Flint gives green light to build $15 million backup water pipeline

May 2020

The Flint City Council has approved the construction of a $14.7 million pipeline to supply Flint with clean water if its main transmission line is out of service.

Members voted 5-4 to award the contract to L.D’ Agostini & Sons to build the 5.5-mile pipeline connecting Flint to a backup water supply. The contract was voted down twice before Monday night’s general meeting. The pipeline was supposed to be completed by December 2019. The new pipeline will link to Genesee County’s KWA water provider. If something happened to the city’s current provider, the Great Lakes Water Authority, the city could switch temporarily to the county’s system.

The council also approved in a 8-1 vote a $2.1 million contract to reconstruct a city reservoir near Dort Highway. Council members Eric Mays, Ward 1, Jerri Winfrey-Carter, Ward 5, Monica Galloway, Ward 7, and Allan Griggs, Ward 8, dissented in the vote for the pipeline. Mays dissented in the vote for the reservoir.