DETROIT -- Flint must take several steps, including implementing a three-month water-testing period, before it switches its drinking water source again in the wake of the city's lead-contamination crisis, federal officials said Friday.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency updated its order issued in January, calling for Flint to complete a 3-mile interconnection so it can test water from the new source for three months while continuing to provide water from Detroit's system. The city also must submit a new water-treatment plan.
Flint is expected to switch to the Karegnondi Water Authority late next year and treat the water itself. Flint officials did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.
The city switched from Detroit water to Flint River water in 2014 to save money, but corrosive water caused lead, a neurotoxin, to leach from aging pipes into homes. Doctors have detected elevated levels of lead in hundreds of children.
The city has since returned to Detroit's water system as it awaits completion of the Karegnondi pipeline. And while the city's water system heals from the contamination, Flint residents are urged to use bottled water or filtered tap water.
"Given the harmful effects of the source water switch in April of 2014, it is critical that any future changes in source water for the city be properly planned," Robert Kaplan, the EPA's acting regional administrator, wrote in a letter this week to Flint Mayor Karen Weaver and Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder.
Kaplan's predecessor, Susan Hedman, stepped down Feb. 1 amid criticism that the agency failed to act sooner to address lead contamination in the predominantly black city. She denied wrongdoing but said she wanted to avoid becoming a distraction.
Michigan officials declared a public health emergency in October 2015, and the EPA declared an emergency three months later.
Federal, state and local officials have argued over who is to blame for the lead problem.
An EPA inspector general's report concluded last month that the federal agency should have acted sooner. A panel appointed by Snyder found earlier that the state is "fundamentally accountable" for the lead crisis because of decisions made by state environmental regulators and state-appointed emergency managers who controlled the city.
Earlier this week, Michigan won federal approval to spend roughly $119 million over five years to remove lead hazards from the homes of low-income residents in Flint and other communities -- the second time the state has received a waiver to spend such additional money to respond to the crisis.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services authorized an amendment to Michigan's Children's Health Insurance Program. The state will spend $333,000 this fiscal year to obtain a nearly $23.5 million federal match.
Houses, apartments and other residential structures will be eligible for expanded lead abatement services if a pregnant woman lives there or there is at least one resident under age 19 who qualifies for Medicaid or Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Eligible properties in Flint, where the water supply was contaminated with toxic lead, will receive priority status.
The decision came the same day that Weaver announced the renewal of an emergency declaration that she first ordered 11 months ago. Federal and state emergency declarations expired in August, though the governments have continued working to restore the drinking water system in the city of nearly 100,000 people.
The lead abatement funding will be used to permanently eliminate or enclose lead-based paint and lead dust, replace fixtures, test samples, and remove or cover lead hazards in the soil. In Flint, the program also will include the replacement of exterior lead service lines that connect water mains to homes.
Officials say lead levels in Flint's water have been improving. As of September, 95 percent of samples were at or below the designated action level of 15 parts per billion and further decreases are expected when the next round of results are released early next year.
Information for this article was contributed by David Eggert of The Associated Press.
A Section on 11/19/2016