On May 4, 2016 President Obama came to the city of Flint to drink a single glass of the city’s water, mimicking a similar publicity stunt carried out by Governor Snyder, to demonstrate that the filters provided to residents made drinking water safe.
Advertisement
The results of the Target Insyght/MIRS News poll pose a major challenge for the state and city as they try to get residents to stop relying on bottled water. “These “tricks” can hide the amount of lead detected in water in households”.
The Guardian found at least 33 cities in 17 states that used these “cheats” and of those, 21 cities “used the same water testing methods that prompted criminal charges against three government employees in Flint over their role in one of the worst public health disasters in U.S. history”.
Mike Glasgow, Stephen Busch, and Michael Prysb were all charged with crimes for misleading investigators about the city’s water supply; officials claim they manipulated results by directing sample collectors to pre-flush theirs taps. “If your water system samples early in their compliance period, then time remains for you to collect a second set of samples”, reads advice from New Hampshire’s department of environmental services to local water systems.
Water departments that use controversial lead-testing practices have told the Guardian they will change their methods after an investigation revealed they were not following environmental guidelines.
The announcement allays concerns by many residents who continue to suffer even despite the provision of bottled water who feared their children would once again be exposed to greater levels of toxic lead.
The water department, in its most recent email, did not specify what inaccuracies the Guardian failed to address but provided a fact sheet developed after one of the newspaper’s first stories on Philadelphia. They also tampered with three reports on Flint’s lead levels. The water department also said federal compliance testing is only a “small fraction” of overall lead testing, that it “educates customers in high-risk areas” about ways to reduce lead exposure.
The EPA and the Guardian address three particular testing methods that can avoid the detection of lead. Some of the issues include telling residents to remove aerators or gently opening taps.
One thing is clear, the water crisis isn’t contained to Flint: cities all across the United States are shirking their responsibility to citizens.
Advertisement
“While testing is a requirement, our primary motivation in all testing is not to meet regulations, but to ensure that we are providing safe, affordable drinking water for the 1.61m people who depend on Philadelphia Water every day”, the department said in a fact sheet.
