FLINT, Mich. – A substance found in the Flint River has concerned Genesee County so much that the county has forced people to stay away even though the City of Flint still doesn’t know what’s in the water or how it got there.
It’s been two weeks since someone illegally dumped hundreds of gallons of something into the Flint River.
The City of Flint is investigating the issue but still has no answers.
“So I grew up fishing this river and everything around it,” said Terrance Barr.
After decades of industrial pollution, it took years to clean up the Flint River finally.
Barr fishes there regularly.
“Walleye, catfish, great smallmouth bass, a lot of smallmouth bass, pike,” Barr said. “I mean, you never know what you’re going to catch; it’s a river, you know?”
Someone dumped 200-to-300 gallons of contaminated liquid last month into the Flint River.
Genesee County was concerned enough to issue an advisory, telling people not to have any contact with the river.
Local 4s investigative team went to Flint a week after the spill and saw a containment berm still in place.
The spill is completely under control now, but the issue of concern is that we discovered the City waited a week before investigating local sewer pipes. Sewer lines could reveal where and how the contaminant got into the river.
We talked with state experts who told us that should have been done immediately.
“You’re the first one that’s told me about a spill that just happened,” Barr said.
In a statement, Flint Mayor Sheldon Neeley said, “(The substance) did not get into the river on its own. We are confident that this is the result of human activity.”
The City says the substance dumped into the river was a petroleum product.
Tests would reveal what the substance is, but for now, the mystery regarding who dumped it continues along with frustration.
“This river’s been here for years, since generations,” Barr said. “The Indians traveled it from here to there. I mean, we don’t take care of it now. What are we going to do later.”
We asked the City of Flint why it waited a week before scoping the sewage pipes to find the substance’s source.
In an emailed statement, the City said, “We had to wait until after the July 4th weekend to assemble the appropriate equipment and team to scope the sewers. However, we took immediate action to eliminate the risk to the river.”
The Flint River was polluted in 2022, which EGLE says was much worse than the recent spill.
Lockhart Chemical Company caused the recent spill. Lockhart was sued by the state attorney general and is now out of business. After that spill was cleaned up, locals were hopeful for the Flint River, and then this happened.
