By Zachary Gorchow
President of Michigan Operations
Posted: November 2, 2021 5:11 PM

No, Benton Harbor is not a replica of the Flint water crisis.

Benton Harbor has been under local control since it first began exceeding the action level for lead in its drinking water in 2018. Flint was under the control of an emergency manager appointed by Governor Rick Snyder.

State-influenced decisions created the lead-in-water crisis in Flint. A succession of emergency managers in Flint felt the Detroit water system was overcharging the city, so they decided to use the Flint River as the city's water source while they awaited a new locally led system to come online. The state recommended against applying corrosion control treatment. Disaster ensued. We don't yet know why Benton Harbor has high lead levels, but it definitely was not a repeat of what transpired in Flint.

Unlike Flint, where for a long time the Department of Environmental Quality (now the Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy) vigorously denied any lead-in-water problem, even mocking the idea, EGLE has always acknowledged Benton Harbor's water exceeds the federal action levels and has been trying to help the city, which runs its water department, correct the situation. Instead of deriding the concerns of activists, as a then DEQ spokesperson did in Flint, EGLE officials today have acknowledged they need to take a hard look at the criticisms and see how they could have done better.

Having said all of that, there most definitely are some echoes of what happened in Flint.

A group of local activists for years has been demanding far more aggressive state action. Finally, on September 10, in a move that seems to have precipitated the much more aggressive state response since then, they petitioned the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to effectively take over Benton Harbor water oversight from the state. Today, the EPA issued an order regarding Benton Harbor water though it did not cite the petition but rather a joint inspection of the city's system at EGLE's request. The language of the order puts the onus on the city for the problems, not the state.

EGLE has been working for years to adjust the water chemistry in Benton Harbor to see if adding more corrosion control treatment will bring down lead levels. What has infuriated various activist groups is why, in tandem with that action, the state didn't provide bottled water to residents years ago and move more quickly to replace all lead service lines in the city. Under state policy, Benton Harbor, because of its lead exceedance, is required to replace 7 percent of its lead service lines annually.

The Whitmer administration proposed an even faster timetable, five years. Activists said that was still too slow given the dangers posed by any amount of lead.

It was on October 6 when the state's posture toward the situation changed. The Department of Health and Human Services issued a news release advising residents "out of an abundance of caution" not to drink the water, nor use it for cooking or making baby formula. For the first time, the state announced it was taking action to bring bottled water to the community. On October 14, Governor Gretchen Whitmer announced what she called a "whole of government" response to the situation. The 18-month lead line replacement schedule, as well as the distribution of bottled water, won praise from activists.

It also raised many questions.

When Ms. Whitmer, who campaigned on clean water, took office, one of her first actions was designed to prevent another Flint water crisis. She issued an executive directive requiring state employees aware of an imminent threat to the public health, safety or welfare to immediately report the situation to the director of that department or agency, with the director then required to take a series of actions, largely involving reporting to the compliance officer in the Executive Office of the Governor. It was seen as a response to Flint.

When Ms. Whitmer reorganized DEQ into EGLE, she set up a new environmental justice advocate and clean water advocate, positions designed to assure public complaints about environmental problems don't get lost in the department.

Right now, the biggest questions are why the state waited as long as it did to provide the city with bottled water and what was the level of communication in the administration since 2019 regarding Benton Harbor water. Did systems function as designed? What were the discussions and machinations in the administration that led to the October 6 announcement by the Department of Health and Human Services that bottled water was on the way?

Our news organization and assuredly others are working to find answers to those questions.

Will the governor declare a state of emergency in Benton Harbor? She is resisting the idea. One of Mr. Snyder's regrets about his handling of Flint was not declaring a state of emergency much sooner. Ms. Whitmer herself has not appeared in public very much since the decision to provide bottled water in Benton Harbor occurred and has said little in person on the topic, instead relying on written statements from her press office.

After reports of long lines for bottled water and a lack of volunteers at bottled water stations, the Whitmer administration announced it would start paying volunteers. It is still declining to declare a state of emergency or activate the National Guard, which is skilled at the kind of logistics involved in bottled water distribution and was used in Flint.

No, the Benton Harbor water crisis is not the same as Flint's.

Once again, though, a city with a large low-income, Black population that has been struggling for decades has a major lead-in-water crisis putting the health of its residents, especially children, at risk. Once again, there are complaints that the state did not take the situation seriously enough.