Michigan environmentalist offers lessons from Flint
PERRY BEEMAN Jun 8, 2016 | 4:18 pm
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Chris Kolb was in the middle of the Flint water crisis. A former Democratic state lawmaker who now is president of the nonprofit Michigan Environmental Council, he co-chaired the task force that tried to figure out how the city of about 100,000 ended up with a water contamination nightmare after switching to river water, and how to prevent the disaster from happening again.
His experiences most likely could inform water quality debates across the nation, including in Des Moines, where he will appear June 16 as the keynoter at the Iowa Environmental Council’s annual ProH2O event.
Flint, as you may know, has fought through one of the nation’s biggest environmental disasters in recent history. The state, which was running the water system during a financial crisis, decided in 2014 to save money by switching from Detroit’s lake-water system back to the Flint’s mothballed plant, which drew from the notoriously polluted Flint River. Residents complained of the taste and odor, and were largely ignored. Eventually, the corrosive water sent lead into homes and brought lawsuits. By fall 2015, Detroit water was back in the system.
In a telephone interview Tuesday, Kolb said he has great respect for the water treatment industry, which typically delivers safe water. But in his opinion, Flint has taught us that it is important that everyone watch for trouble, that governments provide enough resources for proper treatment, and that public officials listen to — rather than dismiss — complaints about water quality from the public.
Kolb said these lessons stand out:
- “We have regulations that are supposed to protect us, but we can’t assume they are doing the job all the time. We need to work with government.”
- “When your gut is telling you something is wrong, you need to follow your gut. (Michigan state officials) kept going back to same sources who said everything was fine. Clearly, it wasn’t.”
- “One of the biggest takeaways is that we take water for granted too often. I have always assumed that my drinking water was safe. Our community has pushed tap water over bottled water because it’s a good product. We assumed that people who were doing the treatment were doing their jobs. I will probably never look at tap water the same.”
- Communities need to review their regulations to make sure they are doing the job. “These regulations were done with a lot of give and take. We need to constantly look to see if they need to be revised, with good scientific basis.”
- Michigan is moving to pass a lead limit that is considerably stricter than the federal standard. Various parties also are moving to get rid of lead pipes in the system and in homes. “What we found in Flint is they are not necessarily sampling at the most high-risk homes.”
- There are some 2,000 U.S. water systems fighting with lead problems in drinking water. (In Iowa, it’s rare for anything but a very small system to violate the federal lead limits.)
Kolb’s appearance in Des Moines
Chris Kolb will provide the keynote address at the Iowa Environmental Council’s annual ProH20 event from 6 to 9 p.m. June 16 at Noce in downtown Des Moines. The council will honor the environmental efforts of West Des Moines City Manager Tom Hadden, council water program director Susan Heathcote and Paul Johnson, former director of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, at the same event.
Here’s what Kolb hopes you’ll take away from his presentation:
- The Flint water crisis was a huge national story. He will provide an inside look.
- Don’t take water for granted.
- Get involved with efforts to make sure treatment of drinking water and sewage is satisfactory.
- Be aware of runoff pollution and the work to reduce it.
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