Flint community frustrated as water main break issues continue

By KENDALL KEYS, ANNA MUCKENFUSS

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    FLINT, Michigan (WNEM) — A local community is frustrated after residents said two water mains broke and more than a dozen in the area over the past year.

Crews are working to make repairs while residents are demanding answers and asking who is responsible.

Frustrations are flowing as fast as the water Tyler Bailey caught on camera gushing out in the front of his home on Court Street.

“All around it’s just a cornucopia of frustrations,” Bailey said. “Other than the traffic delays and the street actually being unusable for the greater part 18 months, the biggest frustration was not having running water several times during a global pandemic.”

The water main breaks on the street in the past 24 hours are the 13th and 40th the area has seen in the past 17 months according to the Flint Department of Public Works.

Bailey is frustrated at the uncertainty that follows each time it happens.

“Not knowing if you need to boil your water, if your water is safe, or if you’re going to get woken up at three in the morning to a surprise geyser outside of your house,” Bailey said.

Bailey said he doesn’t know where to turn for answers.

“The literal intersection of a contractor, subcontractor, MDOT and the city. So, I don’t know who to talk to about what’s actually been done and will be done. The lack of communication and transparency has been glaring,” Bailey said.

Michael Brown, the director of public works suggests the problem is with the main itself.

“The city is frustrated also,” Brown said. “We kinda think that it was the way that it was installed.”

Because the project was handled by a contractor, Brown was unable to answer questions about the breaks with certainty, but he was clear about liability.

“We’re not exactly sure what the cause is, but the city of Flint is not liable for them, the contractor is,” Brown said.

The contractor, Diponio, did not immediately respond to TV5’s request for an interview.

As each break gets repaired, Bailey said the underlying cause is part of a larger problem.

“Water in Flint is a very sensitive issue. Some call this the poison city when we were once the vehicle city. And we’re never going to be able to rebrand our city if we keep making immature and amateur mistakes as a city,” Bailey said.

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