The Director of the city of Kalamazoo’s Public Services Department says residents don’t need to worry about the safety of their water.
Sue Foune says the city is getting more calls about water quality since news broke about the crisis in Flint. Foune says there are some differences in Flint and Kalamazoo. Kalamazoo gets its water from groundwater while Flint draws from surface water, in the case of water with elevated levels of lead it came from the Flint River.
There are some lead lines carrying water in Kalamazoo. Foune says those are replaced when there are street projects, a line break or if testing shows a higher level of lead in a water sample. She says Kalamazoo has always added corrosion control chemicals. The lack of those chemicals in Flint is believed to be one of the major reasons for the elevated levels of lead.
The World Health Organization issued a report showing that Kalamazoo, and other cities had a higher level of lead in its drinking water. It was still below the federal levels that require action in the United States. But Foune says the results were skewed by where the samples were taken in the city.
Anyone who gets water from the city can get it tested for elevated levels of lead. Foune says that includes city residents, or anyone who gets water from the city of Kalamazoo.