If a lead-laced water supply wasn’t enough to deal with, many residents of Flint, Mich., face a new crisis: Replacing the water heaters, pipes and even the service lines to their homes that may have been destroyed by the city’s water.
And for now, it’s unclear whether they will receive any help in covering those costs.
“I hope and pray they start releasing some money,” said homeowner Arthur Woodson, a disabled veteran who lives in a house like many in Flint: built with lead plumbing that, until the city switched to a new water source in 2014, was considered safe.
For residents who already fear their health has been compromised by the water, the emerging related costs are adding to the anxiety, especially considering Flint, a city of 100,000, is among the poorest of its size in the country. The city has for years been dealing with unemployment rates that exceed the national average. With the water crisis now filling daily headlines, many in Flint say banks are refusing to offer refinancing that could free up money to pay for the retrofitting, and that the costs are not covered by insurance.
The crisis has created a perfect storm to strip their houses of their remaining value, they say.
“People feel absolutely trapped,” said Melissa Mays, a homeowner and activist. “We feel like prisoners in our own homes. We’re being poisoned by the very homes we live in.”
The crisis first became known in April 2014, when the city switched its water supply to the Flint River as a temporary measure before a pipeline was built to another source. The change was intended to save money. But soon, residents complained of foul-smelling, odd-colored water.
The Flint River water’s high chloride content wasn’t treated as required, a state task force has reported, and is thought to have weakened the city’s aging water distribution system, which contains a high percentage of lead pipes and plumbing. That is believed to have sent high volumes of lead into the city’s drinking water.
That corrosive Flint River water also is thought to have similarly damaged the pipes and appliances in homes throughout Flint.
Homeowners could shoulder a burden of $4,000 or more to cover the costs of a new water heater, a new plumbing system featuring PVC piping that is not susceptible to corrosion, and a new service line connection, which is the most costly component because it involves excavation and piping that can extend up to 30 feet from the house to the street, according to Marc Edwards, a national expert on municipal water quality at Virginia Tech.
Edwards has been leading a team of researchers in conducting water tests in Flint, and estimates that correcting the damage caused from corrosion to the water system will cost between $20 million and $200 million. The city says the replacement cost for an entirely new system could be $1.5 billion.
