The Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy says the city of Wyandotte has agreed to take necessary steps to fix its water system after the state issued a letter of Significant Deficiency Violation Notice for the city’s water system back in April.
Wyandotte officials still say the drinking water is safe to consume, and it “consistently meets or exceeds all state and federal water quality standards.”
Safe water advocates have said that while the state’s findings are now public, they should have been published in April when the letter was first sent out.
Elin Betanzo is the director of Safe Water Engineering, a Detroit-based public-interest drinking water consulting firm. She discovered the letter from EGLE after submitting a request under the state's Freedom of Information Act to investigate possible contamination in the Detroit River from a chemical plant near Wyandotte. She was surprised to come across EGLE’s significant deficiency violation notice.
“We got lucky that we submitted a FOIA request very soon after they issued [the letter]. We had no idea that it existed,” she said.
Betanzo said that while the issues in the letter are completely separate from the BASF contamination, it does “raise the stakes.”
“A utility in a high-risk area with known contamination in its source water should be operating above standards and not struggling with basic operations and maintenance,” she said.
The letter from EGLE said 40% of the water system has experienced deterioration. The department asked the city to respond to the survey that found the deficiencies within 30 days. The deficiencies — including some that still had not been addressed since first being noted more than five years ago — were found in four areas, according to the report: water treatment plant maintenance, distribution maintenance, finished water storage, and management and operations.
The letter also stated that the city must notify its residents of its discontinuation of adding fluoride to the water source.
Fluoride has not been detected in Wyandotte’s water since 2017, but Betanzo said that hasn't been clear to people who live there.
“We can look back through their annual water quality reports that use language implying fluoride is still being added to the water, but it also publishes data that shows that fluoride is detected as zero,” Betanzo said. “If I were a resident, I would find that confusing.”
A statement from the city of Wyandotte said the city is in the process of addressing all of EGLE’s recommendations and has already completed some of the steps. It also clarified that the city discontinued fluoride treatment in 2015 during a treatment plant rehabilitation project.
“Fluoridation of drinking water is not required by law,” the statement said.
EGLE said even though fluoridation is not required, “it is imperative for the water supply to notify the public so residents can make informed decisions about their oral health.”
Appropriate levels of fluoride in the drinking water reduce tooth decay.
Carrie La Suer is a Legal Director at For Love of Water (FLOW). She said the lack of communication from the city has been concerning, leading her to wonder if there are other issues with Wyadotte’s water.
“The residents of Wyandotte are being promised that there is nothing to be concerned about ... and that the public will be notified if there's anything to worry about,” she said. “But you didn't notify the public properly when you took the fluoride out of the water. And there are other problems that you need to take seriously. The response from the water system officials is just, ‘Everything is fine, nothing to worry about.’ It doesn't instill confidence.”
Betanzo agreed that the lack of communication has been frustrating and said documents from EGLE and the city should be made public, without requiring them to be requested through FOIA.
“One concern I've had is that EGLE does not publish these. You have to know that they exist to get a copy of them,” she said. “There could be communities across the state that have these types of violation notices, and the residents never know to ask for it.”
Betanzo said that the most important thing for Wyandotte to do now is to invest in its water infrastructure.
“It looks like they've been having issues with ongoing maintenance and not keeping everything up to the level we would want,” she said. “This is a community that may have been concerned about water rates in the past, but the cost of keeping the water rates low is riskier.”
La Suer said although there is no evidence that the drinking water is unsafe, she’s not sure how she would feel if she were living in Wyandotte.
“After Flint, I think every city in Michigan is a little on edge about any allegations that there's a problem with their drinking water,” she said.
