![]() Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) sets a limit of 15 parts per billion for lead in drinking water, but because lead and other heavy metals accumulate within the body, no level of lead exposure is considered perfectly safe. Lead poisoning poses serious and even fatal threats to the nervous system and kidneys at every age, but high lead levels are especially dangerous for children under the age of six, whose physical and mental development may be permanently stunted. More significantly, the corrosiveness of the water leached lead out of old pipes used throughout the city. By October 2014, General Motors had stopped using Flint’s municipal water out of concern that it corroded sensitive engine parts. The levels of chlorine and other corrosive compounds in the Flint River water caused further problems. See also: Escherichia Escherichia coli outbreaks Water treatment In response to the coliform bacteria reports, Flint officials increased the amount of antibacterial chlorine used to treat the water. col i infections can cause severe diarrhea and dehydration, with complications such as kidney failure, and they are most dangerous for children, pregnant women, and people with weakened immune systems. coli) in the water reaching some Flint neighborhoods, leading to the first of two temporary advisories that the water be boiled before use. In August 2014, tests detected fecal coliform bacteria ( E. Shortly after the switchover to Flint River water, city residents began to complain that their water had an unpleasant smell, taste, and orange discoloration. ![]() See also: Lake River Water-borne disease Water resources Those problems, which officials seem to have addressed inadequately, soon translated into a variety of health threats for Flint’s citizens. Runoff in the Flint River watershed contained a variety of pollutants, including industrial compounds, pesticides, fertilizers, and fecal bacteria. Although the Flint River had served as the city’s backup water source for many years and had been the primary source of water early in the 20th century, it had historically suffered from poor quality, especially in more recent decades. Flint stopped obtaining water from the DWSD in April 2014, but because the new Lake Huron supply was not yet available, the city adopted an interim measure of drawing water from the nearby Flint River. One of the decisions made during this time was to reduce the city’s water bill by switching suppliers from the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department (DWSD) to the Karegnondi Water Authority, via a new tunnel to be bored to Lake Huron. Because of Flint’s poor finances, it was put into receivership and managed by state officials between 20. The General Motors automobile factory located in Flint was for many years the company’s largest, but the weakness of the American auto industry caused a decline in the city’s fortunes starting in the 1980s. Census Bureau, Flint is a city of almost 100,000 people where more than 40 percent live below the poverty line. ![]() (Credit: National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Institutes of Health)Īccording to the U.S. The water crisis in Flint, Michigan, involved the contamination of the municipal water supply with toxic lead and dangerous bacteria. Water can be contaminated by chemicals or other foreign substances that are detrimental to human health.
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