City of Flint successfully fulfills water testing requirements more than one month ahead of schedule

FLINT, Michigan—The City of Flint has completed its lead and copper testing required under the Safe Drinking Water Act more than one month ahead of schedule.

The City of Flint must collect at least 60 samples from homes at the highest risk of having lead every six months. The state Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy has confirmed that with tests turned in last month, the City of Flint has submitted more than 60 valid water samples and fulfilled its testing requirements for the cycle that ends Dec. 31, 2020.

“The team truly came together to overcome all obstacles and successfully complete this testing,” Mayor Neeley said. “We will continue moving forward in a positive direction on behalf of the residents of the City of Flint.”

Mayor Neeley specifically praised the city’s team of public health navigators, who, under the leadership of Office of Public Health Manager Billie Mitchell, spearheaded the efforts since July to collect samples.

As part of efforts to fulfill this testing requirement, Mayor Neeley has utilized a series of innovations since he came into office in November 2019, including utilizing firefighters to help in the effort, offering utility vouchers and Mayor Neeley himself even went door-to-door to encourage residents to participate.

Mayor Neeley also noted the strong and ongoing partnership between the City of Flint and EGLE, including weekly meetings designed to help the city target potential testing locations and get up-to-date information on the City’s progress toward the testing goal.

This testing has shown water quality inside the City of Flint remains stable and well below federal action levels. The most recent testing (which specifically targets homes and businesses where lead service lines still are being used), the 90th percentile lead levels are 6 parts per billion, far below federal action levels.

Along with catching up on water testing requirements, the City of Flint also continues to make progress on other important water infrastructure projects. The city is nearly complete with the residential service line replacement project and work has finally started on building a secondary water source, constructing a new chemical feed building, and expanding the city’s water reservoirs — all work that should have been completed in 2019.

Note: This 90th percentile is reported using new state of Michigan reporting requirements that takes the highest lead level result from testing. It is not directly comparable to testing levels reported in the past that reported 90th percentile results of first draw water samples, the previous standard.

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