Stuff you don't want to know about our water infrastructure. It's sewers, septic tanks, drains, and other things we expect to work, sight unseen. But the current state of our water infrastructure is a threat to our public health.
After years of disinvestment and regulatory cutbacks, the stories are grim.
Since 2004, Macomb County officials have used a whack-a-mole approach to drain problems resulting in sinkholes and a pass-the-problem-forward approach to green ooze spilling on to I-696.
In Midland and Bay Counties, 10,000 people were evacuated, 2,500 buildings damaged, 150 homes destroyed, and $200 million in damages all due to dam failures known to be a threat to the communities.
In Calhoun County, a ruptured Enbridge pipeline spilled 1 million gallons of heavy crude oil into a Kalamazoo River tributary, evacuating 30 households, closing 35 miles of the river for two years, and costing $1.2 billion in the cleanup.
And in Genesee County, 30,000 households have already waited 6 years for clean water. Bad decisions by government officials result in 12 deaths from Legionnaires' Disease and 12,000 children exposed to lead. This is an environmental injustice.
All of these disasters were preventable.
So, while the clock ticks away on a breach in Enbridge's Line 5 pipeline under the Straits of Mackinaw, Michiganders hope for good government to come to the rescue.
Your vote matters.
Photo credit: Jonathon Gruenke/Kalamazoo Gazette, via Associated Press