For decades, Flint and Genesee County were virtually powerless to stop the city of Detroit from inflicting its largest water rate increases on local customers because of an agreement signed about 40 years ago.
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Tests have shown children with elevated levels of lead, months after Flint began drawing and treating water from the Flint river. And doctors last week reported high levels of lead in local children’s blood samples, also blaming water pipes. “There is a real concern and issue (once water) ends up in people’s homes”, Snyder said.
But residents have been unhappy with the taste and appearance of water from the Flint River.
But to a few residents’ chagrin, the Flint River remains the city’s water source. “I will continue to work with city and state officials on immediate and long-term solutions to improve the quality of Flint’s water”.
The Coalition for Clean Water, the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan and the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) joined a petition to convince the EPA to respond, noted the release. (New studies reveal that there is no safe level of lead in the bloodstream.) The Hurley results and recommendations corroborated the study done by a Virginia Tech university team led by noted water infrastructure engineer Dr. Marc Edwards.
“What we discovered to our shock was that they switched to a new water source that was obviously very corrosive, meaning it would eat up the lead pipe and iron pipe and essentially put the metals into the water, without controlling the corrosion”, Edwards says.
An ACLU of Michigan investigation found that the city did not know whether it was testing homes serviced by lead pipes. Children, pregnant or nursing women should also use filtered or bottled water for drinking and cooking.
In the long term, Snyder must find state funds to help Flint replace its aging service lines. Not merely because this saga unfolded while Flint was under state oversight, a succession of emergency managers appointed by and answerable to Snyder, but also because the governor oversees the state agencies charged with preventing just this type of crisis.
The mayor says tapping back into the Detroit water system isn’t completely out of the picture and that discussion will continue into next week.
Lead filters, flushing the water, and treatment can be used to mitigate the problem of lead in the water.
As late as Wednesday, Snyder spokesperson Sara Wurfel questioned the test data, insisting that the lead levels in Flint’s water did not reach levels considered actionable by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Complaints that unsafe water was being piped into their homes were answered with the same refrain: the decision was irreversible due to insurmountable financial obstacles. The EPA, along with and city officials, must exercise their full authority to guarantee that the people of Flint are protected from the hazardous water now flowing into their homes.
“I’m glad the state is admitting there’s a problem”, she said.
Exposure to lead can cause behavior problems and learning disabilities in young children.
“Experts acknowledge that corrosion control treatment takes time once introduced – weeks or even months – to move throughout the water distribution system and fully take effect”.
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“Neither the city of Flint nor the state of Michigan is doing enough to fix the problem of lead in our drinking water”.
