Report: ‘Every Major US City East of the Mississippi’ Is Underreporting Heavy Metals In Its Wate

a reply to: Aazadan

The way the Fema people were talking so my husband tells is more than just blaming corroded pipes and mismanagement but we may never find out, government have a way to keep things under the table unless the scandal is soo big they can not hide it anymore.

Specially about the death, while the news tells that children are sick and adults I can not find how many deaths are linked to it.

Our nation have a big history of dumping, pollution and mismanagement, but EPA laws make people think that they are safe and that the corruption is over, is not so, we just have forgotten how dirty some companies used to be.

I still remember people that when some whistleblowers reporters where targeted with violence because the exposure of polluters, this is what prompted the government to start regulations, but that doesn't meant that is certain areas in this country where things have not changed a lot from the old practices.

The real question is this: with how craptastic our infrastructure is, is there anybody that is surprised by this?

originally posted by: TinfoilTP
What percentage of these "city" areas are administered by Obama Democrats?
That is the question people should ask. Overlay these to blue precincts to find proof of inept negligence in carrying out their duty to uphold public safety. My guess is they have been heavy into community organizing and lax on actually administering. They probably held meetings with BLM instead of meetings to fund their water supplies. Priorities.

There is a parallel to Egypt, where the Muslim Brotherhood was given the reigns and their radical agenda didn't include picking up the garbage or funding operating budgets, which got them tossed out on their ears.

Flint elects Mayors as "non-partisan" (great cover story).

But Flint is in the 5th Congressional District that is Democrat.

And Flint is bankrupt also.

What else could we have expected.



And it seems a few connected people have resigned recently !!!!!

Just something to add to the mix. The EPA banned phosphates from commercial/retail cleaning compounds. Remember the Dawn dish soap commercials from years ago? When one drop disbursed the grease of a sink load of dirty dishes? Well, that was phosphates doing their thing. Because it was a mild/ph balanced detergent Dawn was used to decrease water fowl in oil slicks (saved many). But now banned. Try the one drop test w/the current formula of Dawn and you'll see the difference. Phosphates were also in laundry detergents; automatics dish detergents; fertilizers. There was a wonderful decrease/paint deglosser tri sodium phosphate (TSP) banned.

Why? Phosphates in run off cause massive algae blooms in lakes and streams. But one other use, needed due to our old infrastructure, is water suppliers ADDED phosphates to the treatment process to "coat" (an over simplification for the explanation) the lead pipes in potable water delivery systems. Now here is the tricky part water treatment needs phosphates to control lead--but can't discharge too much per EPA regs--so a finite balancing has to occur. Add in (in my part of the country) old mine run off (iron) and things become even more complex.

Phosphates have become a "known" issue in the swimming pool maintenance industry as too high (over about 600ppm) and the phosphates cause a higher chlorine demand which causes a domino type effect of ph alkalinity bounce. We have found that a read of 2000 ppm makes a pool (even w/24/7 filtration) a green swamp. There are commercial phosphate removers (which take the phosphorus out of suspension) to correct this problem. And pools are a minute issue.

There really are no good or bad guys (from what i have read about Flint, MI) just a mess of all the "worst case scenarios" coming together. It's damn shame that some are making this "tip of the iceberg" a political issue.

exactly! and that`s why they have to rig the testing to make it look like the water is safe. The big cities can`t afford to replace all that old lead water pipe it would bankrupt them, so it`s cheaper to just rig the test results. The mayors and city councils don`t care because they don`t drink the water they probably don`t even live in the city.

You can get test kits fairly cheap, but filters that can remove lead and heavy metals are very expensive, don't rely just on the garden variety of tap filters. A study published in today's paper shows that even a TINY amount of lead can have serious effects on the body, and those effects are cumulative. (something about how the body see lead as 'calcium' when it absorbs it). If you have it in your water, you'll need to get a whole house filter.

originally posted by: Blackmarketeer
a reply to: marg6043

That's been true since the start of the industrial revolution, it reached a peak in the 60's, my own city is renown for having a river so polluted with industrial waste and oil runoff it caught on fire. Twice. The government and the EPA seemed to be making improvements in cleaning up the water, but then lobbyists and GOPpers began undermining and weakening the EPA to the point it is nothing more than a rubber stamp for industrial polluters.

Hmmmmm.......

EPA toxic spill sums up gov. incompetence, corruption
www.commdiginews.com...

It is high time that the people of North America rebelled against a science that has become nothing but a hollow instrument of the political establishment for the purpose of control, looting and the moral lynching of it's targets, whoever and whatever they may be.
forces.org...

The EPA's record of sleaziness, its disregard for transparency, its lack of basic integrity, its fraudulent estimation of costs/benefits and now its attempt to defy and evade a Federal Court order (and by extension FOIA, mail and wire fraud laws) combines both inbred corruption and serious scandal. Together these faults suggest that it may be time to dismantle the agency.
www.americanthinker.com...

GOP problem?????? The EPA isn't qualified to use a robber stamp. They are just another agency bought off by those with the biggest wallets.

Yep and this is primarily because our leaders thought war was a better use of money than our infrastructure. Luckily I'm on the west side but I do not doubt there are cities here that still have lead pipes. Plus we have to worry about these oil companies ruining our water supply with fracking so it's really not much better.

However one of the greatest composers to ever live drank out of a lead goblet almost every day and seemed to be just fine... except for being deaf and temperamental.

originally posted by: aethertek
a reply to: Blackmarketeer

It's a good thing this country spent it's most productive decades financing the elite's wars instead of investing in our infrastructure.

Of course, there's good profit to be had by blowing the # out of brown people & stealing their resources.
Can't make quarterlies with infrastructure financing, what are you some kind of pinko commie anti capitalist.

Seriously though that would not surprise at all.
This greed induced man made atrocity in Flint needs to be criminally investigated & whoever is found complicit needs to be dealt with.
S&F
K~

That would be the Democratic Party - they have been making decisions in Detroit since 1961.

originally posted by: onequestion
If this is true we need to put their heads on spikes.

I agree, but Coleman Young passed away years ago.

a reply to: asmall89

However one of the greatest composers to ever live drank out of a lead goblet almost every day and seemed to be just fine... except for being deaf and temperamental.

well let's not forget he died at the age of 56 and suffered from post-hepatitic cirrhosis of the liver, and this:

Heavy metal contamination is thought to be a contributing factor in Beethoven's death as these were commonly used in the medicine of the time. It has also been theorized that he consumed large amounts of lead from illegally fortified wine. Putting lead into wine was a very common practice to sweeten cheap wines, and despite being outlawed in most European countries during the 18th century, the prohibition was difficult to enforce and production of lead-fortified wine (which originated in Roman times) continued unabated. There is no indication the composer had syphilis beyond a mercury treatment prescribed to him around 1815, but these were used for various other ailments as well. (wikipedia)

a reply to: GeisterFahrer

That would be the Democratic Party - they have been making decisions in Detroit since 1961.

Sorry to break it to you but it wasn't the water supply in Detroit that had anything to do with this. The deterioration of Flint's water lines is one thing - that spanned decades and cannot be attributed to any single party or person. But the decision to tap Flint's river water and add chemicals to it that caused the breakdown and release of lead and the SUBSEQUENT COVER-UP belongs to the state-appointed city manager and the governor.

originally posted by: Blackmarketeer
a reply to: GeisterFahrer

That would be the Democratic Party - they have been making decisions in Detroit since 1961.

Sorry to break it to you but it wasn't the water supply in Detroit that had anything to do with this. The deterioration of Flint's water lines is one thing - that spanned decades and cannot be attributed to any single party or person. But the decision to tap Flint's river water and add chemicals to it that caused the breakdown and release of lead and the SUBSEQUENT COVER-UP belongs to the state-appointed city manager and the governor.

I understand those finger workouts are paying off since the Democratic mayor of Flint has been pointing fingers at the Republican Governor since this whole fiasco went public.

Interesting how 50+ years of Democratic control of Detroit which led to its ruin - which in turn - led to subpar living conditions, is somehow the fault of Republicans too.

Do Democrats take responsibility for anything, or all they all gutless cowards?

I see you keep bending over backwards to try and pin this on Dems but Dems were not the ones who made the decisions that led to the lead poisoning.

Here is the class action lawsuit that names those responsible:

Class action lawsuit claims Snyder, Flint put water cost above safety

City and state officials supplied highly toxic water to Flint residents solely because it was the cheaper option, attorneys seeking a class action lawsuit claimed in a news conference today, Nov. 16.

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Detroit on Friday, Nov. 13, claims 14 officials, including Gov. Rick Snyder and former mayor Dayne Walling, are responsible for replacing safe water in Flint with water that was "dangerous, unsafe and ... inadequately treated."

[li]

State officials have been sued because they made the final decision that "deliberately created, increased and prolonged the hazards, threats and dangers that arose by replacing of a safe drinking, washing and bathing water with a highly toxic alternative."

Two former Flint emergency managers -- Darnell Earley and Jerry Ambrose -- are named as defendants.

State and local officials were "fully aware that the required and necessary anti-corrosive was not being used" to treat Flint River water -- something experts have said caused lead to leach from underground pipes and home plumbing.

The number of injured individuals who have been harmed by exposure to Flint water numbers "tens of thousands."

The emergency manager appointed by Snyder, Darnell Earley, does not show party affiliation. He is chief among those who decided to pump the toxic water that caused the lead leaching, just to save 8.5M in the budget. The then mayor (Dayne Walling) wrote to the EPA asking them to clarify what was happening to the water - the EPA administrator Susan Hedman "shot him down in her response."

While you can grouse about the state of affairs between Detroit and Flint's having to previously buy their water from them, at least that system didn't cause lead to leach from pipes. It was the NEW system put in place by penny pinchers trying to cut costs that failed.

Who's really responsible for the Flint water crisis

The stage was set on March 16, 2011, when Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder signed Public Act 4. This measure broadened an earlier law that provided an "emergency financial manager" for financially distressed cities and school districts. Under the new law, "emergency financial managers" became "emergency managers" with the power to cancel or renegotiate city contracts, liquidate assets, suspend local government, unilaterally draft policy, and even disincorporate. (It is worth noting that Michigan emergency managers have done all of these things except disincorporate, which was entertained by a manager in the city of Pontiac.)

[...]

Flint was one of the first cities to be assigned an emergency manager in 2011, and over the course of four years had four such managers. One of the first manager's first acts was to suspend local government, and this remained essentially in force until the departure of the last emergency manager in 2015. Even today, Flint is under the scrutiny of a "transition advisory board" that has veto power over any local decision, and that has frequently overstepped its professed limited mandate to assure fiscal restraint.

Many Michiganders found Public Act 4 to be a violation of a strong state tradition of "home rule," and so overturned it by referendum in the 2012 election. But that didn't last long: the Republican-dominated state legislature immediately passed Public Act 436, which was almost identical, although it included a provision to pay the emergency managers from state coffers rather than local. Under Michigan law, a bill that includes an appropriation like this cannot be voided through referendum.

From there Flint would be entirely in the hands of it's state-appointed emergency manager, who answered not to local officials but the state and only the state. Their goal - cut costs no matter what. They nixed the water contract with Detroit before they had built a replacement pipeline to draw water from the lake, so as an interim measure decided to draw the water from the river which was known to be 'heavy,' (rust inducing) as well as contaminated. Hell, Gov. Snyder had even made a PR ploy out of passing out free water filters to local Flint residents just to offset the bad press about the 'taste' of this water.

The disastrous next step was made not by the Flint mayor or the city council but by the subsequent emergency manager, Darnell Earley.

The new pipeline would take years to build, and if Flint did not wish to renegotiate a new, short-term contract with Detroit, it would need to draw water from somewhere else in the meantime. That alternative source became the Flint River. And it was Earley who validated the filtration and use of Flint River water.

Even today, with opprobrium rightly raining down on Gov. Snyder for his reluctance to act on the crisis, or to release emails that might implicate him and his staff, newspapers have been hesitant to emphatically and unambiguously declare who has been making the decisions in Flint. It wasn't "city officials," it wasn't the city council, and it wasn't even a mayor who often found himself supporting the state's priorities. Because the emergency managers had unchallenged authority in their oversight of Flint, it is they, along with the governor who appointed them, who bear ultimate responsibility for creating the crisis.

Flint Water and the No-Blame Game

In last week’s press conference announcing that the city of Flint would finally be allowed to return to Detroit’s water system, Gov. Rick Snyder made it a point to note that placing blame for the lead poisoning of children is not something he intends to do.

He wants to address the current problem, learn what can be done better in the future, and move forward.

Call it the “no-blame” game.

Asked about the governor’s role in that decision, Wurfel claimed that there was really no choice to be made, that the city of Detroit kicked Flint off of its system, thus forcing the switch to river water.

Actually the emergency manager let the contract expire then told Detroit it had no intention of staying on their water system.

Maybe the Snyder administration is operating under the theory that a lie repeated often enough is eventually accepted as fact.

But here’s the truth:

Flint did have a choice. It absolutely could have kept using Detroit water until construction of the Karegondi pipeline, which will bring water from Lake Huron to Genesee County, is completed next year.

Instead, in a decision based purely on cost, the Flint emergency manager appointed by Snyder chose to leave the Detroit system early and begin relying on the Flint River in April 2014.

How do we know that?

Because of a letter the ACLU of Michigan obtained through the Freedom of Information Act.

Cont'd below:

On March 7, 2014, then-Emergency Darnell Earley (pictured below) wrote to the DWSD, saying:

“Thank you for the correspondence … which provides Flint with the option of continuing to purchase water from DWSD following the termination of the current contract …”

Thanks, but no thanks.

“… the City of Flint has actively pursued using the Flint River as a temporary water source while the KWA pipeline is being constructed,” wrote Earley. “We expect the Flint Water Treatment Plant will be fully operational and capable of treating Flint River water…”

As it turns out, the city, under the control of an emergency manager appointed by the governor, proved to be entirely incapable of properly treating water from the highly corrosive Flint River.

As a result of that failure, children were poisoned by lead in the water coming out of the taps in their homes and, quite possibly, the fountains in their schools.

Under the state’s far-reaching emergency manager law, Earley clearly had the authority to do whatever he wanted at that point. So his attempts to shield himself from responsibility are beyond bogus.

But it is even worse than that.

As the Flint Journal’s Fonger points out:, “Although the Flint City Council voted in March 2013 in support of moving to the KWA pipeline … there is no record that the council voted to use the Flint River as a short-term drinking water source.”

When confronted with Earley’s letter, he relented, and pointed the finger of blame at the state, saying the decision to switch came from the governor’s office.

The "decision came from the governor's office..."

source: Flint Water and the No-Blame Game

a reply to: TinfoilTP

Way to politicize a subject so important. Both sides are equally as guilty in allowing greed and the desire to keep up appearances win out for the sake of greedily using water treatment monies to bankroll personal projects.

Four years ago, Snyder named a state-appointed manager to take control of Flint's troubled finances -- effectively wresting control from elected officials under a controversial law.

As part of a cost-cutting drive, the city began drawing water from the Flint River in April 2014 rather than continue to buy it from Detroit.

The state's environment department approved the switch even though the city's treatment plant was not able to produce water that met state and federal standards, according to a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and the Natural Resource Defense Council.

Residents soon began complaining that the foul, cloudy water was making them vomit, break out in rashes and lose their hair.

A few months later the city had to issue several boil-water advisories after tests discovered harmful bacteria in the tap water. The treatment used to kill the bacteria ended up leaving cancer-causing contaminants behind.

State health officials continued to insist the water was safe to drink even after General Motors said in October 2014 that it would no longer use the city's water in its engine plant because it was too corrosive.

The corrosive water did more than damage engine parts. It also started to leach lead out of the old pipes that distribute the city's water.

from this source www.terradaily.com...

Mayor Karen Weaver welcomed the news that federal prosecutors were investigating Flint's water crisis, saying Tuesday "people need to be held accountable."

Weaver -- who is currently powerless to act without approval from the state-appointed manager -- declared a state of emergency at city level last month in an effort to sound the alarm.

I think in Flint's case, the problem started from the top down. Not only did the Governor's office lead the action that led to the lead poisoning but also tried to cover it up. I hate to think what might be going on in some other cities.

SnF

a reply to: Blackmarketeer

I have no doubt that some cities have manipulated the numbers, but not 'every city East of the Mississippi'. I don't know the motivations of an anonymous source.

This part of the guardian article

They show that several cities have advised residents to use questionable methods when conducting official tests for lead content. These include encouraging testers to run taps for several minutes to flush out lead from the pipes

source
is wrong. Every test kit and the EPA tell you to do this to test the water coming into your home and not the water sitting in the pipes inside your home or in your faucet. False positives come from NOT preflushing.

I have had my own water tested. Test kits are about $10, widely available, the cost of the test is included with buying the kit and it goes to a private lab. The results of my test kit were well below the allowable guidelines.

a reply to: reldra

You really dont want to rely on those cheap test kits. The ones that are more reliable cost more, and the best test is a blood test for like $100. But getting back to the article, they were referring to the EPA advising cities on test methods that didn't even meet their own standards. That happened in Flint.

originally posted by: TinfoilTP
What percentage of these "city" areas are administered by Obama Democrats?
That is the question people should ask. Overlay these to blue precincts to find proof of inept negligence in carrying out their duty to uphold public safety. My guess is they have been heavy into community organizing and lax on actually administering. They probably held meetings with BLM instead of meetings to fund their water supplies. Priorities.

There is a parallel to Egypt, where the Muslim Brotherhood was given the reigns and their radical agenda didn't include picking up the garbage or funding operating budgets, which got them tossed out on their ears.

That is one of the most insane posts I have ever read.