Petition

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However, despite these wins, no one at EGLE or anywhere else in state government has been held accountable for their failure to address this massive public health disaster in our community.

The People’s Water Board Coalition hosted a Facebook Live event in October, 2021 describing the water quality issues in Benton Harbor. 

  November 2021: EPA Unilateral Administrative Order

On November 2, 2021, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued its Unilateral Administrative Order that identified numerous violations at the drinking water treatment plant including many that could result in bacterial contamination of the water. It turns out that the water challenges in Benton Harbor are not limited to lead in the water. 

There are several reasons:

• The water treatment plant is not meeting basic Safe Drinking Water Act requirements, which affects all residents, even those without lead service lines who may have thought the water did not present a risk in their home.
• Under the Safe Drinking Water Act, Benton Harbor is required to notify the public of these violations, some of which date back to 2010.  Benton Harbor residents finally received notice about these violations in their 2021 Water Quality Report that was mailed to homes in June of 2022. 

• Many of these public notifications were years late. These public notifications were the first time residents were contacted about the many violations at the water treatment plant, but they still leave out important information. The Benton Harbor Community Water Council has written to EGLE to request revised and improved public notification be distributed to all Benton Harbor residents. 
• The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services has started providing free filters designed to remove lead in March 2022. These filters are effective for removing lead, but they are not designed to remove bacteria. In fact, the carbon filters can allow bacteria, when present in the water, to grow.