Skip to main content
Sister Publication Links
  • Sustainable Plastics
  • Rubber News
Subscribe
  • Sign Up Free
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • News
    • Processor News
    • Suppliers
    • More News
    • Digital Edition
    • End Markets
    • Special Reports
    • Newsletters
    • Resin pricing news
    • Videos
    • Injection Molding
    • Blow Molding
    • Film & Sheet
    • Pipe/Profile/Tubing
    • Rotomolding
    • Thermoforming
    • Recycling
    • Machinery
    • Materials
    • Molds/Tooling
    • Product news
    • Design
    • K Show
    • Mergers & Acquisitions
    • Sustainability
    • Public Policy
    • Material Insights Videos
    • Numbers that Matter
    • Automotive
    • Packaging
    • Medical
    • Consumer Products
    • Construction
    • Processor of the Year
    • Best Places to Work
    • Women Breaking the Mold
    • Rising Stars
    • Diversity
    • Most Interesting Social Media Accounts in Plastics
  • Opinion
    • The Plastics Blog
    • Kickstart
    • One Good Resin
    • Pellets and Politics
    • All Things Data
    • Viewpoint
    • From Pillar to Post
    • Perspective
    • Mailbag
    • Fake Plastic Trees
  • Shop Floor
    • Blending
    • Compounding
    • Drying
    • Injection Molding
    • Purging
    • Robotics
    • Size Reduction
    • Structural Foam
    • Tooling
    • Training
  • Events
    • K Show Livestream
    • Plastics News Events
    • Industry Events
    • Injection Molding & Design Expo
    • Livestreams/Webinars
    • Editorial Livestreams
    • Ask the Expert
    • Plastics News Events Library
    • Processor of the Year submissions
    • Plastics News Executive Forum
    • Injection Molding & Design Expo
    • Plastics News Caps & Closures
    • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum
    • Plastics in Automotive
    • PN Live: Mergers and Acquisitions
    • Polymer Points Live
    • Numbers that Matter Live
    • Plastics in Politics Live
    • Sustainable Plastics Live
    • Plastics Caps & Closures Library
    • Plastics in Healthcare Library
    • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum Library
  • Rankings & Data
    • Injection Molders
    • Blow Molders
    • Film Sheet
    • Thermoformers
    • Pipe Profile Tubing
    • Rotomolders
    • Mold/Toolmakers
    • LSR Processors
    • Recyclers
    • Compounders - List
    • Association - List
    • Plastic Lumber - List
    • All
  • Directory
  • Resin Prices
    • Commodity TPs
    • High Temp TPs
    • ETPs
    • Thermosets
    • Recycled Plastics
    • Historic Commodity Thermoplastics
    • Historic High Temp Thermoplastics
    • Historic Engineering Thermoplastics
    • Historic Thermosets
    • Historic Recycled Plastics
  • Custom
    • Sponsored Content
    • LS Mtron Sponsored Content
    • Conair Sponsored Content
    • KraussMaffei Sponsored Content
    • ENGEL Sponsored Content
    • White Papers
    • Classifieds
    • Place an Ad
    • Sign up for Early Classified
MENU
Breadcrumb
  1. Home
  2. News
February 23, 2016 01:00 AM

JM Eagle offers to replace lead pipe in Flint, Mich., for free

Catherine Kavanaugh
Staff Writer
  • Tweet
  • Share
  • Share
  • Email
  • More
    Reprints Print
    JM Eagle
    JM Eagle is pushing for more use of plastic pipes to replacing aging pipes that leak and waste water in drought-stricken areas.

    JM Eagle, the world's largest producer of plastic pipe, is offering to replace for free all of the lead lines connecting water mains to houses and businesses in Flint, Mich., where contaminated drinking water has created a public health crisis.

    Lead leached into the system after the city switched its source of water to the Flint River, and it ended up being corrosive to the lead pipes.

    No official deal has been struck with JM Eagle, according to ABC News 12 WJRT, which reported JM Eagle CEO Walter Wang's offer to the Flint City Council on Feb. 22.

    “I've been reading about this water crisis, this contamination issue, which is hurting human beings,” Wang told the television station. “It's hurting children and making them sick. There's a lot of articles written but I don't see anybody offering a long-term sustainable solution.”

    Wang said JM Eagle pipe can last more than 100 years and it comes with a 50-year guarantee.

    JM Eagle is the No. 1 pipe, profile and tubing extruder in North America with estimated sales of $2.5 billion, according to Plastics News' latest ranking. The Los Angeles-based company has 22 manufacturing plants in North America producing PVC and high density polyethylene pipe for potable water, sewage, irrigation and other uses.

    If the city of Flint accepts JM Eagle's offer, HDPE pipe most likely would be used to replace the lead lines.

    Wang has supported efforts to bring clean water to communities before. In 2011, JM Eagle donated nearly 400 miles of pipe to build the infrastructure needed to get water to some of the poorest villages in arid Africa. He also provided funds to help engineer and design it.

    On its Twitter account, JM Eagle recently has been posting support for Flint residents — “everyone has the right to clean water” — as well as warnings to other cities — “America is Flint.” The company promoted its products, too, with a tweet that says “Our PVC and PE (polyethylene) pipe has been delivering clean water for decades.”

    High levels of lead in tap water can cause permanent health effects, such as lower IQ, delayed development and behavioral problems, if the lead enters the bloodstream. The number of infants and children with elevated levels of lead reportedly doubled after Flint changed water sources in April 2014 in what was supposed to be cost-cutting move.

    Flint reconnected to the Detroit water supply, which is from Lake Huron, in October 2015, but the damage has been done. Flint Mayor Karen Weaver has said her administration will move forward with an important part of the fix, which is a plan to remove all lead pipe from the city of 99,760.

    The number and location of water service lines containing lead is still coming into focus. A professor from the University of Michigan who has pored over records of 56,000 homes and businesses estimates about 8,000 service lines contain lead.

    The mayor has called upon state and federal lawmakers to approve funding to begin replacing lead pipes while long-term repairs are evaluated.

    “I hear some questions, always from people outside of our city, about why we need to remove these lines,” Weaver said in a Feb. 18 news release. “My answer is simple; the people of Flint have suffered long enough.

    “This is a public health emergency and this is an economic crisis,” she said. “People won't buy homes or even feel comfortable in our restaurants until every lead service line is removed, and this is the most important step to returning confidence to government.”

    The decision to switch water sources to the Flint River was made when the city was under a financial emergency manager and it was touted as a sensible and safe change. However, a month later, in May 2014, people were complaining about rashes from the new water.

    JM Eagle and other plastic pipe manufacturers describe their products as safe and reliable long-term solutions to rebuilding the nation's aging water systems. More than $1 trillion of upgrades are needed over the next 25 years to repair and expand the infrastructure to meet projected needs, according to the American Water Works Association (AWWA).

    JM Eagle's 50-year warranty guarantees that its pipe meets standards of the AWWA and other certification agencies and that products leave the plants free of defect in workmanship and materials. The warranty was announced in April 2010, a couple months after a whistleblower lawsuit against the company was unsealed.

    JM Eagle remains embroiled in the lawsuit filed by a former employee and more than 40 government entities over the quality of PVC pipe produced from 1996-2006.

    RECOMMENDED FOR YOU
    Illinois AG sues 14 firms over PFAS contamination
    Letter
    to the
    Editor

    Do you have an opinion about this story? Do you have some thoughts you'd like to share with our readers? Plastics News would love to hear from you. Email your letter to Editor at [email protected]

    Most Popular
    1
    Prices on the rise for PP, PVC
    2
    Berry CEO Salmon retiring
    3
    This is the year the reality of plastics EPR arrives in the US
    4
    Why EV programs are causing problems for auto suppliers
    5
    Vinyl Institute offering $3M in grants to spur PVC recycling
    SIGN UP FOR OUR FREE NEWSLETTERS
    EMAIL ADDRESS

    Please enter a valid email address.

    Please enter your email address.

    Please verify captcha.

    Please select at least one newsletter to subscribe.

    Get our newsletters

    Staying current is easy with Plastics News delivered straight to your inbox, free of charge.

    Subscribe today

    Subscribe to Plastics News

    Subscribe now
    Connect with Us
    • LinkedIn
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • Instagram

    Plastics News covers the business of the global plastics industry. We report news, gather data and deliver timely information that provides our readers with a competitive advantage.

    Contact Us

    1155 Gratiot Avenue
    Detroit MI 48207-2997

    Customer Service:
    877-320-1723

    Resources
    • About
    • Staff
    • Editorial Calendar
    • Media Kit
    • Data Store
    • Digital Edition
    • Custom Content
    • People
    • Contact
    • Careers
    • Sitemap
    Related Crain Publications
    • Sustainable Plastics
    • Rubber News
    • Tire Business
    • Urethanes Technology
    Legal
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Policy
    • Privacy Request
    Copyright © 1996-2023. Crain Communications, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
    • News
      • Processor News
        • Injection Molding
        • Blow Molding
        • Film & Sheet
        • Pipe/Profile/Tubing
        • Rotomolding
        • Thermoforming
        • Recycling
      • Suppliers
        • Machinery
        • Materials
        • Molds/Tooling
        • Product news
        • Design
      • More News
        • K Show
        • Mergers & Acquisitions
        • Sustainability
        • Public Policy
        • Material Insights Videos
        • Numbers that Matter
      • Digital Edition
      • End Markets
        • Automotive
        • Packaging
        • Medical
        • Consumer Products
        • Construction
      • Special Reports
        • Processor of the Year
        • Best Places to Work
        • Women Breaking the Mold
        • Rising Stars
        • Diversity
        • Most Interesting Social Media Accounts in Plastics
      • Newsletters
      • Resin pricing news
      • Videos
    • Opinion
      • The Plastics Blog
      • Kickstart
      • One Good Resin
      • Pellets and Politics
      • All Things Data
      • Viewpoint
      • From Pillar to Post
      • Perspective
      • Mailbag
      • Fake Plastic Trees
    • Shop Floor
      • Blending
      • Compounding
      • Drying
      • Injection Molding
      • Purging
      • Robotics
      • Size Reduction
      • Structural Foam
      • Tooling
      • Training
    • Events
      • K Show Livestream
      • Plastics News Events
        • Plastics News Executive Forum
        • Injection Molding & Design Expo
        • Plastics News Caps & Closures
        • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum
        • Plastics in Automotive
      • Industry Events
      • Injection Molding & Design Expo
      • Livestreams/Webinars
        • PN Live: Mergers and Acquisitions
      • Editorial Livestreams
        • Polymer Points Live
        • Numbers that Matter Live
        • Plastics in Politics Live
        • Sustainable Plastics Live
      • Ask the Expert
      • Plastics News Events Library
        • Plastics Caps & Closures Library
        • Plastics in Healthcare Library
        • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum Library
      • Processor of the Year submissions
    • Rankings & Data
      • Injection Molders
      • Blow Molders
      • Film Sheet
      • Thermoformers
      • Pipe Profile Tubing
      • Rotomolders
      • Mold/Toolmakers
      • LSR Processors
      • Recyclers
      • Compounders - List
      • Association - List
      • Plastic Lumber - List
      • All
    • Directory
    • Resin Prices
      • Commodity TPs
        • Historic Commodity Thermoplastics
      • High Temp TPs
        • Historic High Temp Thermoplastics
      • ETPs
        • Historic Engineering Thermoplastics
      • Thermosets
        • Historic Thermosets
      • Recycled Plastics
        • Historic Recycled Plastics
    • Custom
      • Sponsored Content
      • LS Mtron Sponsored Content
      • Conair Sponsored Content
      • KraussMaffei Sponsored Content
      • ENGEL Sponsored Content
      • White Papers
      • Classifieds
        • Place an Ad
        • Sign up for Early Classified