6 ms·

The one thing I don't see is the lead levels of the water supply. Doesn't the EPA have limits on that and isn't it an easy thing to test? It is true that diffe

The one thing I don't see is the lead levels of the water supply. Doesn't the EPA have limits on that and isn't it an easy thing to test? It is true that different water supplies will have different levels of contaminants (lead, arsenic, etc) but can all be within EPA limits. Switching to a water supply with a higher level of contamination will increase exposure. The medical study seems to look at the percentage of children below 5g/dL before and after the switch. It goes from 2% to 4%. So with the old water supply, a certain percentage of children were already being exposed to elevated levels of lead. Switching to a water source with higher lead levels will push more children who are being exposed to lead through other sources to above the 5g/dL mark. However, this would seem to indicate that the primary source of lead for these children above 5g/dL is something other than the water.

russdill 11y ago
(sorry, 5ug/dL, the study listed it as 5g/dL in a few places)
russdill 11y ago
Hmm...reading further the problem doesn't seem to be one handled well by EPA standards. The new water supply is more corrosive than the old water supply, so in poorer neighborhoods with lead piping, more lead (sometimes significantly) is being leeched from the pipes than before.
- DanBC 11y ago
  But why aren't the EPA / Water companies testing what comes out of the pipes?
  - monkbroc 11y ago
    The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality instructed Flint residents to flush their tap for 2 minutes before sampling the water which under-represented the amount of lead in the water. The EPA doesn't explicitly forbid flushing but doesn't recommend it. http://flintwaterstudy.org/ http://flintwaterstudy.org/
- andor436 11y ago
  The State DEQ applied the wrong federal standards: http://www.mlive.com/news/flint/index.ssf/2015/10/top_state_water_official_repla.html http://www.mlive.com/news/flint/index.ssf/2015/10/top_state_...
- Tossrock 11y ago
  Why are they using lead pipes? I understand that they may have a legacy system put in place before the dangers of lead were fully understood, but when your water distribution system is literally made of poison, I don't understand how replacing it could be back-burnered.
  - toomuchtodo 11y ago
    That's how America works unfortunately.
  - mturmon 11y ago
    In theory, you are right. In practice, replacement of legacy lead pipes is more complex. Briefly: replacing only some of the pipes can cause lead levels to increase due to (1) disturbance of nearby lead pipes during replacement; (2) ongoing galvanic effects near the replacement; (3) interfaces between the utility's new lead-free lines and a customer's old lead lines, if the customer does not choose to replace at the same time the utility does. Point (3) is especially troublesome. Even if the utility replaces all its lead pipes, things could get much worse for customers that don't follow suit right away. For (much) more: http://investigativereportingworkshop.org/investigations/toxic-taps/story/toxic-taps-lead-is-still-the-problem/ http://investigativereportingworkshop.org/investigations/tox... All these issues are just about pipe replacement, as distinct from higher lead levels due to pH changes or use of chloramines rather than chlorine (which was a surprise, see http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1817707/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1817707/).
    - Tossrock 11y ago
      Thanks, this was really informative. Makes me glad I live in California.
jdnier 11y ago
My understanding is that it's not the lead level in the water that's the problem, it's the increased corrosivity of the water coming from the river, which is leaching lead from the pipes. Most homes in Flint still have lead pipes connecting them to city water mains.

russdill 11y ago

(sorry, 5ug/dL, the study listed it as 5g/dL in a few places)

russdill 11y ago

Hmm...reading further the problem doesn't seem to be one handled well by EPA standards. The new water supply is more corrosive than the old water supply, so in poorer neighborhoods with lead piping, more lead (sometimes significantly) is being leeched from the pipes than before.

DanBC 11y ago
But why aren't the EPA / Water companies testing what comes out of the pipes?
- monkbroc 11y ago
  The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality instructed Flint residents to flush their tap for 2 minutes before sampling the water which under-represented the amount of lead in the water. The EPA doesn't explicitly forbid flushing but doesn't recommend it. http://flintwaterstudy.org/ http://flintwaterstudy.org/
andor436 11y ago
The State DEQ applied the wrong federal standards: http://www.mlive.com/news/flint/index.ssf/2015/10/top_state_water_official_repla.html http://www.mlive.com/news/flint/index.ssf/2015/10/top_state_...
Tossrock 11y ago
Why are they using lead pipes? I understand that they may have a legacy system put in place before the dangers of lead were fully understood, but when your water distribution system is literally made of poison, I don't understand how replacing it could be back-burnered.
- toomuchtodo 11y ago
  That's how America works unfortunately.
- mturmon 11y ago
  In theory, you are right. In practice, replacement of legacy lead pipes is more complex. Briefly: replacing only some of the pipes can cause lead levels to increase due to (1) disturbance of nearby lead pipes during replacement; (2) ongoing galvanic effects near the replacement; (3) interfaces between the utility's new lead-free lines and a customer's old lead lines, if the customer does not choose to replace at the same time the utility does. Point (3) is especially troublesome. Even if the utility replaces all its lead pipes, things could get much worse for customers that don't follow suit right away. For (much) more: http://investigativereportingworkshop.org/investigations/toxic-taps/story/toxic-taps-lead-is-still-the-problem/ http://investigativereportingworkshop.org/investigations/tox... All these issues are just about pipe replacement, as distinct from higher lead levels due to pH changes or use of chloramines rather than chlorine (which was a surprise, see http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1817707/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1817707/).
  - Tossrock 11y ago
    Thanks, this was really informative. Makes me glad I live in California.

jdnier 11y ago

My understanding is that it's not the lead level in the water that's the problem, it's the increased corrosivity of the water coming from the river, which is leaching lead from the pipes. Most homes in Flint still have lead pipes connecting them to city water mains.