EGLE monitors the compliance of community water supplies with the Michigan Safe Drinking Act and other applicable federal/state regulations, including Michigan's Lead and Copper Rule (LCR).
EGLE plays that role in a variety of ways, including reviewing records and test results provided by community water supplies and conducting site inspections of water treatment plants and other infrastructure. On some occasions, EGLE engages in activities like joint site inspections with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). As documents linked below indicate, EGLE conducted such a joint inspection with the EPA of the city of Benton Harbor water supply in September and October 2021.
Providing technical assistance to help community water supplies comply with legal requirements-from LCR sampling protocols to proper plant maintenance and treatment of their source water-represents a significant and important element of the EGLE Drinking Water and Environmental Health Division's (DWEHD's) work.
When EGLE determines that a community drinking water supply has failed to comply with legal requirements under our jurisdiction, the Department takes enforcement action. Issuing a Violation Notice (VN) to the supply is a common tool used in that process. Among other information, a VN describes each violation that was identified and the action the water supply is required to take in response. EGLE may fine a community water supply in conjunction with issuing a VN.
When a community water supply faces significant compliance challenges with potential impacts to public health, EGLE may escalate enforcement. This allows EGLE and the water supply to develop a mutually acceptable alternative compliance timeline. This may include entering into a consent agreement signed by both parties. As referenced in the documents linked below, the city of Benton Harbor is currently under an Administrative Consent Order (ACO)-an agreement it co-signed with EGLE in 2019 to address its noncompliance challenges. This ACO has been updated and amended over time.
NOTE: An action level exceedance (ALE) for lead or copper is not a violation of the law. An ALE triggers additional actions a water supply must take-and failing to take those actions may constitute a violation-but the ALE itself is not a violation.
The documents linked in the table below are recent EGLE records related to compliance and enforcement activities involving the city of Benton Harbor water supply. As they become available, we will add additional documents to this table.
Description |
Date of Document |
Violation Notice - Failure to Issue Public Notice |
2018-06-18 |
Violation Notice - Monitoring and Reporting for E Coli |
2018-08-01 |
Violation Notice - TOC Removal TT |
2018-08-09 |
Violation Notice - TOC Monitoring |
2018-08-17 |
Violation Notice - Sanitary Survey |
2018-10-03 |
Violation Notice - TOC and Monitoring |
2018-11-16 |
City of Benton Harbor Administrative Consent Order |
2019-03-08 |
Violation Notice - Monitoring and Reporting for LCR, WQP, and SOC |
2019-08-23 |
Violation Notice - Reporting for Lead and Copper |
2019-11-21 |
Violation Notice - Monitoring and Reporting for Lead and Copper |
2020-04-08 |
Compliance Communication - Lead and Copper Sampling Plan Past Due |
2020-05-14 |
City of Benton Harbor First Amended Administrative Consent Order |
2020-08-07 |
Violation Notice - Failure of Monitoring Equipment |
2020-10-05 |
Violation Notice - Treatment Technique |
2020-12-22 |
Violation Notice - Monitoring and Reporting for SOC |
2021-01-12 |
Violation Notice - Reporting for Lead and Copper |
2021-02-08 |
Violation Notice - Monitoring and Reporting |
2021-03-21 |
Violation Notice - Monitoring and Reporting for TOC |
2021-03-26 |
Violation Notice - Treatment Technique |
2021-06-02 |
Compliance Communication - Reporting for Public Education Distribution |
2021-06-07 |
Violation Notice - Monitoring and Reporting for Water Quality Parameters |
2021-10-15 |
EPA Unilateral Administrative Order |
2021-11-02 |
Violation Notice - Sanitary Survey with Enclosures |
2021-11-02 |
Benton Harbor Drinking Water Status Presentation February 2022 |
2022-02-01 |
Letter from EGLE to Benton Harbor re Compliance update for Amended Administrative Consent Order |
2022-03-24 |
Benton Harbor Drinking Water Status Presentation June 3, 2022 |
2022-06-03 |
Letter from EGLE to Benton Harbor re Compliance update for Amended Administrative Consent Order dated May 20, 2022 |
2022-05-20 |
Letter from EGLE to Benton Harbor re Comments on the Draft Benton Harbor TMF Study dated May 5, 2022 |
2022-05-05 |
Letter from Benton Harbor to EGLE re Request for Extension for Cross Connection Control Plan dated June 21, 2022
|
2022-06-21 |
Letter from Benton Harbor to EGLE re: Request for Approval to Conduct Reduced Monitoring Lead and Copper dated July 8, 2022 |
2022-07-08 |
Letter from EPA to Benton Harbor re: Request for Extension to Complete the Alternative Analysis Report dated July 12, 2022 |
2022-07-12 |
Letter from EGLE to Benton Harbor re: Response to Reduced Number of Lead and Copper Sampling Sites dated July 20, 2022 |
2022-07-20 |
Letter from Benton Harbor to EGLE re: Request for Extension to Complete the Technical, Managerial, and Financial (TMF) Capacity Report dated Aug 1, 2022 |
2022-08-01 |
Letter from EGLE to Benton Harbor re: Approval for request to Complete the Technical, Managerial, and Financial (TMF) Capacity Report dated Aug 10, 2022 |
2022-08-10 |
Letter from Betanzo to EGLE Clark and HHS Hertel re: Clarifications on the June 3 Benton Harbor presentation and June Public Notices with attachment dated July 29, 2022 |
2022-07-29 |
Letter from EGLE Clark to Betanzo and GLELC Leonard dated August 18, 2022 |
2022-08-18 |
Letter from EGLE to Benton Harbor re: Violation Notice – Reporting for Individual Analytes dated September 8, 2022 |
2022-09-08 |
City of Benton Harbor Water System Alternatives Analysis |
2022-10-17 |
Letter From Benton harbor to EGLE re: Request to Conduct Reduced Monitoring for Lead and Copper dated February 14, 2023 |
2023-02-14 |
Letter from EGLE to Benton Harbor re: Response to Request to Reduced Number of Lead and Copper Sampling Sites dated March 10, 2023 |
2023-03-10 |