“There are very positive trends….”
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“The way the water is now being used, relatively low flow volumes, relatively low flow rates, we have learned in the past few months that it’s probably going to take months or years to get these deposits out of the pipes and to clean these pipes up”, said Edwards.
“Yea, there are problems with water in wells throughout Virginia”, Edwards explained.
On the whole, Edwards said, a lower percentage of homes tested showed high lead levels, and even in those where levels still exceed federal standards, the amount of lead appears to be declining. People get sick if they inhale mist or vapor from contaminated water systems, hot tubs or cooling systems – typically in large buildings such as hospitals and hotels.
But the researchers said too numerous homes tested still showed lead levels above the federal “action level” of 15 parts per billion.
Top leaders of Michigan’s health and environmental protection departments struck different tones in describing Flint’s public health crisis over lead contamination in remarks prepared for testimony before Congress set for Wednesday.
Edwards says that the more water Flint residents use, the better water quality they will have.
The kind of testing this team has done can also be implemented here at home.
Last month, Edwards’ team sought out 174 of the 269 Flint residents who participated in the original August 2015 sampling of Flint water for re-sampling of lead in drinking water.
Flint’s water soured after Snyder’s government oversaw the city’s switch to the Flint River as its source, then failed to treat the river water with anti-corrosion chemicals.
Robert Kaplan, the acting EPA administrator for the Great Lakes region, said last week that Flint’s water system is still “unstable” but recovering, according to the Detroit News.
As a result, almost 9,000 children younger than 6 have potentially been exposed to the toxin.
Officials now believe the corrosive water leached lead from pipes throughout the city, poisoning Flint’s drinking water supply and forcing residents to drink bottled water and use filters in their homes and businesses.
A legislative committee created to review Flint’s water crisis will hear next from the leaders of a task force that spent months investigating the disaster.
That same day, Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder (R), whose administration has been heavily criticized for not acting on the problems in Flint sooner, sounded cautiously optimistic.
Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious disease expert at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, told ABC News in an earlier interview that the aging water infrastructure in Flint may have allowed Legionella bacteria to “set up house” in standing water.
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He emphasized things like running the faucet at certain intervals, washing dishes and flushing the toilet can be done by residents to help “heal the pipes”.
