FLINT, MI – It will take two days before Flint residents can taste history.
On Friday, April 25, Mayor Dayne Walling turned off the flow of water from Detroit and officially ended Flint’s nearly 50-year dependence on its neighbor to the south.
Officials said it will take about two days before the Flint River water will completely work its way through the treatment plant and flow from resident’s faucets.
The city plans to use the Flint River until the Karegnondi Water Authority pipeline is built, which will bring untreated Lake Huron water to Genesee County.
“Water is an absolute vital service that most everyone takes for granted,” Walling said. “It’s a historic moment for the city of Flint to return to its roots and use our own river as our drinking water supply.”
With about a dozen people looking on inside a small outbuilding at the Flint water treatment on the city's northside, Walling pressed a small black button switching the feed from green to red as people around counted down from three.
Beforehand, officials raised glasses of water in celebration.
Representatives from the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, as well numerous elected and city officials were at the Flint water treatment plant on Friday for the ceremonial closing of the valve from Detroit.
“Individuals shouldn’t notice any difference,” said Steve Busch, Lansing and Jackson district supervisor in the DEQ’s office of drinking water and municipal assistance.
He said Flint still had a final bacteria test that it passed Friday morning, allowing Flint to close the valve to Detroit.
Flint will use the river until the KWA builds its pipeline to Genesee County. The $274 million project is expected to be complete sometime in 2016.
“This is indeed the best choice for the city of Flint going forward,” said Flint Emergency Manager Darnell Earley.
When Walling flipped the switch, pumps powered down as water ceased flowing from the 36-inch water main from Detroit.
“There have been a lot of questions from our customers because this is such a major change,” he said. “When the treated river water starts being pumped into the system, we move from plan to reality. The water quality speaks for itself.”
Flint wanted had hoped to complete the turn off on Monday, but more work was needed on its disinfectant system.
“If we miss the date for shutting off the valve to Detroit – that doesn’t mean the project is a failure – that means we’re working on it,” Earley said.
"The Flint River is a different river than it was the last time we used it – that was pre-Clean Water Act," Flint Utilities Director Daughtery Johnson told The Flint Journal last week, adding that the city made two years' worth of improvements at the water plant in nine months. "It's a great system. It's a great asset the city has. Every drop we pull out, we're going to clean and put right back in the river."
Johnson said although the hardness of the water treated from the Flint River will be higher than it is now from Detroit, customers still shouldn't notice a difference. Higher hardness in water means it may take more water and soap to create a lather.
On April 17, the water treatment plant took in 12 million gallons of river water for treatment test runs that have been ongoing since.
Detroit terminated its contract with the city effective April 17 last year when Flint decided to purchase water through the KWA.
Dominic Adams is a reporter for The Flint Journal. Contact him at dadams5@mlive.com or 810-241-8803. Follow him on Twitter, Facebook or Google+.