FLINT, MI -- The federal government wants the city and state to get busy with "critically needed" spending on the city's water system.
Christopher Korleski, director of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Water Division, asked Mayor Karen Weaver and Michigan Department of Environmental Quality Director Heidi Grether to pick up the pace of planning and implementation of water infrastructure projects in a Dec. 7 letter.
The federal government made $120 million available for the Flint work on Nov. 16 -- $100 million approved by Congress and a required state match of $20 million -- but "it appears that roughly $11 million in state funds and only $192,972 in federal funds have been paid out for projects thus far," Korleski's letter says.
Flint was awarded the funding for the Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation Act and the conditional award of the funds last month allowed for money to be used for lead service line replacement ($51.5 million), water main replacement ($10 million), and a corrosion control study and asset management plan ($1.5 million).
"While the lead service line replacement project, and the coorsion control study and asset management plan are proceeding, the water main project has not begun," Korleski's letter says. "Also, plans for the remaining $68.5 million have not been finalized."
City officials said this week that they have replaced 6,200 lead and lead-tainted water service lines during the past two years and plan to remove another 6,000 during each of the next two years.
City representatives were not immediately available to comment on the EPA request to move faster on planning and implementation of its plans.
MLive-The Flint Journal could not immediately reach a DEQ representative for comment.
The new directive from EPA comes after a March 17 letter, instructing state and city officials on procedures for accessing the $120 million by using the Supplemental Drinking Water State Revolving Funds system.
That process calls for the city to apply for the release of the funds through DEQ and for DEQ to forward the intended use plan to EPA for approval.
The city and state are then required to enter into financial assistance agreements, which EPA officials have said can be time-consuming.
In addition to that process, WINN also requires a description of the projects to be funded, an explanation of how the projects will address a situation causing the water emergency, estimated costs of each project and the projected start date for construction.