along with the state government from a list of defendants in a class-action lawsuit over the Flint water crisis.

The Flint Water Plant tower is seen in Flint, Michigan, U.S. on February 7, 2016. REUTERS/Rebecca Cook/File Photo
The lawsuit, brought by a dozen residents of Flint and three local businesses, involves 13 claims related to a decision in 2014 to pipe water from the Flint River, instead of water provided by Detroit Water and Sewerage.

The water from the Flint River was more corrosive than Detroit’s, and rife with lead and bacteria. By the time Flint reverted to using the DWSD, some residents of the largely African American city, including children, showed evidence of lead poisoning.

According the 128-page opinion by U.S. District Judge Judith E. Levy, “Lead poisoning caused plaintiffs to suffer from severe medical problems with their hair, skin, digestive system, and organs, as well as brain and other developmental injuries including cognitive deficits, among other issues.”

In the opinion, Levy dismissed the governor, former Flint Mayor Dayne Walling and other state and municipal officials from the suit.

State Treasurer Andy Dillon, former Michigan Health and Human Services director Nick Lyon, two former emergency managers of the city and others were kept as defendants.

A representative of the governor declined to comment on the dismissal. Neither Walling nor Dillon responded to a request for comment. Representatives of the state and a lawyer for the plaintiffs did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

During the period from April 2014 until October 2015 when water was sourced from Flint River, “some government officials disregarded the risk the water posed, denied the increasingly clear threat the public faced, protected themselves with bottled water, and rejected solutions that would have ended this crisis sooner,” Levy said in the opinion.

According to the document, the plaintiffs did not allege Gov. Snyder knew about the dangers of the water in Flint River when he authorized the switch to using it, unlike other defendants who they said knew and disregarded the hazards involved. For this reason Levy dismissed him as a defendant.

Different lawsuits related to the crisis are also pending in at least seven different state and federal courts throughout Michigan.

Reporting by Tea Kvetenadze in New York; editing by Bill Tarrant
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mich ... SKBN1KM66Y
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Re: Flint Water Crisis Timeline

Postby seemslikeadream » Thu Aug 30, 2018 10:00 am

Drinking water to be shut off at all Detroit public schools

Annalise Frank
August 29, 2018 10:38 AM UPDATED 18 hours ago

Latest round of testing for lead and copper prompted superintendent to shut off water

Total of 34 schools now using water coolers and bottles; rest of 106 schools will be shut off "immediately"

Tests in 2016 returned higher-than-accepted levels of the metals, which can cause damage long-term


jasongillman via Pixabay

Detroit Public Schools Community District is shutting off drinking water at all 106 of its schools after a recent round of testing found 16 out of 24 schools had elevated lead and/or copper levels.

Detroit Public Schools Community District will shut off drinking water at all of its 106 schools after the most recent round of testing found 16 out of 24 schools had elevated levels of lead and/or copper, Superintendent Nikolai Vitti said in an email to staff Tuesday afternoon.


Vitti ordered testing of all schools this spring, after tests in 2016 found elevated levels of the metals. Initial results for 24 schools returned last week found 16 had levels higher than acceptable, he said in the emailed letter. All water sources, including drinking fountains and sinks, were tested. Water is still available for hand washing and toilet flushing.

"Although we have no evidence that there are elevated levels of copper or lead in our other schools (over 50) where we are awaiting test results, out of an abundance of caution and concern for the safety of our students and employees, I am turning off all drinking water in our schools until a deeper and broader analysis can be conducted to determine the long-term solutions for all schools," Vitti said in an emailed statement Wednesday morning.

The detailed results of the testing were not immediately available.

The Associated Press reported in 2016 that elevated copper or lead levels had been found at 19 DPSCD schools. After those results, the district coated some pipes with a silicate to prevent leeching of metal and bacteria, Chalkbeat Detroit reported. The 2016 testing came as a response to the Flint water crisis, in which more than 100,000 residents were exposed to lead-tainted water.

The largest school district in Michigan faces water safety concerns as it deals with deteriorating school buildings that require nearly $530 million in capital improvements.

The city of Detroit also plans to work with charter schools on similar water testing, which it can encourage but not mandate, city spokesman John Roach told Crain's.

"We will be supporting (Vitti) in an advisory capacity through the health department, and the (Detroit Water and Sewerage Department) has offered to partner with the district on any follow-up testing that needs to be done," Roach said in an emailed statement. "We are fully supportive of the approach (Vitti) has taken to test all water sources within DPS schools and to provide bottled water until the district can implement a plan to ensure that all water is safe for use."

The Detroit schools' test results are expected to be posted on the school district website and the city's website. Vitti said letters will be sent home to students when the school year starts next week and parents would be informed via a robo-call system immediately. Teachers reported to work Monday.

The city's water department and regional water board issued a statement Wednesday afternoon to assure their customers that the water they are providing is safe.

"The Great Lakes Water Authority (GLWA) and the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department (DWSD) want to assure Detroit residents and customers of GLWA's regional system that they are not affected by the lead and copper issues that the Detroit Public Schools Community District (DPSCD) is experiencing," they said in a statement. "Aging school infrastructure (i.e. plumbing) is the reason for the precautionary measure of providing bottled water. The treated drinking water provided by GLWA and distributed by DWSD not only meets, but surpasses all federal and state Safe Drinking Water Act regulations for quality and safety. The water at GLWA's treatment plants is tested hourly and DWSD has no lead service lines connected to any DPSCD building."

The organizations said they will assist the Detroit schools district as needed.

The 16 schools in which elevated levels of lead and/or copper were detected in the latest round of testing for 24 schools, according to Vitti's letter:

Academy of the Americas Elementary-Middle School
Adult Education-East
Bates Academy
Bennett Elementary-Middle School
Cass Technical High School
Roberto Clemente Elementary
Clippert Elementary Middle School
Coleman Young Elementary School
Davis Aerospace @ Golightly
Dixon Academy
Foreign Language Immersion
Hutchinson @ Howe
Keidan
Noble Elementary-Middle School
Marcus Garvey
Renaissance High School
Lead is a neurotoxin that can damage child brain development, cause behavioral problems and sicken adults. Copper can cause gastrointestinal distress, and long-term exposure can damage the liver or kidneys.
http://www.crainsdetroit.com/education/ ... ic-schools
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Re: Flint Water Crisis Timeline

Postby seemslikeadream » Tue Sep 11, 2018 10:50 am


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ezjMu1etJdQ

'Fahrenheit 11/9' U.S. debut puts focus back on Flint
Jacob Carah, Special to The Detroit News Published 9:54 p.m. ET Sept. 10, 2018 | Updated 9:28 a.m. ET Sept. 11, 2018
Moore 03
(Photo: Jacob Carah, Special to The Detroit News)

Flint turned out Monday for the U.S. debut of the latest film by renowned documentary filmmaker Michael Moore.

Moore is highly critical of the democratic establishment and overall political system of the United States in the documentary, "Fahrenheit 11/9." He also takes aim at Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder. Flint’s water crisis is a major focus of the movie.

Ariana Hawk, mother of Sincere Smith, the young boy from Flint who at age 2 became the face of the Flint lead water crisis when he appeared on a Time magazine cover in 2016, arrived early. Hawk said she hopes the film should help return the national spotlight to the city, where she says the water crisis hasn't ended.

She and others pushed for greater reinvestment in large-scale infrastructure, including water systems, and more emphasis on the youngest victims of the water crisis, young children, who are most affected by lead exposure when the chemical leached into the city's water pipes during a switch in water sources in 2014.


The audience settles in at The Whiting auditorium in Flint to watch "Fahrenheit 11/9," a new documentary by Michael Moore on Monday, Sept. 10, 2018. (Photo: Jacob Carah, Special to The Detroit News)

“I hope people see the truth, that people will be able to see this film and understand that people hear are still suffering because of the effects of the water,” Hawk said.

“There are families here that still can’t drink the water, that are still affected by what the water did to them, I know, I’m still living it.”

Flint resident and water activist Collette Metcalf said she still is suffering from the effects of the water. “Since the crisis, I’ve had Barrett’s esophagus and I can’t do much of any activity longer than 10 minutes without losing my breath, and just had a rare cancerous tumor removed from my breast,” Metcalf said. “We’re still asking for help, we are still hurting here.”


Moore, who arrived late to the premiere at the Whiting theater, struck a defiant tone as the hometown crowd welcomed him.

“There is a process at work here that started a long time ago, its point is to take our democracy away from us,” he said. He said before the lights came down: “We are like the French resistance in the 40s with the tanks rolling into Flint.”

Dr. Lawrence Reynolds, a pediatrician in Flint and a member of Snyder's task force on the Flint crisis, called for continued repairs to the water distribution system.

"There needs to be adequate fiscal and technical staff to carry out the task, and it's the state that needs to provide those funds as soon as possible," Lawrence said.

He said Moore's film "raises attention to the fact that we're organizing our states to the benefit of corporations and not for residents, and if that opens people's minds and they get out and vote, then perhaps we'll see a change."

Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, a pediatrician credited with exposing the elevated blood lead levels in Flint children, is featured in the film. Hanna-Attisha said she hopes the movie sends a message about the needs and future health of residents, particularly to Michigan leaders and the Trump administration.


Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha attends the screening for Flint documentary filmmaker Michael Moore's new film Farenheit 11/9 at The Whiting auditorium in Flint, Michigan on Monday, September 10, 2018. (Photo: Jacob Carah, Special to The Detroit News)

A question and answer session after the screening became a study in contrasts between Moore and Hanna-Attisha, with the pediatrician striking a more hopeful tone for Flint's future.

"If you caught someone in your home poisoning your children, what would you have the right to do? You would stop them by any means necessary," Moore said. "I'm not calling for violence, I'm a pacifist really, but it stuns me as we sit here tonight that he is sitting in the governor's chair and that nothing has happened to him."

With some in the crowd calling out for riots, Hanna-Attisha stepped in and reminded the crowd: "yeah and that never happened because the people of Flint are resilient. When we heard the extent of this crisis, we all had anger, I had anger, but we know the people here are also strong. The kids I take care of are brilliant and strong, and many here knew the path forward was not rioting in the streets and chaos, rather it was rolling up our sleeves."

Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette has filed criminal charges against 15 public officials, including members of Snyder's administration in connection to the water crisis.
https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/ ... 262565002/



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRQv9xMQ3E0


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlbOmDLqcw4
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Re: Flint Water Crisis Timeline

Postby seemslikeadream » Tue Sep 18, 2018 1:00 pm

#Flint: County Officials Accused of Faking Children’s Blood Lead Test Results

Monique JudgeFriday 8:39pm

Some of the water distributed at the Comcast water collection event held Saturday, Feb. 20, 2016 at the Flint Boys and Girls Club in Flint, Mich. came with well-wishes from those that donated it.

We are now 1,605 days into the ongoing crisis with the water in Flint, Mich. The residents are being told that their tap water is below the federal threshold for lead contamination, but they still don’t feel safe drinking it. Bottled water distribution has been discontinued, since the state believes the water system to be better, and it is trying to convince the residents of that. The residents are being asked to trust and believe in their local and state government, but it understandably hard to do so—given that they have been lied to many times before.

This week, another bombshell dropped that would most definitely add to the distrust of city and state officials when it comes to the state of the water and the amount of lead in the blood of Flint’s most vulnerable population—its children, according to a report from MLive.

In the new Michael Moore film Fahrenheit 11/9—which opens in theaters around the country on Sept. 20, April Cook-Hawkins—a former Genesee County Health Department secretary—claims her former boss instructed her to falsify blood lead test results.

In the film, Moore explains that Cook-Hawkins asked to do this in order to help “cover up what the state was really up to” in Flint. Her boss told her to report every instance of elevated lead in blood as being 3.5 micrograms per deciliter—which is a threshold for exposure—even if the tests indicated lead exposure was higher than that.

As a result, many children with elevated levels of lead in their blood did not receive access to services that could have mitigated that lead exposure—all because the falsified test results caused their parents to not be notified and alerted to the high levels of lead.

Although Genesee County denies the allegations, Cook-Hawkins repeated her story during a Sept. 12 episode of All In With Chris Hayes that was recorded in Flint. She also told MLive/Flint Journal that all of her claims are supported by witnesses and documents and that she would share what she knows with Flint water investigators working for Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette.

Schuette’s office would not discuss Cook-Hawkins’ claims directly, but told MLive via email that the investigation into the Flint water crisis “is still open and we encourage anyone with information to contact us if they have information that would assist in that investigation.”

Cook-Hawkins believes the county falsified records because it didn’t have the capacity to arrange and manage services for the many children shown to have high levels of lead in their blood.

She said she refused to falsify data, but has been told but other employees that they did. She also declined to name the former boss who reportedly gave her the directive.

Genesee County released a statement that said “The allegations made by Ms. Cook-Hawkins are absolutely false. Our employees go into the public health field to help residents get the medical attention they need and deserve. To suggest that we would instruct our employees to falsify information in a way that would deny a child essential medical services during a health crisis is offensive and patently false.”

MLive/Flint Journal requested and reviewed a copy of Cook-Hawkins’s personnel file from the county and found that she was hired in December 2015 and resigned four months later.

Cook-Hawkins said she was forced to resign because she refused to falsify data. A handwritten note in her personnel file indicates she resigned “in lieu of termination,”

An April employee evaluation of Cook-Hawkins said “April should strive to pay close attention to important details in her work (eg. spreadsheet that is sent to MDHHS with elevated blood lead levels from the Health Department lab did not include all required information).”

It also criticized her “poor judgment in separating (health department) assignments and personal business.”

Whatever the reasons for her leaving the department, the fact remains that Cook-Hawkins stands behind her accusation and is willing to put it to whatever test necessary to prove it.

Another example of a hero who does not wear a cape.
https://www.theroot.com/flint-county-of ... 1829074656
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Re: Flint Water Crisis Timeline

Postby seemslikeadream » Fri Jan 04, 2019 3:21 pm

Sam Bagenstos


Breaking news: Sixth Circuit in Flint Water Crisis case allows due process claims to proceed against emergency managers and several state officials, overcoming qualified immunity. Another step closer to accountability.

Image

Here's the nub of the opinion allowing the case to proceed against the emergency managers.

Image

And here, allowing the case to proceed against the MDEQ defendants.

Image

Strong words from the court denying qualified immunity to the emergency managers and MDEQ officials.

Image

"If ever there was an egregious violation of the right to bodily integrity, this is the
case . . . ."

Image


Opinion can be found here:

http://www.opn.ca6.uscourts.gov/opinion ... 03p-06.pdf
Mazars and Deutsche Bank could have ended this nightmare before it started.
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Re: Flint Water Crisis Timeline

Postby seemslikeadream » Fri Aug 23, 2019 8:29 am

STAY AWAY FROM THE RIVER!

Months after dire warnings, Flint spills 2 million gallons of raw sewage into river
By Ron Fonger | rfonger1@mlive.comUpdated Aug 21, 2019; Posted Aug 21, 2019
Flint wastewater treament plant, located at 4652 Beecher Road, on Tuesday, May 14, 2019 in Flint Township.

FLINT, MI -- The city dumped an estimated 2 million gallons of untreated sewage into the Flint River Sunday, Aug. 18, just months after officials warned wastewater infrastructure was fast approaching a “critical point.”

A partial report filed by the city with the state Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy on Tuesday, Aug. 20, says a “flash flood event” overflowed primary settling tanks at the city’s wastewater treatment plant on Beecher Road, sending raw waste onto the ground and into a storm sewer drain that discharges directly to the river.

Although the city announced the spill three days ago, it did not reveal the volume of the discharge until filing the partial report with EGLE, and has yet to indicate what actions it took to minimize impact from the discharge or what plans is has to prevent a similar spill in the future.

An advisory issued Sunday, warning people to avoid contact with the river because of potentially high bacteria levels related to the spill, remained in effect on Wednesday, Aug. 21.

Flint’s wastewater treatment plant complex includes 10 outdoor settling tanks similar to massive swimming pools that hold millions of gallons of sewage. The tanks are used to remove solid material from wastewater before it is moved to a clarifying tank for further treatment before finally being discharged to the river.

Sunday’s sewage spill comes just months after City Council approved nearly $1 million in contracts with companies to help design upgrades to sewage treatment infrastructure after officials warned that the existing system was at risk of “catastrophic failure."

The city is seeking a $34 million state sewer revolving loan to fund the improvements on its wish list.

“We’re going to get to a point where we can’t treat our wastewater and sewage anymore,” Bincsik said at the time . “We won’t have to talk about drinking water anymore, because we’ll talk about nothing but the raw sewage that gets discharged into the Flint River.”

The city treats about 50 million gallons of wastewater daily.

National Weather Service meteorologist Alex Manion said heavy rains swept through parts of Genesee County, including Flint, last weekend.

Bishop Airport measured more than 2.2 inches of rain in a three-hour period starting late on Saturday, Aug. 17, and continuing to early Sunday.

Flint’s report to the state says its spill occurred from 2-3 a.m. Sunday.

MLive-The Flint Journal could not immediately reach a Flint spokeswoman for further comment on Sunday’s sewage spill, but on Flint’s website, officials say they have the capacity to hold about 20 million gallons of the excess water temporarily in a large storage basin in cases of heavy rain.

Once the tank is full, the excess flows are typically discharged to the river but only after water has been allowed to settle and and has been "disinfected with a bleach solution,” the website says.

The city’s report to the state does not mention the retention basin and says Sunday’s release was “raw sewage.”

Earlier this year, the city sought a waiver from the Genesee County Health Department, requesting that it be allowed to skip testing river water for bacteria after sewage spills in cases in which the discharge comes from its retention basin.

“(Sewage discharges are) actually ‘cleaner’ than the river water, so it’s impact on the river is positive, if anything,” Robert Case, Flint’s water pollution control division manager, said in an email to MLive-The Flint Journal in June, about a month after the waiver request was denied.
https://www.mlive.com/news/flint/2019/0 ... river.html



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtqO_gWXm6Q
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