Governor
Gretchen Whitmer issued an executive order on Thursday aimed at ensuring
access to safe drinking water for Benton Harbor.

“Every
Michigander deserves safe drinking water, and every community deserves
lead-free pipes,” stated Gov. Whitmer.

“I’m
proud to sign an Executive Directive today that will pursue a
whole-of-government approach to protect access to safe drinking water right now
and work tirelessly to replace every lead service line in Benton Harbor as soon
as possible.”

“I
cannot imagine the stress that moms and dads in Benton Harbor are under as they
emerge from a pandemic, work hard to put food on the table, pay the bills, and
face a threat to the health of their children. That’s why we are also
expediting the timeline to replace lead service lines in an effort to ensure
that 100% of the pipes are lead-free in the next 18 months.”

Her directive
comes a week after her administration urged residents to only drink and cook
with bottled water.

Benton Harbor, a
primarily Black and low-income community of 9,700 people, is located in Berrien
County, about 100 miles (160 kilometres) northwest of Chicago.

For the last
three years, tests have revealed lead levels considerably above the federal
action threshold of 15 parts per billion.

Following the
water crisis in Flint in 2014-15, Michigan enacted the nation’s strictest
lead-in-water rules. However, advocacy organisations such as the Benton Harbor
Community Water Council recently pushed the Biden administration to assist,
claiming that local and state initiatives, such as corrosion-control measures,
were poorly executed and ineffectual.

In a written
statement, the Rev. Edward Pinkney, head of the Benton Harbor Community Water
Council, stated, “This is what we’ve been waiting for — an
‘all-hands-on-deck’ approach to fix the lead contamination crisis in Benton
Harbor.”

Lead is toxic at
any level, but children are especially vulnerable since it may stifle growth
and create learning and behavioural issues.