The pace is picking up in the effort to solve the Benton Harbor “lead in the water” crisis. The State of Michigan reports today that they’ve reached another milestone in replacing old lead water lines.
Contractors have surpassed the 25% mark for City of Benton Harbor service line replacements this week as the project was buoyed by the passage of additional funding in a bipartisan supplemental state budget bill.
The funding in the Building Michigan Together Plan signed by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer late last month directs $45 million to the City of Benton Harbor for infrastructure improvements including replacement of all the city’s lead water service lines. The funding ensures the city will have resources to fully replace all service lines by the spring of 2023 as ordered by Governor Whitmer late last year.
To date, some 1,100 water service lines have been replaced or verified non-lead as of Wednesday morning, leaving roughly 3,300 to complete. The sixth and final contractor on the project began work this week. Progress on the project is updated daily on the Benton Harbor project dashboard.
“This historic pace is exactly what the people of Benton Harbor need,” said Princella Tobias, leader of Benton Harbor’s Team Solutions. “We are excited to see how quickly the state of Michigan, the Governor, the City of Benton Harbor and the people of Benton Harbor have worked together to move us this far in such a short period of time. Protecting the people is the most important part of this process and the faster this happens, the faster we can get to our goal of removing the lead and moving forward with solutions for our community.”
“I am glad to see things are moving as rapidly as they are,” said Pastor Duane Seats of Abundant Life Church of God in Christ. “To know that around 1,100 lead lines have been replaced thus far is awesome, and the $45 million to the City of Benton Harbor for infrastructure improvements. We know there is still a long way to go but you can not disagree with or deny the progress that has been made. Thank you to the City of Benton Harbor, State of Michigan and to the Governor and her staff.”
Almost 2,000 “Right of Access” Water Service Line Replacement Agreement forms have been completed – a necessary step to allow the contractors to access private properties to perform the work. The Water Service Line Replacement Agreement may be accessed, filled out and submitted online. Forms may also be submitted to Abonmarche, 95 West Main Street, Benton Harbor, MI 49022 or emailed to Sandy Riehl at sriehl@abonmarche.com. For questions, call 269-926-4557.
