The city of Westland held an emergency city council meeting Monday night to address water safety concerns.
The city council heard from concerned residents and eventually approved funds to test for elevated lead levels at Westland homes.
At the February 16 meeting, a former city employee, Frank Raymore, told the city council he had been ordered as a city employee to bury lead pipe at homes and he was concerned about the water quality for the future.
William Wild, the mayor of Westland said he took those concerns seriously.
"He's been a long time employee here, he's been a hard worker and he's a resident that lives here too and we take this stuff very serious,” said Wild.
Wild said the city dug up pipes at the home Raymore had concerns about, and several others in the area. City crews did not find and lead piping at the homes Raymore mentioned, but they did find one home with some lead leads in the area.
The pipes were repaired Monday afternoon before the emergency meeting.
WIld said he wants residents to know, even though some homes may have some lead pipes, it doesn’t mean they will experience Flint-like problems.
"The lead itself isn't the problem a long as the water is treated and that's been one of the misconceptions that we've been pushing back,” said Wild.
Raymore said he is happy the city is taking action, but they need to do more.
"There's really no other way to find out where the problems are, other then testing and really, up until this point, there really hasn't been any testing done,” said Raymore.
During Monday’s emergency meeting, city councilors approved $75,000 to test for elevated lead levels at homes where residents have concerns.
The testing could start as early as this week.
