Flint, Mich. Water Scandal

waltky · Feb 2, 2016

Three cheers for Flint's plumber's union...

300 Union Plumbers Spent The Weekend Installing Water Filters For Flint Residents For Free
Feb 1, 2016 - Due to the inaction of state and federal officials, thousands of people in Flint have been exposed to unsafe levels of lead in their water. Now a group of union plumber are taking matters into their own hands.

On Saturday, 300 plumbers from unions across the country descended on Flint to install new faucets and water filters for free. Many Flint residents needed new faucets because their existing faucets were so old they could not accommodate water filters provided by the state.

The effort was coordinated by the United Association of Journeymen and Apprentices of the Plumbing and Pipe Fitting Industry, known as the United Association. The fixtures were donated by the Plumbing Manufacturers International.

For some in Flint, however, even new faucets with modern water filters wont be enough to fully abate the lead contamination. New tests released recently revealed that, in some Flint homes, the levels of lead exceed the ability of filtration systems handed. The filters can safely remove up to 150 parts per billion of lead. Some Flint homes were found to have lead levels of more than 4,000 parts per billion. Residents of Flint, however, are still encouraged to use the filters. For most homes, they will work.

http://thinkprogress.org/economy/20...g-water-filters-for-flint-residents-for-free/
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sawyer · Feb 3, 2016

waltky said: ↑

Three cheers for Flint's plumber's union...

300 Union Plumbers Spent The Weekend Installing Water Filters For Flint Residents For Free
Feb 1, 2016 - Due to the inaction of state and federal officials, thousands of people in Flint have been exposed to unsafe levels of lead in their water. Now a group of union plumber are taking matters into their own hands.
Click to expand...

Government caused this mess and citizens are fixing it, there's a lesson here

waltky · Feb 4, 2016

G-men gonna investigate Flint water scandal...

FBI joins investigation on Flints tainted water
Thu, Feb 04, 2016 - HELP?: A veteran senator warned against adding to the US budget deficit to solve a local and state problem, as lawmakers pushed for aid for Flint

The FBI on Tuesday said it was joining a criminal investigation of lead-contaminated drinking water in Flint, Michigan, exploring whether laws were broken in a crisis that has captured international attention. Federal prosecutors in Michigan were working with an investigative team that included the FBI, the Postal Inspection Service, the Environmental Protection Agencys (EPA) Office of Inspector General and its Criminal Investigation Division, a spokeswoman for the US Attorneys Office in Detroit said. An FBI spokeswoman said the agency was determining whether federal laws were broken, but declined further comment.

EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy met with officials and community leaders in Flint and told reporters she could not give a timeline for fixing the problem. She said the agency was examining where it might have fallen short, but declined to address the criminal probes. The city, about 100km northwest of Detroit, Michigan, was under the control of a state-appointed emergency manager when it switched the source of its tap water from Detroits system to the Flint River in April 2014. Flint switched back in October last year after tests found high levels of lead in blood samples taken from children. The more corrosive water from the river leached more lead from the city pipes than Detroit water did.

Michigan Governor Rick Snyder, who extended a state of emergency in Flint until April 14, has repeatedly apologized for the poor handling of the matter. The ability to seek criminal charges under US environmental laws is limited, said Peter Henning, a law professor at Wayne State University in Detroit and a former federal prosecutor. Prosecutors would need to find something egregious like a knowingly false statement. You need something that is false to build a case, he said. Simply failing to recognize the seriousness of the situation would not rise to that level, he added.

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waltky · Feb 5, 2016

Smoking gun email...

Michigan emails show officials knew of Flint water disease risk
Thu Feb 4, 2016 - Emails between high-ranking Michigan state officials show they knew about an uptick in Legionnaires' disease and it could be linked to problems with Flint water long before Governor Rick Snyder said he got information on the outbreak.

A spokesman for Snyder rejected the report by the liberal group Progress Michigan on Thursday. Emails obtained by the group show Snyder's principal aide, Harvey Hollins, was made aware of the outbreak and a possible link to the use of Flint River water last March. Snyder said in January he had just learned about the rise in Legionnaires cases. "Are we to believe that a top staffer with years of experience would not inform Governor Snyder of a possibly deadly situation?" Progress Michigan Executive Director Lonnie Scott said in a statement.

The group cited an email from March 13, 2015, that showed Hollins and Dan Wyant, the former head of the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), were aware of the increase in Legionnaires' disease in Genesee County, where Flint is located, and that a county health official was attributing the cases to the Flint River. State officials on Jan. 13 announced the spike in the disease resulting in 10 deaths possibly linked to the water crisis. In rejecting the group's claims, a spokesman for Snyder said that the DEQ emails called attributing the link to problems with Flint water "beyond irresponsible."

The front of the Flint Water Plant is seen in Flint, Michigan

Hollins asked the department to investigate and if the concerns were credible it was to tell Snyder, the spokesman said in an email. "The issue was not brought to the Governors attention until January of this year," he said. Flint, a city near Detroit, was under the control of a state-appointed emergency manager when it switched the source of its tap water from Detroit's system to the Flint River in April 2014.

The city switched back last October after tests found high levels of lead in children's blood samples. The more corrosive water from the river leached more lead from the city pipes than Detroit water did. Lead is a toxic agent that can damage the nervous system. Legionnaires is a type of pneumonia caused by inhaling mist infected with the bacteria Legionella.. Several Democratic lawmakers on Thursday invited Snyder to Washington to testify on the Flint water crisis on Feb. 10.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-michigan-water-idUSKCN0VD2Q3
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OldManOnFire · Feb 28, 2016

I'm thinking a good chunk of our below the ground infrastructure in the USA has been around since the late 1800's early 1900's. Out of sight out of mind surely rules the day in this area. And today, the idea of proactive maintenance and replacement are placed on hold because of the high costs to do anything today. So it seems our SOP is to wait until we see failure then perform a Bandaid fix. Secondary to this is how we designed the systems and to what degree of material quality and workmanship was used in the original projects.

If this is not enough, if a municipality desired to be proactive, for example replace the entire sewer and water system in a 1/2 mile square area of any populated area of the USA, the voters simply won't accept the 100's of million$ of cost and tax increases or the horrific inconvenience around projects that might last many months or years.

So, although we know about potential catastrophic problems in our below-ground infrastructure, including similar to Flint, MI, or the recent gas explosion in SF, or the methane release in LA, etc. etc. etc. governments are scared to death to propose new projects and 95% of voters are not interested in being proactive.

Bottom line; we need to get used to Flint, MI type of failures...

AFM · Mar 5, 2016

waltky said: ↑

Smoking gun email...

Michigan emails show officials knew of Flint water disease risk
Thu Feb 4, 2016 - Emails between high-ranking Michigan state officials show they knew about an uptick in Legionnaires' disease and it could be linked to problems with Flint water long before Governor Rick Snyder said he got information on the outbreak.
Click to expand...

The EPA again dropped the ball here. They knew of the problem months in advance and did nothing about it instead discrediting the report which identified the problem. Elected officials depend on these agencies for identification of actual real world problems. The EPA official in charge resigned as a result of her inactions and exposure of the Flint citizens to high levels of lead in their drinking water.

One-hundred percent of responsibility lies with those employees at the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality. Theres no question, Marc Edwards, a water expert at Virginia Tech University, told the U.S. House Committee on Oversight & Government Reform.

But Edwards also faulted the former Midwest chief of the Environmental Protection Agency, Susan Hedman, who last summer discredited a key in-house memo that should have set off alarms about the failure of water officials to properly treat Flint River water.

EPA had the chance to be the hero here, and Ms. Hedman snatched defeat for EPA from the jaws of victory, he said.

Hedman resigned effective Monday. Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz said his committee wants her to give a deposition under oath to committee lawyers about her agencys response to Flint.
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http://www.detroitnews.com/story/ne...3/flint-water-congressional-hearing/79728072/

waltky · Jan 19, 2017

Reuters report spurs U.S. cities move to curb lead poisoning...

U.S. cities move to curb lead poisoning following Reuters report
Thu Jan 19, 2017 | Cities and towns across the United States are taking action after a Reuters report identified thousands of communities where children tested with lead poisoning at higher rates than in Flint, Michigan.

From California to Pennsylvania, local leaders, health officials and researchers are advancing measures to protect children from the toxic threat. They include more blood-lead screening, property inspections, hazard abatement and community outreach programs. The University of Notre Dame is offering a graduate course to study and combat local poisoning problems the report helped bring to light. "This has just laid out that it's not just a Detroit issue, it's not just a Baltimore issue," said Ruth Ann Norton, president of Green & Healthy Homes Initiative, a Baltimore-based nonprofit. "This started conversations with mayors and governors."

In an investigation last month, the news agency used census tract and zip code-level data from millions of childhood blood tests to identify nearly 3,000 U.S. communities with recently recorded lead poisoning rates at least double those in Flint. More than 1,100 of these neighborhoods had a rate of elevated blood tests at least four times higher than in Flint. A Reuters interactive map, built with previously unpublished data, allowed users to track local poisoning rates across much of the country for the first time. In many areas, residents and officials weren't previously aware of the scope of local children's exposure. The poisoning hazards include deteriorating lead paint, tainted soil and contaminated water.

Flint's lead poisoning is no aberration, Reuters found, but one example of a preventable health crisis that continues in hazardous spots in much of the country. Lead poisoning stunts children's cognitive development, and no level of exposure is considered safe. Though abatement efforts have made remarkable progress in curbing exposure since the 1970s, children remain at risk in thousands of neighborhoods. In South Bend, Indiana, for instance, the data showed several hotspots. In one tract, 31.3 percent of small children tested since 2005 had blood lead levels at or above 5 micrograms per deciliter, the Center for Disease Control and Preventions current threshold for elevated levels in children under age 6. Children at or above this threshold warrant a public health response, the CDC says. (GRAPHIC: tmsnrt.rs/2iSFqm1)

Across Flint, 5 percent of children tested had high levels during the peak of the city's water contamination crisis. After Reuters published its findings, South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg held a press conference with county health officials to address local poisoning. Several actions followed: "Everything has moved into fast-forward pace here since your story," said Heidi Beidinger-Burnett, a county health board member and professor at Notre Dames Eck Institute for Global Health. "We are acting with a sense of urgency because kids here depend on it." Other officials in Indiana are exploring additional measures to protect children. State Senator Jean Breaux introduced a bill this week to compel the state health department to double blood lead screening rates among Indiana children enrolled in Medicaid. The screenings are required for Medicaid-enrolled children, but major testing gaps remain.

CALIFORNIA REACTS
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OldManOnFire · Jan 19, 2017

waltky said: ↑

Reuters report spurs U.S. cities move to curb lead poisoning...

U.S. cities move to curb lead poisoning following Reuters report
Thu Jan 19, 2017 | Cities and towns across the United States are taking action after a Reuters report identified thousands of communities where children tested with lead poisoning at higher rates than in Flint, Michigan.
Click to expand...

With all of our air and water pollution it's a wonder that we live as long as we do? I'm one of those who believes cancer and many other illnesses are linked to our environment...what we consume and ingest...

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Flint, Mich. Water Scandal

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