A plan to remove and replace all lead water pipes in Flint homes will cost $55 million, the city’s mayor said Tuesday.
Households were residents are deemed to be high-risk will be given priority for pipe replacement, Mayor Karen Weaver said at a news conference.
“We’re going to restore safe drinking water one house at a time, one child at a time,” she said. “All lead pipes need to be replaced. We deserve new pipes because we did not deserve what happened.”
Flint’s water supply was switched from Detroit water to the Flint River as a cost-saving measure in 2014, when Flint was under state-appointed emergency management. The untreated river water caused lead to leach from old pipes. Flint has since switched back to Detroit water.
