But while residents are newly on-notice about the threat of lead in their water systems, the threat itself is nothing new. It’s just newly known to the public, the result of a rule change that forced water suppliers to start looking harder for the neurotoxin in their water delivery systems starting in 2019.
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“Nothing’s really changed but the testing standards,” said Jeff Wallace, village manager for Manchester, where 89 of some 800 households have a lead-containing service line.
The four communities currently in violation of Michigan’s lead-in-water standard are among dozens across the state that have been flagged for high levels of lead since the new rules took effect.
And with hundreds of water systems — from whole towns to small retirement centers — still awaiting their first water test results since Michigan’s rules changed, the list could keep growing.