Flint residents will be drinking water completely supplied by Genesee County by the end of the week. The transition is happening due to the water supply needing to be cut off from the Great Lakes Water Authority while work is completed on the control station valves. The work is not possible unless the flow through the pipeline from Detroit is stopped.
The project will last about a month and includes replacing two cone valves with modern butterfly valves. The current valves sustained damage from the facility settling over the years. If the control station ever gets removed from service, the new valves would allow water to continue flowing from the Great Lakes Water Authority.
After the valves are replaced, Flint will return to drawing about 95% of its water from Detroit and the remaining 5% from Genesee County. However, the upgrades would now allow the source to be switched completely from one to the other in case of an emergency.
Leave a Reply