The eastern Michigan city whose drinking water is contaminated with lead could see its water rates double in the next five years if no changes to infrastructure are made.
Michigan Treasurer Nick Khouri released a Michigan Department of Treasury report Friday that showed that Flint, which already pays more than any other metropolitan area in the country for water, could end up paying even more in the next five years, the Detroit News reported.
According to the report, the average Flint resident can expect to pay $110.11 per month for water in 2022 if nothing is done to address the system’s problems. The average resident currently pays $53.84 per month.
“It was a system built for 200,000 people, but you don’t have 200,000 people,” Khouri said. “It’s a system with high fixed costs.”
Flint residents can’t use their tap water due to lead contamination brought on by a switch in the water supply made two years ago. A report issued earlier this year showed that Flint has the most expensive water in the country.
The current costs to Flint residents are not meant to pay for the costs of dealing with the lead water crisis in the city, Khouri said.
While Flint is running its own water treatment plant, as was decided in April 2014, the city also is buying water from the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department because the water coming through its treatment plant ends up contaminated with lead.
The entire crisis was caused by a cost-saving measure to stop using water from the Detroit system and instead use the Flint River and local services.
