Report warns of looming water affordability crisis in Benton Harbor - Detroit News

Report warns of looming water affordability crisis in Benton Harbor
Carol Thompson

A water affordability crisis looms over Benton Harbor, the southwest Michigan city that was plagued with lead in its drinking water after Flint, according to a new report from the Benton Harbor Community Water Council.

The report criticized the state and federal government's response to the lead crisis that started in 2018 and called for a slate of reforms to prevent and respond to future communities' drinking water issues.

It also highlighted a burgeoning funding problem for Benton Harbor — an impoverished city of fewer than 9,000 residents — and called on the governments to ensure water will be affordable for city residents.

"We have an obligation to make sure that every single person has clean, safe water," said the Rev. Edward Pinkney, president of Benton Harbor Community Water Council, a local advocacy group. "We need more transparency. We need to make sure that if there's a problem, it be addressed immediately. We can't wait three years to address these problems."

High lead levels appeared in Benton Harbor's drinking water starting in June 2018. Like Flint, Benton Harbor is a majority Black city, with almost 44% of its residents living in poverty, according to U.S. Census Bureau data.

Michigan officials did not give city residents public health services such as free bottled water until late 2021, after a group of residents, the Natural Resources Defense Council and other organizations filed an emergency petition with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, encouraging the agency to step in.

"It is obvious that Gov. (Gretchen) Whitmer did not learn anything from the Flint water crisis," Pinkney said. "Multiple levels of government, laws and policy failed to protect the residents of Benton Harbor. Even with multiple state and federal agencies involved, and the state and federal drinking water laws in place, the city continued to have lead in the drinking water well into 2021. Why did we not have a single agency or regulatory authority taking responsibility for the crisis and why did it take so long?"

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A spokesperson for Gov. Whitmer's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Michigan has replaced all of Benton Harbor's lead service lines as of this spring. Lead is a heavy metal that can cause brain and nervous system damage. Exposure is damaging even at low levels, particularly to children. There is no safe level of exposure.

The Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy was reviewing the council's report on Thursday afternoon, spokesperson Hugh McDiarmid said. He pointed to a brief filed by the Michigan Attorney General's office in the Court of Claims on behalf of EGLE last year that lays out the state's actions after lead was identified in Benton Harbor's water in 2018.

State attorneys said EGLE moved "swiftly" by meeting with the Department of Health and Human Services and Berrien County Health Departments to talk about a public educational campaign.

The city government told EGLE it would provide an alternative water source to residents, state attorneys said, but in January 2019 state officials discovered the city was not doing so. From there, state attorneys said EGLE collaborated with the EPA and "quickly" approved a corrosion control treatment option.

McDiarmid said the department continues to work with the city and other partners to ensure Benton Harbor's water meets safety standards.

"Michigan EGLE is working across the state with communities to improve systems that have faced decades of neglect," McDiarmid said in a statement. "We understand that there is historical context to the challenges that Benton Harbor and many other communities face, and we maintain our commitment to ensuring that the people of Michigan have access to quality drinking water no matter where they live."

The water council's report, Lessons from the Frontlines of the Benton Harbor Water Crisis, was conducted by attorneys from Lawyers for Good Government and the Great Lakes Environmental Law Center.

"After the Benton Harbor water crisis, we were asking 'how was this allowed to occur, and why did both the state and federal governments respond slower than they did in Flint?'" Nick Leonard, executive director of the Great Lakes Environmental Law Center, said during a Thursday press conference. "Now we've also started to see the growth of the water affordability crisis. So we tried to tackle both of those questions."

Water affordability crisis looms, council warns

Another water crisis is taking shape in Benton Harbor, the attorneys warned in their report: affordability.

The city's water system operates at a deficit of $2.5 million per year. Eliminating the deficit would require increasing water rates by 20% every year for the next nine years, increasing the average residential water bill from $42 to $242 by the end of those years, according to the report.

Benton Harbor's median household income was less than $25,000 from 2017-2021, according to Census data.

The report identified discrimination, segregation and Michigan's emergency management law as root causes of the Benton Harbor water crisis.

Benton Harbor experienced "White flight" in the 1960s, which led to a corresponding decrease in population. The city's population dropped from roughly 19,000 in 1960 to about 16,400 in 1970. Now, it is almost 9,000, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

That means there are fewer people to pay for city services. The water system increasingly relied on selling water to neighboring communities. Some of those neighboring communities stopped buying water from Benton Harbor in 2011 and 2013, about the same time Benton Harbor completed a $12 million upgrade to its drinking water plant that it had financed through a state loan program.

That saddled the treatment plant with debt at the same time it lost a significant customer base, Leonard said.

"Unless Benton Harbor can find a way to significantly grow its customer base or significantly reduce its operating costs, Benton Harbor will be unable to continue to operate treatment plant absent significant financial assistance," Leonard said. "The last that we can do is make sure that Benton Harbor has a financially viable water system."

Attorneys placed blame on emergency managers appointed to run Benton Harbor by former Michigan Govs. Rick Snyder and Jennifer Granholm. Those managers cut staff at the water treatment plant, canceled contracts with customers and sold portions of the distribution system that also resulted in losing neighboring community customers, "all of which imperiled the water system's long-term financial health and its ability to provide safe water to residents," the report states.

Those factors added up to a drinking water system that cost more to operate than it brought in through revenues. Plus, it had to repay the state loan it used for upgrades in 2011.

They also contributed to the lead problem, attorneys said.

"With a distribution system capacity designed to deliver water to a much larger population, treated water degraded during prolonged travel times to the reduced customer base," the report states. "The increased water age contributed to many water quality risks including microbial growth, disinfection byproducts, and increased corrosion."

The report identified a number of recommendations for state and federal leaders, including:

- Provide specific funding to address the Benton Harbor water affordability issues.
- Repeal the state's emergency management law.
- Continue to fund lead service line replacements in poor communities, communities of color and communities at risk of pollution or contaminant exposure.
- Establish protocols for providing drinking water and public health services when lead is found in drinking water.
- Enhancing EPA oversight of environmental justice issues.
- Identify at-risk communities and require or incentivize proactive measures to protect against lead.
- Improve transparency and host more community-led meetings.
- Establish a policy that ensures zero lead by requiring systems to replace all lead service lines and enacting a stricter lead and copper law.

Last month, the EPA's Office of Inspector General released an audit report criticizing the agency's regional staff for not adequately sounding alarm bells about lead in Benton Harbor's drinking water. Auditors said EPA Region 5 staff should have elevated their concerns through an intervention policy developed after the Flint water crisis.

ckthompson@detroitnews.com