Flint residents forced to pay for unpotable water

Residents in Flint, Mich., are about to start paying the full cost of their water again, even though what’s flowing from their taps has yet to be declared safe to drink without an approved filter.

On Wednesday, state officials will end a program that has helped pay residents’ bills since a series of ill-fated decisions by state-appointed emergency managers left the city’s water system contaminated with lead.

Since that 2014 disaster, the state has spent roughly $41 million in credits to help offset local utility bills. Residents have gotten a 65 percent credit each month on their water use, while commercial accounts received a 20 percent credit.

Anna Heaton, a spokeswoman for Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder, a Republican, said the credits are ending “because the city’s water meets all federal water quality standards under the Lead and Copper Rule and Safe Drinking Water Act, the same standards as other cities.” She said the threshold honors an agreement reached by Snyder, the Flint government and state lawmakers who originally appropriated money for the utility bill credits. Even so, she added, the state will continue to provide water filters and filter replacement cartridges “to assure residents that the water is safe for consumption even as lead service line replacement is underway.”

The news about the relief program is fueling another round of frustration in Flint, which has one of the highest water rates in the country.

“They want to make it look like they’ve resolved this thing, that it’s fixed,” said Tim Monahan, a carpenter who survived a harrowing bout of Legionnaires’ disease after the water problems began. “It’s been three years, and we still can’t drink the water.”

At a recent news conference, Flint Mayor Karen Weaver said the state should continue to pick up the tab for residents’ water until it is “tap-drinkable without a filter.”

“This is a trust issue, that’s what it is,” said Weaver, who criticized state officials for giving short notice about the credits ending. She had urged that they continue through March and possibly longer.

Last month, the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality said the latest analysis showed the city system tested “below action levels of the federal Lead and Copper Rule and at levels comparable to cities with similar size and age of infrastructure in Michigan and across the nation.”

“This is good news and the result of many partners on the local, county, state and federal levels working together to restore the water quality in the city of Flint,” Director Heidi Grether said at the time.

Such results, however, don’t necessarily ensure that the water is safe. City residents continue to be advised not to drink the water unless it has been properly filtered, and many residents still refuse to use it for cooking or bathing. They rely instead on bottled water.

Now that Flint residents will be responsible for paying the full amount of their water bills, the number of delinquent accounts in the cash-strapped city is expected to rise. If that happens, it could further hamper local officials’ ability to pay for water from Detroit while working toward connecting to a more permanent water source. In addition, residents with delinquent accounts aren’t eligible to have their aging pipes replaced — despite many lines containing a significant source of lead.