Idaho Regulators Ask Utilities to Double Check Water Systems

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Idaho environmental authorities are asking every water utility in the state to double-check its system after problems surfaced with the drinking water in Flint, Michigan.

The Idaho Statesman says Jerri Henry with the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality has asked every Idaho utility to make sure water is safe from lead. She has given them a July deadline to complete the work.

The agency says it knows at least three systems in Southwest Idaho are not in compliance. Whether local water systems are tainted with lead has been of heightened concern since the crisis in Flint, Michigan, erupted as a national story.

The Flint crisis has also recalled Idaho's own "Flint moment" four decades ago when a North Idaho mine smelter spewed tons of lead into the air and ground. Dozens of children who were tested in 1975 had dangerously high levels of lead in their bloodstreams.