Water Quality And Contamination. Introduction. Background:.

Water is one of life’s most precious resources. Without it, life as we know it would cease to exist. Almost all life is dependent on water for survival. Humanity uses water in almost everything they do in their daily lives, whether that be for consumption or production. However water itself is not enough to sufice, clean water is required for life to thrive. Dirty untreated water can be the cause for death as well, so it is integral that water be kept clean. The government has enacted laws to ensure that our water is maintained and kept clean. These laws cover industries, plumbing, and sanitation among other things. Unfortunately, the city government in Flint Michigan willfully failed to provide safe water for its citizens.

The article, “Lead Levels Remain High in Flint’s Water” by Matt Davenport explores the increased lead contamination in the Flint, Michigan water source. In April of 2014, high levels of bacteria, and fecal matter were detected in the water of Flint, Michigan. While the levels of bacteria decreased, the city’s water still breaks the federal rule for lead levels. A series of tests conducted by Marc A. Edwards was able to show that the city’s contaminated water was corroding pipes, which leached lead into the water. Because Edwards was able to inform the public about the contaminated water source, Michigan officials have taken steps to improve Flint’s water quality. For example, the water-pipes were re-routed to carry water from Detroit instead

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

In Flint Michigan, nearly 100,000 residents are drinking lead contaminated water. (QuickFacts). We are not discussing a third world country on the other side of the globe, but rather a city in the United States. It would seem as though the land of opportunity, and the land many flee too should be able to provide clean drinking water. However, in the United States 310,000 children aged 1-5 are found with an unsafe level of lead running through their blood stream. (Lead 8). In Flint alone, 8,000 children under the age of six have been exposed to harmful levels of lead. The agencies and government that was put into place to protect the public from these issues is often turning a blind eye, and often allowing the public to continue to drink this contaminated water. A major part of the problem is that lead water pipes run throughout cities across the United States. Although it would very expensive to replace all the water pipes running through Flint, not replacing the pipes could potentially continue to do more harm to the ecosystems, and to the communities they are in. (rst2)

In her article, Flint Water Crisis, Dr. Mona Hann-Attisha, discusses the occurrence about highly elevated, possibly but not yet actually harmful levels of lead in the drinking water in Flint, Michigan, received national attention. She describes Flint, Michigan, was once a postindustrial home to flourishing automotive plants; the water crisis has been described as an example of government wrongdoing and disrepair by some and of a lack of omission by federal environmental regulators by others. She points to the tendency prior to a series of tests by independent researchers at Virginia Tech in October 2015, many residents found that their unease about the water’s taste, odor, and smell were being disregard intentionally by city and state officials,

In the article “It’s All Just Poison Now”, Oliver Laughland and Ryan Felton discuss how the lives of the residents of Flint, Michigan have been negatively affected by the city’s tainted water supply. Flint’s aging lead pipes, coupled with its corrosive water sources, have cause a number of contaminants to seep into the water supply. On top of this, the city’s water supply is inadequately purified, which caused many residents to be exposed to these toxins. The main concern to residents is the presence of poisonous lead in the water, which can be deadly even in low amounts. The community of Flint has been unknowingly drinking and bathing in these chemicals, despite being told by city officials that the water was safe. As a result, many residents

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.

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.

The more polluted a water source is, the more processing required to make the water safe to drink. Most of the contaminants now in Flint’s drinking water were introduced during or after processing. For all drinking water, the first concern is bacteria, which can cause diseases like hepatitis, Legionnaire’s disease, and other illnesses. Because Flint’s river water had high levels of bacteria, it was treated with additional chlorine. Chlorine reacts with organic material in the water to produce carcinogenic byproducts such as trihalomethanes; it also makes water more acidic, which corrodes pipes. Federal law mandates adding anti-corrosive agents to drinking water in large cities; this standard water treatment practice was not followed (Carmody, 2016). The water created issues with lead due to its high acidity. Water service connections have been made for years using lead piping primarily in the 1920s and 1930s. The acidic water corroded the old lead pipes and lead seeped into the water. Lead poisoning is the most widespread and serious health problem associated with Flint’s drinking water; children with prolonged exposure to lead experience a range of developmental problems that are incurable. Flint’s water-treatment staff were not able to successfully make Flint River water safe to drink. Whether this is because they were undertrained, understaffed, or simply made a decision not to invest scarce

For the past three years Flint, Michigan has been making headlines due to what seems like a never-ending water crisis. One day their water seems to be just fine, but then all of a sudden it’s contaminated and dirty; full of lead and fecal particles which will slowly begin to harm more people than imaginable. Hospital admissions skyrocket, school attendance numbers began to drop, and more and more adults are calling off of work because they’ve fallen ill. People begin to go without showers to help keep them “safe” from contamination, bottled water is now being used for not only drinking but also showering, mixing baby formulas, watering plants, etc. Major cost-cutting measures led to contaminated drinking water, lifelong health effects, and

The Flint, Michigan water crisis has caused the nation to rethink if the water they drink is safe or not due to toxic substances such as lead posing a threat to drinking water. It leads to a nationwide investigation on the water system and most of them have failed to meet federal safety standards for lead and other harmful substances. Such crisis puts spotlights on government agencies responsible for tracking the water system and why they fail to protect the public from this crisis. The water infrastructure of the nation is old and worn out and fixing it would cost 30 billion to replace lead pipes and one trillion to upgrade the water mains.

In today’s society, clean water is taken for granted by many individuals. Like many other luxuries, safe drinking water is not recognized until it is unavailable. Unfortunately, this became the reality for many americans living in Flint, Michigan around August 2014. This problem arose shortly after the government switched the county’s water supply. Therefore, many believe that the government was the source of this major crisis. However, the government has also taken many actions, such as new regulations and procedures, in attempting to solving this crisis.

Of the 43 million people who use private water wells in the U.S., it is estimated that 20% of them are drinking from water sources with contaminants capable of harming human health. What is the end result? An insidious water system, only growing in its abilities to trigger a catastrophe. Flint provides us with a glimpse of what may be the new normal: thousands of children poisoned from lead-contaminated water, hundreds of thousands of citizens dependent on expensive bottled water, and a government that has refused to be accountable every step of the

Higher amounts of alkalinity help to stabilize the pH (Waterfilters.net 2017). Only one of our samples had any carbonate alkalinity, and that was Sample 4 with 10 ppm. The other three samples had no carbonate. Sample 1 had the highest amount of bicarbonate with 62.2 ppm. Sample 2 had 23.6 ppm and Sample 3 had 38.0 ppm of bicarbonate. Sample 4 had the lowest amount of bicarbonate with 30.0 ppm. None of the samples had any hydroxide alkalinity. The sample with the highest total alkalinity was Sample 1 and Sample 2 had the lowest total

Toxic chemicals such as lead and mercury in our environment have links to the causes of cancer, birth defects and mental illness. How can Americans be certain that the water in their household is safe to drink and toxic free? For the people in Flint, Michigan, it is too late for many have been already affected by such toxicity in their water supply. Toxic chemicals in our environment must be better controlled and America’s infrastructure must be properly repaired. This is an urgent need and the elected leaders must be held accountable for any neglect of this most important issue.