Corroded Engine Blocks Lead GM To Escape Flint’s Tainted Water

Many of Flint, Michigan’s 100,000 residents are dealing with water polluted by lead. The issue began in April 2014, when—in an effort to save money—the city switched from metro Detroit’s water to water piped in from the Flint River. A new report by Automotive News, however, describes how General Motors’ engine plant in Flint noticed the problem and switched water sources in Dec. 2014—after many of its engine blocks had already been corroded.

Like the residents of Flint, GM noticed the impact of switching water immediately. While residents noted discoloration and a foul taste, GM found that the plant’s engine blocks used in the Chevrolet Cruze and Colorado pickup, as well as the Buick Enclave, were showing clear signs of rusting after exiting the machining process.

Further inspection found that a high level of chloride used to treat the river water was to blame. Having voiced its findings to the city, GM sought a short-term fix while a longer-term solution was being considered. The automaker began self-remediation—including reverse osmosis and trucking in haulers of water each day to dilute the chloride. Naturally this was time consuming and expensive, not to mention the risk of running out of clean water on a given day. And so an alternate plan was quickly put into action.

Thanks to its location, GM lobbied and eventually managed to switch its plant’s tainted water to that of the neighboring Flint Townships’, an area still using Detroit’s city water. As Automotive News noted, this was only an option due to the factory once lying within that township, prior to it being annexed by the city in the 1970s. This meant the infrastructure was in place for a relatively quick transition to the unpolluted water supply of Flint Township.

It was at this time GM’s Flint employees began voicing their concern over the city’s water supply: “If it’s too corrosive for an engine, what’s it doing to the inside of a person?” Automotive News quoted Dan Reyes, president of UAW Local 599, as saying.