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>only at unrealistic levels of bad

Bad water or water service is not unrealistic.

It took FIVE YEARS for Flint Michigan's water to be re-declared "safe to drink without a filter." The solution involved FEMA and the National Guard.

That can't have been the best way.

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Even if allowed it would take more than 5 years for a private company to put in enough pipes to compete in Flint.

It would not take 5 years for a competing interest to complete a takeover bid of the water utility and implement faster/better fixes. Nor would it take 5 years for water customers (if they could) to divert the money that funds the municipal water district away from them and towards an alternative like water filtration or truck deliveries

It would take five years to complete all that. We'd certainly hope that they can manage your project better and get it started sooner than that but there is a lot of labor and there's only so many crews can do it and so many so much equipment. Your competing water utility could certainly serve the first customers in two or three years, but there's a lot of work needed and I would be surprised if they could get the whole town done in even five years.

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