By Kendall Smith ’16, Lighter Fare Columnist
An attempt to save money has led to the issuing of a state of emergency in Flint, Michigan.
In late April of 2014, the city of Flint switched its water source from Lake Huron, water which was treated by the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department, to the Flint River in an attempt to cut costs. The Flint River water was treated at the city’s water treatment plant, but according to the state Department of Environmental Quality the plant failed to treat the water with the necessary chemicals. The highly corrosive water caused lead within the city’s pipes to leach into the water supply. While citizens of Flint issued complaints about the water’s strange color, taste, and smell, city officials claimed that the water was safe to drink. One home’s water supply was tested in February and was found to have 104 parts per billion of lead. A few weeks later the home was retested and found to have 397 ppb of lead. The EPA requires action at levels over 15 ppb. The EPA was notified, but no action was taken.
Even after being informed of the water’s lead contamination, many Flint residents continued to drink the water because they had no other option: 41 percent of the city’s population lives in poverty and cannot afford to buy bottled water. It was only when pediatrician Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha found and reported high levels of lead in the blood of children that the government took the matter seriously. After realizing the severity of the city’s water problem, Flint switched back to using the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department as its water source. In December, orthophosphate was added to the water to protect against further corrosion of the pipes. Experts declared that while the water is now safe for bathing, citizens should not drink the water. Governor Rick Snyder wrote, “We are working closely with Genesee County and the Flint community, taking actions to immediately improve the water situation in Flint. Currently, we are focused on water testing, lead testing for children, and ensuring every home has water filters. We are also at work on long-term solutions, including follow-up care for affected residents.” On January 16th of this year, President Obama issued a state of emergency in the city of Flint which allows for up to five million dollars to be provided for disaster recovery and which will be used to purchase bottled water, filters and water testing kits. Over the last few weeks over 37,697 homes in the City of Flint have been visited by Water Resource Teams that are delivering these resources to citizens. President Obama expressed his disapproval of how the situation was handled: “What is inexplicable and inexcusable is once people figured out that there was a problem there, and that there was lead in the water, the notion that immediately families weren’t notified, things were not shut down. That should not happen anywhere.”
While all citizens of Flint, Michigan are vulnerable to health complications caused by the contaminated water, children are especially susceptible. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), “Young children are particularly vulnerable because they absorb 4–5 times as much ingested lead as adults from a given source.” The WHO also notes that “lead affects children’s brain development resulting in reduced intelligence quotient (IQ), behavioral changes such as shortening of attention span and increased antisocial behavior, and reduced educational attainment. Lead exposure also causes anaemia, hypertension, renal impairment, immunotoxicity and toxicity to the reproductive organs. The neurological and behavioral effects of lead are believed to be irreversible.” Many parents have reported that their children have rashes from being bathed in the lead infested water. In addition, an outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease has affected 87 individuals and killed 10, and is suspected to be attributed to bacteria in the contaminated water.
Blood testing is available in some parts of the city for free for younger children. The problem is that lead is excreted by the body within a couple months, so even if the children currently have little to no lead in their blood, they may have been exposed to high levels of it at some point over the last 18 months. Another devastating fact is that lead damage is irreversible and causes symptoms even after it is out of someone’s system. For some, the impact of this toxin may not be experienced for 5-10 years – not all of lead’s side effects occur immediately.
Dr. Hanna-Attisha and other doctors at Hurley Medical Center are collaborating with Michigan State University and the Genesee County Health Department to create a Pediatric Public Health Initiative. This initiative is aimed at helping children affected by the disaster long term. They plan on holding cooking classes and spreading information about the importance of giving kids food rich in iron, calcium and vitamin C to reduce lead absorption. The plan also targets children who are at risk of developing behavioral, intellectual and developmental disabilities due to the lead, by introducing specialists who can help these kids early on to improve their outcomes. It will be many years before we know the lead’s true long term impact on the health of these children.
The city of Flint is in the process of recovering from 18 months of lead ingestion after being told for more than a year by their local government that, “Flint water is safe to drink.”
If you are interested in making a donation that will provide families in Flint with bottled water and other resources go to: http://www.helpforflint.com/
Sources:
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs379/en/
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/flint-water-crisis-children-exposed-lead/story?id=36376739
http://www.michigan.gov/flintwater/0,6092,7-345-73947_73999—,00.html
http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/jan/22/flint-water-crisis-health-effects-michigan-residents
http://www.mlive.com/news/flint/index.ssf/2016/01/hundreds_tested_at_free_blood.html
https://www.cityofflint.com/2016/01/04/genesee-county-commissioners-declare-emergency/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/01/15/this-is-how-toxic-flints-water-really-is/
http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2015/12/flint-lead-water-state-emergency
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/01/21/us/flint-lead-water-timeline.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/obama-flint-water-crisis_us_56a03c39e4b0d8cc1098bf55
Image Source:
http://www.scoopnest.com/es/user/RollingStone/690659195344003074
