Genesee County Pipeline Declared "Reckless Folly" by Times-Herald Newspaper

In an opinion piece entitled "Pipeline has the look of a boondoggle," The Times-Herald in Port Huron asserts that "Genesee County's proposal to spend $600 million on a water pipeline from Lake Huron is reckless folly."

The Times-Herald takes issue with Genesee County's rationale for the new pipeline, including capacity, cost, and reliability.

• "Capacity is not an issue. The Detroit water line, which went into use about 35 years ago, was built to carry as much as 1.2 billion gallons of water each day. In actuality, demand has been far less."
• While Genesee County has complained that Detroit has doubled its water rates in the past seven years from $9 million to $18 million, "At that rate, how many years would it take to earn back [the] $600 million [Genesee County proposes to spend on a new water line]?
• "It's disturbing that Genesee County officials would complain of service disruptions . . . without mentioning how these were caused by a massive power outage in the [S]ummer of 2003 that affected much of the Midwest and Northeast."
  

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