News Photo by Julie Riddle
Josh Eufrasio, left, and Jack Smolinski, third graders at St. Ignatius of Loyola Catholic School in Rogers City, fill water bottles from a school drinking fountain on Wednesday morning.
ROGERS CITY — Nearly 300 residents in Rogers City will have their water service lines that connect to the city’s water system inspected for lead or galvanized steel, which are known to potentially make drinking water unsafe.
Other municipalities that provide water services will have to do the same in the coming years to comply with a state mandate to help locate lead or galvanized steel water lines that cause health concerns.
The survey of the city’s water system is needed to comply with the amended Michigan Safe Drinking Water Act which was changed in 2018 to require all municipal drinking water providers to inventory their water lines before the beginning of 2025.
The state wants the inventory updated to keep stock of what material the pipes are made of. Water service lines can be copper or plastic, but some may be galvanized steel or lead. If galvanized steel or lead is detected, the city must notify the property owner within 30 days.
The purpose of the lead and copper rule was added to the drinking water act was to protect public health by minimizing lead and copper levels in drinking water. Lead and copper enter drinking water mainly from corrosion of lead and copper containing plumbing materials.
In 2014 high levels of lead were detected in the drinking water in Flint after it changed its municipal water supply source from the Detroit-supplied Lake Huron water to the Flint River. The switch caused water distribution pipes to corrode and leach lead and other contaminants into municipal drinking water.
In October 2016, Flint residents were advised not to drink the municipal tap water unless it had been filtered through a NSF International approved filter certified to remove lead. Although the city reconnected to the original Detroit water system that same month, the potential damage was already done and a state of emergency was declared on Jan. 16, 2016.
All of the unsafe pipes found in Rogers City, if any, must be replaced by the beginning of 2041.
In his manager’s report to the city council on April 19, City Manager Joe Hefele told the council that the city received a $1.2 million Michigan Economic Development Corps.- Water Related Infrastructure Community Block Grant to help cover the cost of the work. The city will provide a $400,000 match to the money.
The work to be done includes exposing, documenting, and photographing the service points of water customers in the city. The pipes will be inspected inside the building, on the building side of the curb, the water main side of the curb, and possibly the connection to the water main if galvanized steel is located during the other inspections.
The contractor who does the work will then provide the state the asset management plan.
Hefele said the grant will help cover the cost of hiring a company that owns a Vactor truck to dig the small holes, after it cuts through the asphalt or cement.
The contractor will then restore each location where the work was conducted, Hefele’s report says.
The 299 customers who will have their water connections inspected were selected by a random draw, and Hefele said many of them have already scheduled appointments to have the inspection completed.
Steve Schulwitz can be reached at 989-358-5689 at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @ss_alpenanews.com.
