Lead Concentration In Schools Drinking Water

Imagine being informed that the water with which you bathe, brush your teeth, and cook is the root of many serious and sometimes fatal health problems. Sadly, this is the case for a majority of the citizens in Flint, Michigan. According to an online article titled “This is how toxic Flint’s water really is,” by reporter Christopher Ingraham, the culprit is high concentrations of lead that have leached into tap water from lead-containing pipe systems and fixtures as they slowly corrode. The article also informs that although nearly all citizens were exposed to the hazardous water, some exposures were found to be worse than others (Ingraham). Additionally Ingraham states “A group of Virginia Tech researchers who sampled the water in 271 Flint homes last summer found some contained lead levels high enough to meet the EPA 's definition of ‘toxic waste." With lead being the culprit, and nearly all citizens being exposed to the contaminated water, Flint has found itself in a near epidemic.

Many service lines leading into homes are leaching lead into the water. This problem happened because the city of Flint decided to not treat the water properly with corrosion control (Ganrin, 2016). This proves that officials did not care about those living in Flint. They chose to save money but instead they destroyed many lives. So this proves that our government is not there to help the people out, but instead to cut money wherever they feel necessary to not have to take it from other places. Lead poisoning can affect IQ and behavior. This can cause some people to become score low on standardized test and to become violent and to sometimes harm others. No level of lead is ever safe in any person or animal (Ganrin, 2016). The water source in Flint is currently undrinkable and very unsafe and will continue to be for months ahead ("Researcher: Flint water 'like Russian roulette'," 2016). Flint water is not a safe water source and has not been for many months. According to federal regulations Flint's water supply still does not meet standards. Since August 2015 the water supply has improved, but it still is not safe ("Researcher: Flint water 'like Russian roulette'," 2016). The people of Flint have been poisoned under their noses without even knowing it, secretly being sickened by their own government. Flint’s water is not safe it's an unreliable water

“…It drops your IQ, it affects your behavior, it's been linked to criminality, it has multigenerational impacts. There is no safe level of lead in a child." Dr. Mora said when she was talking about what lead poisoning does, and it is devastating, knowing that generations of kids are affected by this event and so will the next generation after them. This also could have been prevented if the state added anti- corrosive agents that would have cost about $100 a day, and experts say 90% of the problems with Flint's water would have been avoided. If officials would have done this then thousands of people would have been saved from

St. Joseph, Missouri is a small town in Missouri that has been referenced to be named one of the three thousand cities that has a bigger problem with lead poisoning than Flint, Michigan. When children are exposed to lead poisoning it can have effects on their developmental delays, and other physical and mental impairments. In St. Joseph many of the older houses contained lead paint, windows, and plumbing. Of all of the children in St. Joseph one hundred and twenty or fifteen percent of the children that had been tested had extremely high levels of lead in their system. They have decided as a community it would be a great idea to get ready of all of the lead, they want to do this in and order that was safe for everyone and they would not

An essential necessity for life is slowly killing residents in Michigan. The town of Flint, Michigan is slowly being poisoned by their water supply. Flint is 70 miles north of Detroit with a population of 98,310. According to the U.S. Census Bureau a little under half of residents live below the poverty line. More than fifty-five percent of the city’s population is African-American (CNN Library). The dangerous lead levels in the water went unnoticed for years, despite the residents’ complaints of discolored and foul-smelling water. The question at hand is how could this happen?

Flint, Michigan has made headlines in the news over the past few years for their water crisis. The city thought that they would be able to save money by switching from Detroit City water to water from the Flint River. Unfortunately, they didn’t treat the water in an effort to prevent the pipes from corroding. This allowed lead and bacteria to flow through the pipes and into the homes of Flint residents. Many citizens have been sick and have gotten lead poisoning since then (Kennedy).

I am a long-time resident of our city, and I am writing to express my concern about the recent discussion with others in our community regarding the possibility of high levels of lead in our drinking water. While, I am hoping that the town takes the required actions to make sure our drinking water is safe, I would like to remind you of the long history of drinking

All the controversy about the lead problems in Flint, Michigan has stirred up questions across the country. Every day there are several news stories about cities across the country discussing the lead issue and how they meet the requirements of the Safe Drinking Water Act. While the average person may feel comforted by these news stories, it doesn’t mean that every home served by the water supply has lead below the EPA’s recommended action level. It’s the job of water treatment professionals to educate those served by municipal water about the regulations surrounding lead and copper and what those consumers can do to protect themselves further.

Flint River water is 19 times more corrosive than Lake Huron’s water. DWSD treats their water so that it is safe to drink. Flint did not treat their water with an anti-corrosive agent. MDEQ (Michigan Department of Environmental Quality) told Flint officials the anti-corrosive additive was not necessary. GM stopped using the Flint River water because it was corroding the car parts. The Flint River water was so corrosive that lead leached into people’s water (lead is a toxin that can cause brain damage to children and kidney failure in adults). Flint officials said that homes that have lead pipes were the only homes possible to have lead leached into them. Residents were told that the water was safe to drink and that it would be a waste of money to buy bottled water. Flint had been issued an emergency manager who had researchers test Flint’s water. The test’s showed positive for lead. With some home’s reporting up to 1,000-4,000 parts per billion. The state mandate for lead is 15 parts per billion. The state then issued that citizens water testing kits and water filters that had no effect at

“Lead piping for household water supplies can raise water lead concentrations, especially if the water is acidic.” [5] The USEPA has limits for many potential contaminants in potable (drinking) water [7]. Lead is one of those contaminants for obvious reasons, it’s effects are detrimental and it is important that dangerous levels are kept out of potable water. The EPA determined that lead concentrations should not exceed 15 parts per billion (ppb) from more than 10% of tested samples[9]. In Flint, the tested water had lead content of 104 ppb[4]. That is 6.9 times higher than USEPA

The lead effects in the drinking water have caused a massive public health crisis (“Scientific Opinion on the risks”, 2015). The whole crisis was as a result of poor management practices employed in the Flint water plant. The city decided to switch the

The residents of Flint, Michigan were continuously looking to the government for a solution to this crisis. However, another issue involved in the crisis is that the government was treating the wrong problem.However, many are puzzled as to why numerous residents are ill because the MEDQ rebutted that it would be multiple years before the chlorine would cause dramatic effects. The Detroit Free Press states “children were developing rashes and suffering from mysterious illnesses” (“Flint Water”). Until early 2015, the government believed that the cause to the Flint Water Crisis was due to an excess of antibacterial substances. One particular household observed changes in the smell and taste of their water. This motivated LeeAnne Walters, Flint resident, to have her water tested. The American Chemical Society (ACS) states the results “All 32 samples from the Walters ' home contained lead concentrations above the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency action level of 15 micrograms per liter. Four samples were above 5,000 micrograms per liter, the threshold for hazardous waste. And one sample contained 13,200 micrograms per liter.” Due to this analysis, the EPA believes that the extremely high levels of lead can be the cause of the mysterious illnesses. In the end, the profound cause of the Flint Water Crisis appears to be increased exposure to lead.

Over the past few years, Flint, Michigan, has undergone a severe water crisis. The problem arose when the area’s water supply was changed to the Flint River. The problem, however, arose in the extreme amounts of lead in the water. While studies and tests were conducted by the government, no information was broadcast, and the general

In April 2014, an emergency manager, Darnell Earley, switched Flint’s water from Lake Huron to the Flint River. Not long after the switch, people began complaining about the color of their water changing. Then, in 2015, some Virginia Tech researchers found out that the water from the river was eroding the pipes. Soon after that, they realized that lead had been getting into the water. So, they tested the water and came up with some startling results. Some homes exceeded one hundred parts per billion, suggesting many were well above the World Health Organization’s lead limit for safe drinking water of ten parts per billion. (Kuehn.) So naturally, the government immediately should have done something for their people, right? Well obviously that’s

Flint, Michigan, is approximately 70 miles away from the largest body of fresh water in the world, the Great Lakes. Ironically, its residents cannot access clean water from their taps. The Flint water crisis began in April 2014, when the state chose to save money by switching Flint’s water supply from Lake Huron to the Flint River, a source of water that is apparently filthy. Now, the city is in a state of emergency as they struggle to access clean and consumable water, while there are reports of lead contamination creating a huge epidemic health problem. Since the crisis, children are the primary demographic with high lead counts in their blood. Detrimental health effects include, skin lesions, hair loss, high levels of lead in the blood, depression and anxiety.