Almost all of the lead service lines in Benton Harbor have been replaced after state and local officials kicked off a campaign to speed up the identification and replacement of the aging infrastructure.
Ninety-nine percent of the city's water service lines have been inspected and, if found to be made of lead, replaced with new copper lines, according to a Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy dashboard. Nearly 4,500 lines have been inspected and replaced, leaving fewer than 40 left to review.
The work is roughly five months ahead of schedule, a coalition of local, state and federal agencies announced Wednesday.
"Last year, community partners, local officials, state departments and federal agencies came together to secure bipartisan funding and set an ambitious target to replace every lead line to protect the health and safety of every family in the City of Benton Harbor," Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said in a press release. "We are getting it done ahead of schedule thanks to all our partners and most importantly, the Michiganders who did the hard work of replacing these lines."
Benton Harbor is a small west Michigan, predominantly Black city plagued with a lead crisis that emerged after Flint's. The state issued a warning about elevated lead levels in 2018 after finding eight of 30 residential water samples contained levels of the toxin above action levels of 15 parts per billion.
The state implemented corrosion control in 2019 and, through a partnership with local agencies, started distributing bottled water to residents in in late September 2021.
On July 1, 2021, the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy gave Benton Harbor one year to remove 7% of its lead service lines. State lawmakers, using $45 million of Michigan's share of federal infrastructure fund money, quickened the timeline to 100% replacement in 18 months.
Benton Harbor's lead line replacement project kicked off in October 2021 and was expected to finish in March next year, City Manager Ellis Mitchell said.
