In Flint, Mich., there’s so much lead in children’s blood that a state of emergency is declared

disgusting

The Hurley Medical Center, in Flint, released a study in September that confirmed what many Flint parents had feared for over a year: The proportion of infants and children with above-average levels of lead in their blood has nearly doubled since the city switched from the Detroit water system to using the Flint River as its water source, in 2014.

The crisis reached a nadir Monday night, when Flint Mayor Karen Weaver declared a state of emergency.

“The City of Flint has experienced a Manmade disaster,” Weaver said in a declaratory statement.

Poison the masses so a few swine can profit.
Children with lead levels in their blood 2-3 times the amount before the switch to the Flynt river.
They de-coupled from Detroits municipal water (which is apparently better?)
The city saved 15 million. And in return they pumped river water so corrosive through the pipes that it stripped lead from pipes in a brown gooey slurry.
and parents are being reassured, "its only a few IQ points"
A city of over 100,000 have no access to clean water.
In America.
in 2015.

Many believe that lead poisoning brought down the Roman Empire.

a reply to: dashen

What's a few IQ points and irreversible health conditions compared to profit? What's sad about this is that I'm not surprised. I think that things like this go on more often than people acknowledge. It's just so sick.

a reply to: dashen

Where did you read the water was corrosive and stripped the lead? Seems like the lead in the pipes is the real concern looks like they have a huge project ahead of them switching them out. Michigan isn't very well off financially, but I am sure they will find the money as they should.

I noticed the water was switched over last year. Considering government that's fairly fast for such an announcement.


IMO I think having old lead water pipes is the real issue leading to the problem.

Another example of *Massive* government failure.

a reply to: xuenchen

State and city government waterworks. I agree.

originally posted by: Grimpachi
a reply to: dashen

Where did you read the water was corrosive and stripped the lead? Seems like the lead in the pipes is the real concern looks like they have a huge project ahead of them switching them out. Michigan isn't very well off financially, but I am sure they will find the money as they should.

I noticed the water was switched over last year. Considering government that's fairly fast for such an announcement.


IMO I think having old lead water pipes is the real issue leading to the problem.

Here is a link that quickly discusses the issue.

www.mlive.com...

It appears to be a mix of more corrosive water and older infrastructure.

Last month, Flint Mayor Dayne Walling said the city was speeding up plans for making the city's water less corrosive.

The city has not yet spelled out what actions will be put in place to better control corrosion, but Richard Benzie, chief of field operations in the DEQ Office of Drinking Water and Municipal Assistance, has said plans typically involve the addition of supplements such as phosphates at the treatment plant.

Walling has also asked the state for $10 million to begin a program of removing lead service lines in the city, but the DEQ says it would likely take up to 15 years to complete the job of replacing them -- "Even if many crews were contracted."

Another interesting read:

Any Michigan community that draws its municipal water from a river or inland source rather than from one of the Great Lakes will likely face this problem to some extent. River and inland-source water contains higher concentrations of chloride ions than does water pumped directly from one of the Great Lakes. Why? Perhaps surprisingly, one of the primary reasons is the overuse of salt to deice our roads in the winter. As salt molecules dissolve in water, the negative chloride ions are separated from the positive metal ions. These chloride ions become concentrated in runoff, which makes its way into our streams, rivers, and other waterways.

The negative chloride ions are corrosive, so when the high-chloride water is pumped through lead pipes (or iron and copper pipes joined together with lead solder), lead leaches into the water. It's as simple as that.

www.fixthemitten.com...

What a bummer. Now those kids will have to detox. They are supposed to be checking the water. There must be an adjuvant in the water which makes them take up more lead or there is something in our food that increases uptake of the metal.

The levels in the water can be ok, but there can be something in the water that makes people absorb it more readily. It isn't just the kids either, adults are consuming it and they will also be having increased levels. They neglect to tell people everyone is at risk. Pfft, only mention the kids. So typical of the system we have.

that quote talked like they have lead water pipes....RREEaalllyyy......

is that correct....well then there we have the friggin problem...Ya see , leadipes are a huge mistake.....these days

a reply to: dashen

So... Let me see if I have the gist of this down. The town of Flint, in Michigan state, used to spend fifteen million dollars on clean, safe water from the Detroit feed. But someone decided that this was too expensive, and chose to use local sources. Those local sources were so dirty with other stuff, that they had to place an additive in the water to clean it, which was so corrosive that the pipes used to carry the water began to break down, dispersing lead into the water?

Ok...back it up.

First of all, using lead pipes to transport drinking water is never a good idea. It is the opposite of that, the exact opposite. It is a bad idea. Even the most pH balanced water in the world should not be transported inside of lead pipes. Furthermore, the additive that was placed into the water... Anyone who has any business adding chemicals to water which will be drunk by citizens, ought to understand enough about chemistry, and indeed the public water infrastructure, to know in advance what the effect of placing that chemical in the water will have, on the infrastructure itself, and by extension, the people drinking it.

Either Flints local government were stupid for employing someone who did not know what they were doing, to treat the water from the river, or they were deliberately trying to save face by treating the water and hoping for the best, despite the simple chemistry which dictates that actually, no one should drink the water in Flint, at all.

Now...my question is, what was so wrong with the old arrangement, which involved relatively CLEAN water from Detroit's system, and no lead? Yes, ok, fifteen million dollars... A pittance for clean water. Cheaper long term than the law suits involved when a town, city, or state allows unsafe water to be consumed by its citizens, causing death, disfigurement, brain injury, and so on. What I want to know is, what was so pressing, what was so important, that the towns leaders decided that they had to have those 15 million back in their coffers all of a sudden? What did they want to spend the saving on? Whose palms are somewhat more greasy these days?

I smell a rat...and it has lead poisoning.

I don't understand the problem.
I have lived in rural areas with high lead in the water.

I always used a good filters that are NSF certified to remove lead.

In my RV i live in i have a three stage Reverse osmosis filter system for the drinking/cooking water tap.
In a SHTF situation i could use stream water pumped into my RV.

First thing everyone needs to learn is the government can not help you all the time.
If you rely on the government for everything you are not free you are a government ward/slave.

originally posted by: ANNED
I don't understand the problem.
I have lived in rural areas with high lead in the water.

I always used a good filters that are NSF certified to remove lead.

You don't understand the problem.

Right.

Do you sell water filters for a living or are you just being 'that guy'?

so will your president step in and help just a question as it is in his country and a big problem or will he just ignore it?

a reply to: dashen

At least they've been switched back to the Detroit water system for now. Here's another article from last April:

Flint, Mich., residents find state water control hard to swallow

Apparently just one person -- an Emergency Manager appointed by the state -- has/had all the power and is responsible for the decision to continue using the tainted water --

Yet just below the surface of this controversy lies not only a network of aging water and sewage pipes, but also the troubling state of the local democracy, which has disintegrated under Michigan's Public Act 436, known as the "emergency manager" law. Like a handful of other economically troubled Michigan cities, Flint is governed by a state-appointed emergency financial manager. He has unprecedented authority to, for example, single-handedly decide where the city’s water supply comes from or ignore City Council resolutions. In response to the vote, Flint’s emergency manager, Jerry Ambrose, called the decision “incomprehensible” and indicated that the Flint River would remain the city’s source.

His name is Jerry Ambrose. I don't know how he lives with himself.

originally posted by: Grimpachi
a reply to: xuenchen

State and city government waterworks. I agree.

Not helpful really...But I have been on a private well with my own water filtration system for 20 years. The well is almost 200 feet deep. Never had a water bill and my water tastes like a fresh mountain spring. I know a guy in town on public water whose wife likes to garden and he had a water bill of 380 for one month this summer. It is literally one of the reasons I have opted not to sell..and if I ever move a private well will be a big factor in any new home. Public water tastes bad to me and freaks me out. Chlorine flavor at best...god knows what at worst.

a reply to: dashen
When you switch water supplies (and I'm assuming treatment practices as well), the water quality will be different. That should go without saying. If the water is more aggressive (corrosive) they should be adding something to raise the pH to make the water more neutral for the pipes they are going through.

Lead pipes? These should have been changed over YEARS ago. If it is indeed the customers fittings, then it is a simple matter of removing all the lead tainted fittings from their house.

They declared a state of emergency to draw attention to them, most likely because they cannot afford to remove and replace the lead pipes in their distribution system. If it is as simple as changing the chemical composition of the water, then likely this will be a non-issue after their testing.

a reply to: Boadicea
Is the water tainted? I must have read it wrong...

I wonder if the cost of the water was taken into consideration? You can't win with the public. High water costs, they complain. Different water source with some growing pains, they complain. I wonder why they decided to switch to a different water source...

flints a hole much less than 100k people and a drop of 2 points IQ will put many in negative numbers. They should be looking to see what Detroit did to cause the problem. I'm from the area it's all Detroit politics at it's finest

Also Flint has a brand new water line coming online from Lake Huron that the city of Detroit ans been blocking for years. the Flint pipeline will be taking millions of customers away from Detroit. It's not bad water but stinky politics. How can lead magically appear in pipes after 50-60 years??