"Five years after Michigan switched Flint’s water supply to the lead-saturated Flint River from Lake Huron... "
Umm... My understanding is that the lead contamination did not come from the Flint River but from insides of the water pipes that were damaged by the water. The following is from a Smithsonian.com piece (https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/chemical-study-ground-zero-house-flint-water-crisis-180962030)
"The root cause of the Flint lead crisis was corrosion.... For 50 years, Flint had purchased its water from Detroit, its neighbor 70 miles to south. However, in 2014, the cash-strapped city decided to end its agreement with Detroit and start pulling water from the Flint River... What officials didn't seem to anticipate was the effect that the slightly more acidic water of the Flint River would have on the city's pipes.
"Furthermore, officials never used common corrosion control methods... Those methods include adding phosphates to the water, which help keep lead from dissolving into the water flowing through the pipes. When the city switched water supplies, this rust began to be stripped away, strongly discoloring the water and leaching the large amounts of lead from that rust into the water."
22
I'm surprised the Trump administration hasn't tried settling all the unaccompanied minors from Central America in Flint.
1
Where is Betsy DeVos in all of this?
6
But Obama drank a glass of it for the cameras. It should be fine.
3
The shame of it. Despicable.
Those poor innocent children. It makes me sick.
7
Do white kids drink poisoned water and get locked up in cages?
5
Humanity confounds me. Jeff Bezos has said the only way he can possibly deploy a large amount of his mega fortune (that the average person couldn’t make over centuries) is to build his own space force. Yet something like fixing Flint’s water, which costs exponentially less, never crossed his mind?
11
Schools can reject a student who has been suspended. As one mother said, the ‘better’ schools use this twist of circular logic to deny children who need their (evidently) well-funded remedial programs from getting in. No wonder their stats look good.
A blind student whose teacher can’t teach Braille? Doesn’t Michigan have schools for the blind, outreach programs, educational aids, materials for teachers- let alone students.
This is a Republican educational program? Leave no child, behind? Oh, unless they’ve been suspended for behavior attributable to tainted water. Cages, physical and now mental- quite the campaign party poster child, children.
4
There’s a whole lot going on here besides lead. While it’s true that ingested or inhaled lead is harmful, it’s also true that the degree and duration of exposure matters, even if there is no truly safe blood level of load. You also cannot ignore the significant effects on children from poverty.
There are so many kids diagnosed with so-called neurobehavioral disorders these days. You can’t attribute everything to lead. We are so quick to make all problems a disorder or disease. Unfortunately that often condemns victim status on kids (and adults) and then people get all wrapped up in blaming people and becoming helpless and hopeless and demanding that the schools fix their kid.
7
Why would anyone want to immigrate to the US where they poison their citizens, and penalties are either minimal or non existent.
2
The Michigan Republicans who orchestrated this fiasco must be quite proud of their accomplishment--impairing the cognitive potential of an entire generation of young children in the city of Flint. I guess they figure they got double-points that the majority of these children happened to be African-American.
4
Soul crushing damage to innocent children. This is what happens when you elect Republicans.
If there was any justice, everyone involved in this should have been forced to drink the polluted water for a few years. After all, if it was good enough for their constituents, then it's good enough for them.
4
The people of Flint have been abandoned by State,Local and Federal officials. it's a national disgrace and one that demands attention.
5
This is very tragic, but a warning to those who think central planning, monopolistic government should control more of your your life, like your healthcare.
3
We the people have no problem paying sports star $100 million or seeing a blockbuster movie that makes $1 billion. But safe drinking water is not affordable. We are entertaining ourselves to extinction. Pass the popcorn please.
4
This is a nightmare scenario for an already challenged city. The state and/or feds should fund schools with enhanced services for special needs kids AND fix the water supply problems, which still are not up to safe standards. I feel terrible for the families struggling there. We have a special needs kid who gets good services at our local public school, for which I am SO thankful, and he still struggles and we still worry incessantly. To think of these families without good services and all the other challenges in Flint...it breaks my heart. It's an outrage, and it doesn't have to be like this. We have solutions for these problems. It's the greed and selfishness and hijacking of tax funding to enrich the powerful that is killing us.
27
And yet, only ten percent of Flint's voters could be bothered to go to the polls yesterday, or vote absentee prior, to select the new Mayor and other local leadership.
184
@Cynthia it’s not as if they’ve been given a lot of reasons to think their votes matter, especially in light of how their situation has been handled. They haven’t been given much evidence that the government won’t fail them.
57
Local leadership didn’t make the decision to switch the source of the water supplied to Flint and whether to treat it or not. Those ‘experts’ were appointed by Gov Snyder, a Tea Party believer who was supported by the Koch brothers. Your comment looks like a ‘blame the victims, it’s gotta be their fault’. The people of Flint didn’t vote to eject a Tea Party Governor.
73
@Cynthia Due to the nature of the Flint Crisis, it is not fair to assume that these citizens had the same means or resources as others to vote in local elections. It is important to consider that citizens here are under an above-average amount of economic and emotional pressure. With a poverty rate of 41.2% (https://datausa.io/profile/geo/flint-mi/) and with children suffering from the effects of lead poisoning in regards to health and education, it is not hard to imagine that the citizens are more focused on earning money to sustain their families, and then spending any extra time attempting to raise their children and mitigate any of the harm the lead caused rather than voting in local elections. Thus, your condescending comment is unwarranted when considering the circumstance of Flint citizens.
82
These stories are certainly disturbing, but it is not possible to demonstrate an association with lead exposure without comparing rates of children's psychological problems in Flint to those in other socioeconomically similar neighborhoods. I am not casting doubt, just saying that data is not the plural of anecdote.
7
This is so horrifying that I do not know where to begin. Are we a third world nation or a first-world nation? I am beginning to wonder.
The children affected by either or both the water contamination or the lack of special education services will need support for the rest of their lives. As adults, they will have trouble getting jobs that will pay enough to support themselves and a family. And those kids, for whom the issue is not directly related to the water issues will most likely end up a burden because their issues were not addressed. Will they end up in the prison system?
The government at all levels should be sued for negligence. I am hoping that what the suit is asking for is money to help these children and for the rest of their lives. They will need it.
4
Your article about the harmful long-term effects on the children of Flint of lead in the tap water is appreciated. However, the introductory comment about the source of the lead is incorrect. An Emergency Manager appointed by then-Gov. Snyder, as a cost-saving measure, decided to switch Flint’s water supply from the Detroit Regional Water Authority, to taking water directly from the Flint River. The lead came, not from the Flint River, but from the lead pipes themselves that supplied many older homes. The Detroit-sourced water contains an additive that prevents the flowing water from washing away what was, in effect, a protective corrosive coating on the inside of the pipes. When it switched to water from the River, Flint failed to add the protective chemical to the water, either out of ignorance, or as a further cost-saving. This exposed the flowing water to picking up lead contamination from the pipes themselves. The children of Flint are paying the price now, and into the future."
17
Third world countries have pollution problem and their children are paying the consequences.
So, why a so called "most advanced country in the world" like the US has the same problem?
1
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/03/180326090313.htm
When I was working in Philadelphia, we screened children for lead poisoning. It was in the early 1990’s. Most levels in the inner city neighborhood I was in were over 10. Please read the details about actual levels in Flint.
4
@Friend of a friend That article documents a steady and dramatic decline in lead levels in Flint children over the years, and even the small spike during the contamination period was far below earlier levels. While not remotely excusing the negligence that caused the contamination, it suggests that lead might not be the culprit behind the stories reported in this article.
4
As an editor for a technical journal I identified the intense pressures those in the know about these problems face: persecution by their employers; a cold shoulder by peers and even personal attacks. A geologist named Peterson first identified high concentrations of lead in lettuce fields along California highways. At first, oil companies offered lucrative jobs then the personal attacks began.
I see the same thing happening in this article: doctors are afraid of speaking up or they have sold their souls. What a shame. What is the state of professional integrity that it can be silenced so completely despite the damage done to children?
1
The officials who made the decisions that lead to this debacle should be in jail. Until decisions like this have real personal consequences for decision makers they will continue to happen.
3
There is a way to check lead levels in children after in leaves the bloodstream using K x-ray Fluorescence. Lead only stays in the bloodstream for about 28 days, then it moves to the bones and teeth. I live less than 10 minutes outside of Flint, and have done research and papers for college on Lead. Because of this research, I have changed my major from Addictions to Applied Behavioral Analysis.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2980423/
2
Constructive policy needs critical scientific reasoning but this article advocates policy based on anecdotes. We are not told what is the blood lead level of those children with behavioural difficulties. Does that blood lead level correspond with the intensity of social difficulties? Is there a high correlation between those with the highest lead levels and most intense behavioral problems? What is the lead level among children in other venues? Do children in other locations with similar lead levels have a similar rate of such behavioral and learning problems? What was the lead level among American children fifty years ago? Do children with similar levels exhibited a similar rate of such learning issues? “In Jamaica, 44% of children living near lead production facilities had BLLs above 25 µg/dL. In Albania, 98% of preschool children and 82% of schoolchildren had BLLs above 10 µg/dL; preschoolers living near a battery factory had average BLLs of 43 µg/dL. In China, 50% of children living in rural areas had BLLs above 10 µg/dL, and children living near sites of industry and high traffic had average BLLs ranging from 22 to 68 µg/dL.” Do these children show similar rates of autism and learning problems? In a saturated solution salts precipitate to the bottom of the flask. Saturating the discussion with unscientific anecdotes precipitates poor policy. Help needs to be based on a reasoned and evidence based evaluation which is made more difficult by an agitated article.
16
For decades, all my 70 years anyway, cities throughout the US have “managed” areas that planning departments have designated areas where low income families would fit into their overall “communities.” These policies were in fact environmental segregation, creating environmental justice pockets that nurtured water and air pollution, and ignored infrastructure fixes in favor of wealthier community investment. In my own community, lies an EJ neighborhood. While our activist groups are begging for money from Sacramento County to improve quality of the environment and lives in West Arden Arcade, we have been told there “is no money.” Meanwhile, there has been money “found” to actively re-design and upgrade the already environmentally sound area around our supervisor’s neighborhood with a high end shopping district, new safety oriented transportation lanes and inter-modal planning ( Regional Transportation recently removed a key bus route in West Arden Arcade) and tree and landscaping plantings. The supervisor is retiring after 16 years of criminal neglect to her EJ residents.
The neurologic symptoms that the children in Flint are experiencing are the product of criminal intent to ignore the caustic infrastructure beneath their very feet. The governments in charge, need to bring to justice the creators of this crime against humanity, and pump money into the IMMEDIATE repair of the water infrastructure.
2
"Suffer in class"? Stop sugar-coating. These children are damaged for life and their brains are been attacked. This is criminal.
2
Welcome to America, where residents have come to depend on governments--federal, state and local--to provide them with their wants and need; almost everything material but nothing spiritual, which is jprecluded by the First Amendment. The important question is: Who will be your next savior: Donald Trump or ??? (pick one of the remaining 11).
1
This is why we have those maligned “regulations.”
3
those maligned regulations were not enforced by the "government" officials charged with doing so? it's criminal malfeasance and no one has been held to account for it.
Many white folks believe that their own success is all do to their own effort; they think that this is the "land of opportunity" where anyone can succeed if they just pull themselves up by the bootstraps and work hard; they dispose talk of social justice and claim that the only fair thing is to focus on equality of opportunity "not equality of outcome" believing that all have equal opportunity. This situation is a glaring illustration of why that is all garbage.
These parents struggle without many resources; their kids are set up for a life of struggle. Some of these kids, maybe many of them, will end up incarcerated and marked as a problem for society when it is society which is miserably failing them. Any children they produce will have an equally bleak outcome. What those who turn a blind eye or simply blame the poor/societally victimized do not get is that the that plight of these kids damages society, drains resources over the long term and deprives us all of potential a whole segment of the population will never live out.
23
I could have easily checked “recommend” and moved on. But as a beneficiary of a seemingly white, middle class family, with lots of those privileges tossed my way, not mentioning that background would be a sham.
Being from a disadvantaged family (as we tend to describe such families out here in white, financially comfortable America) just doesn’t give a child an even footing in “succeeding” as we generally define that. And adding another handicap, such as lead-filled water, plus an under-funded educational system) just piles on the challenges.
Just as Obama said “you didn’t build that yourself”, we’re all in this together. And these are our kids. All of them. Flint folks need the same care and consideration as our best neighbors. And we ain’t even giving them clean water to even flush their toilets.
Shame on us. Shame on Trump for not fixing this water problem he inherited. Shame on Betsy DeVos for not stepping into the problems in the school system. We are indeed turning a blind eye to our American brothers and sisters. What’s our excuse?
8
are there any "White" people living in Flint? your point is reasonable, but your racial prejudice is a glaring weakness in your otherwise valid argument.
The GOP is responsible for these lead exposures with GOP Gov Snyder and AG Schuette signing off on poor water treatment policies when switching to Flint River for a drinking water source to save money with a GOP appointed city manager. These heartless soles also violated lead and copper rule for drinking water to save about $100 a month causing high lead levels in the drinking water. The effects will last generations and these two walk away clean. Now the GOP controlled MI Congress is blocking proposed help from the new Democratic Governor Whitmer to help Flint affected kids.
Kids are our only future, act accordingly.
9
Has fracking caused a concentration of autism in the areas where fracking is taking place? Has sugar content in drinks? Climate change? Are we seeing the same ratio of child brain disorders nationally as we do in Flint, and during a correlated period of time?
Sure, you can argue that milk is the gateway drug to opiates as most opioid addicts started out on milk, but there needs to be a logical connection. Save your false equivalencies for a sequel to a George OrwellIan-type novel.
5
It's a sad sight to see children have to deal with this problem and have " discolored, rash-covered skin and chunk of exposed scalp...". And in some instances, the mood of the child has totally changed "Nakiya Wakes could not understand how her wiry, toothy-grinned 6-year-old had gone from hyperactive one school year to what teachers described as hysterical the next. Then, in 2015, the state of Michigan delivered a diagnosis of sorts: Ms. Wakes’s neighborhood’s water which her son, Jaylon, had been drinking and bathing in for more than a year" The lead leads to disorders like A.D.H.D, Dyslexia, and mild intellectual impairment. Disorders like that lead to other things like suspensions and absences. "Jaylon would cycle through two schools, receive 30 suspensions and rack up 70 unexcused absences." It does more harm to kids because they are still developing parts that are already fully developed in adults. "The contamination of this long-struggling city’s water exposed nearly 30,000 schoolchildren to a neurotoxin known to have detrimental effects on children’s developing brains and nervous systems." In some cases the children need help but the help isn't the best."Ethan had a mood disorder and A.D.H.D. that required him to have an aide, but his short-staffed school did not supply one last spring on a day that Ethan encountered a bully in a bathroom and agreed to trade his dinosaur for the other boy’s pocketknife."
5
And in the mean time Trump's EPA wants to gut more environmental protections put in place by President Obama.
3
Obama and earlier administrations and the EPA did not prevent this situation.
If anything the decision to use a different water source was the result of a cost consideration.
3
The State of Michigan is and should be responsible for these children forever. It should waive its sovereign
immunity and let the courts decide its responsibility.
10
Wholly preventable. I'm amazed this happened in the United States, not some developing nation without proper resources or oversight.
3
Some nations are developing. The Republicans are taking America in the opposite direction.
3
Third world comes to America, although I think it's been in the shadows for a long time and in plain sight as well as Susan says.
5
Let's face facts. Down at the Navy Yard in DC they're mulling whether or not to have 11 new nuke subs or just 10 on order. Meanwhile about 30,000 kids in Michigan are severely affected by poor government planning and political decisions affecting the health and well-being of children. What's wrong with this picture? I believe there is a great deal of wrong in this country that must be dealt with properly and it's much larger and more dangerous than any one man or woman.
16
People need to be more educated about this issue. Children are literally drinking lead-poisoned water and getting brain damaged from it. The department of education and the United States government need to do something about this.
7
Most politicians, especially republicans have zero interest in a well educated public. The dumber the better and if it takes poisoning every man, woman and child in America to remain in power they'll leave no stone unturned.
They really do not want anyone to be even remotely capable of rational thought and certainly wouldn't want anyone to be able to ask important questions. The only question they want the public to be able to answer is who looks better in their $1000 tie.
4
Maybe the money taken for trump's useless vanity wall should be redirected to providing safe drinking water for all Americans.
I won't hold my breath waiting for that to happen.
6
I guess that a class action lawsuit is in order seeking millions for each person afflicted.
2
This is bad for the children and the parents of these kids, imagine your child getting diagnosed with something just because of lead in the water.
4
Get it America, under trumps leadership our children, particularly children of color, are being injured, maimed and are dying at a rapid pace. Children in cages, children drinking poisoned water, children dying of gunshot wounds, all have increased since 2016. If children are our future, things are pretty bleak. Its Time!
4
My opinion on this is many states need to start noticing that this is becoming a problem that they should take seriously, before it starts happening to their states this, isn't only happening in Flint in many different states lead is affecting many innocent people. For example Jaylon received 30 suspensions from school and 70 unexcused absences this would eventually make him have no choice but go to an online school. This problem also affects the jobs of teachers, for example when the lead crisis broke out in 2014 the tiny school had a budget of 21 million dollars which meant the school had to cut more than 200 staff members. Hopefully this lead problem does not get any worse because it is messing up kids education and the jobs of teachers. The government can help clean the waters so its not contaminated with lead. When will this problem end because if it doesn't the U.S. can have a serious problem with their education and water.
3
@David Guerrero Excellent post David this shows you read the article and made insight regarding the issue. Keep it up .
1
The Flint River wasn't lead filled or saturated. The leas leaked into the water from pipes of which supplied homes. The reason this was the water department of Flint Michigan did not add more chemicals when cleaning the river water.
13
The reason was the Flint River was polluted by industrial waste from auto manufacturers. The polution corroded away the lead pipes carrying the water to homes. All to save a dollar by switching water sources from the Detroit to the Flint.
4
Our species likes to hope that bad things won't happen. We understand that lead is harmful---we believe the science. But in the back of our minds we hope the science is wrong, about lead, or the cancers of pollution, or wrong about climate or that our own human numbers are benign. Our species likes to hope--more than we like to prevent.
7
If this had happened in a Caucasian neighborhood, not only would the pipes have been fixed in year one, but special funding would have been designated long ago to proactively deal with health and learning issues that exposed children might face. Anyone who looks at this as anything but another example of racism and inequality in our systems is either willfully blind or bigoted to their core.
3
I'm not sure it's accurate to say the Flint River was contaminated, or at least not in a way to imply that any contamination caused Flint's troubles. It was the lack of corrosion controls at the water treatment plant that was the main culprit, as the protective buildup that had accrued over pipes was stripped and the lead underneath exposed.
I think it's important that we be aware that there wasn't necessarily anything wrong with the Flint River water itself; a lot of water that we use every day comes from corrosive sources, we just treat it. Indeed, quite a bit of in-structure piping across the country is lead. It was the lack of corrosion controls and exceedingly poor management that caused much of this.
16
@Mpls
Not even the car companies would use Flint River water because it would corrode car parts.
They pumped that water untreated into Flint homes.
The damage was swift and predictable.
3
The river was contaminated with chemicals from years of dumping by manufacturers upriver. This is why it didn't start until they switched water sources.
2
A national disaster that instead of getting more resources for these kids damaged by lead exposure, are getting less. What is wrong with our government? What is the education secretary who is from Michigan doing about it? She should be ashamed!
12
The richest country in the world. But such mind-bending inequality creates that average. America must take better care of all of its children. Shame on us. Shame on us.
14
@Alexis She’s trying to kill public education so that the private charter school enterprises will get richer than they already are. She is the enemy of all public education.
1
This is such a tragedy. Lead poisoning has such devastating effects on the brains of growing children. They will never be “normal”.
10
What I would recommend for the people who caused this problem is illegal. To cripple these children for life purposefully or through negligence is unconscionable. People must be held accountable.
11
It is not just Flint’s children. It’s Philadelphia children living on poisoned soils. It’s Ithaca’s children drinking tainted water from the school drinking fountain. It’s children living near freeways where cars exhausted tons of leaded gasoline that fueled suburban commutes. It’s children living in long forgotten industrial areas where there isn’t a viable owner to attach responsibility for the waste that the factory left behind. It’s millions of children who will struggle at school, falter at performance testing and be placed in remedial programs and forgotten. Their schools will be identified as failing, leading to correction plans that ignore the lurking health issue of lead. And the cycle will repeat.
For centuries we have known the effects of lead on developing brains. The scions who made their fortune from belching factories have long left town with clear conscience decamping to their stately homes in gated communities. Families left behind are expected to foot the bill for the criminal levels of lead contamination that will take generations to fix.
We are a country founded exceptionalism; the wealth of a few are the burden of the majority. Who will pay for this lead contamination is clear.
124
@Susan
Now this is an issue the Democrats really need to address fast and furiously.
Poisoning our own children and doing nothing?
Meanwhile Trump rescinds regulations for clean air and water.
23
While I understand it is important to maintain optimism, lead poisoning does cause permanent cognitive damage. As I understand it, there is no known treatment for it - you can do chelation, or removal of the lead, at the time of poisoning but it's way too late for that, and even chelation doesn't reliably rescue cognition in lead poisoned children. What Michigan has done to the people in Flint is nothing short of criminal. These families should get a lifetime of quality health care and housing as a weak attempt at justice.
12
Welcome to the world of SPED education in Michigan. It has always been a tire fire. Flint is just the biggest tire fire.
For families in moneyed districts, and with money to throw at a lawyer, you can arm twist the districts to get those IEP accommodations met. An autism diagnosis is the biggest money pit district can have, and they will pretzel themselves to dodge it at all costs.
Throw in new teachers who have no experience how to handle behavioral/developmental issues, mess is the understatement.
While this article is on Flint, the lead crisis and the lack of SPED services, honestly this is the whole state of Michigan. Ask any parent of a special needs child how they flipping HATE September. IEPs demoted to 504 plans. 504 plans reduced to sticker charts and time outs, and heaven help you if you kid is just starting out and needs a 504 plan or IEP. The district will make it so miserable, the parents will give up.
We will be supporting these kids, whether thought the prison systems, Social Security Insurance, or other social services. Why we cheap out on early intervention is beyond me.
13
In an incredibly disingenuous display of callous arrogance, Michigan’s governor, Rick Snyder, explained during testimony to U.S. Representative Elijah Cummings that he will be carrying the feeling that he could have done more to fix Flint for the rest of his life.
To which, taken aback by Snyder’s snide remark, Rep. Cummings retorted, as a paraphrase: “You know, governor, I’ve heard you say that. But, the children of Flint will be carrying the pain, with their families, and loss of function, long after we’re dead, for the rest of THEIR lives”.
For that remark, Snyder deserves the “Let them eat cake” award for 2016. What a terrible thing to happen to these fine families, already struggling with reduced property values in a one-industry town.
As one of the first communities in the country with a full-time paid “artist-in-residence” in the late 1960’s, Flint can have great promise with its industrial know-how, but will need much more than the Michigan Republican legislature, hateful of urban communities around the state, is willing to provide. The president and Congress offer little help.
Flint needs a financial benefactor, far beyond the resources of the Mott Foundation, to realize the healthy, educated, and productive community - that responds to special education needs - that it can be.
There are plenty multi-billionaires in the United States. At least one of them should step up to the plate.
11
When gerrymandering has finally played itself out. When voter suppression no longer has appeal. When rampant corruption and buying the Supreme Court no longer seems in vogue, the Republicans can always to to the well.
The community well.
The community well that is laced with toxic amounts of lead.
This is how Republicans will stem the tide of minorities and immigrants. By turning their brains and bodies into mush.
And even now, Trump is removing all EPA safeguards.
I thought he simply wanted to decimate the environment. Now I understand the true motivation.
8
Water, shoes, opioids, guns, meds and diagnosis to kill us, a gold plan for some, how else can they maim and kill the poor? Jail them all!
6
There is Federal Law protecting these children and the Flint School District seems to be breaking it. You can't suspend a special ed student for more than 10 days, unless they determine that the reason for the suspension wasn't related to their disability. https://www.wrightslaw.com/howey/idea.suspend.htm
5
@ Melissa I think Flint has no appetite for enforcement and Michigan doesn’t care.
1
Don’t worry the EPA will downgrade the risk of brain damage. In the future you won’t need brains, just do what you are told.
10
Next time someone says regulation is too costly...
11
Now Trump's EPA wants to kill me personally and my neighbors by letting toxic waste into the Merrimack River in New Hampshire and Massachusetts' North Shore towns.
6
Rise up.
6
@William RISE UP! The wheels that squeak get the oil!
So sad. We are a third-world country in many places in America. And people keep voting Republican while everything crumbles. The lawmakers in Michigan have no conscience.
6
Flint happened under Obama. I'm not sure that FEMA was called in and given the same marching orders they receive for a hurricane or flood. Not was the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers brought in with enough urgency to fix Flint’s infrastructure.
Hillary Clinton said little about Flint nor campaigned in Michigan.
Trump won MI, and has done nothing at all to help the people of Flint, or provided services for these poor kids.
Sanders, Warren, et. al. have an opportunity to highlight --not Trump’s Ukrainian intrigues and extraordinary plots, -- but the utter neglect and incompetence of an administration that does nothing. An administration whose regulatory rollbacks that have resulted in 10,000 additional deaths in the U.S. , tons of polluting and deadly toxins released into our air and water at the behest of his corrupt donors in the energy industry and self-dealing cabinet officials.
The sham of Trump's empty promises and broken commitments to the swing-state voters who chose him out of desperation and disappointment in Obama and disaffection for Hillary Clinton is no better highlighted than in Flint.
A smart Democratic candidate like Booker or Klobuchar ought to make their campaign headquarters in Flint and use Instagram and Twitter, to show what living in Flint is like under Trump.
Flint spells any number of cities and towns in Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin and Indiana. Voters there might not mind a jerk, as long as he had their back. Trump doesn't, does Warren, etc. ?
8
@John C
Among your other inaccuracies, you stated that Clinton “said little about Flint” during the campaign.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/01/20/how-hillary-clinton-made-the-flint-water-story-big-news/
1
I missed that about 10k deaths due to rollbacks by the current administration. Can you expand on that?
1
There will be more Flints. Under pressure from Trump, EPA is relaxing rules on coal mining discharge into waterways so the horror & malfeasance of this president is not limited to Ukraine.
The amount of money Trump wastes each weekend to fly to Florida to play golf could clean up the entire mess in Flint.
As a psychologist, I am forced to accept that Trump's mental illness leaves him w/o a sense of right and wrong, but I cannot excuse the "so called" normal legislators who keep him in office.
If not for Moscow Mitch and AG Barr, the Trump nightmare would already be over and we could turn our attention to crisis like Flint.
9
Residents of Flint trashed their once clean river over many decades. The Flint River became over time just a dumping ground instead of a clean, healthy river. Sad. Cities must take care of their water bodies and not let it get so polluted!
5
@aldebaran the river wasn't the issue, it was the treating of the river.
3
Please bear in mind that the “greatest generation” and the baby boomers all grew up drinking water from lead pipes. As the article admits, “Medical experts say there is no way to prove that the lead has caused new disabilities.”
If lead exposure was that potent, the citizens of Galena, Illinois, a lead mining town, would be academic failures too.
I’m not saying lead is good for growing children, or even neutral, just that it is being used as a scapegoat for a lot of other problems.
5
There’s nothing scientific in anything you just stated.
4
@Cheryl Lead concentrations in blood have declined over 90% in the last 50 years. Everybody in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s had blood lead concentrations that are now considered dangerous (maybe that explains a lot of the current political situation). That does not mean children in Flint do not have lead poisoning; it just means this is a very complicated issue. And yes, the decline of lead concentrations in blood is a scientific fact caused by the removal of lead from gasoline.
11
The origin story of the Flint water crisis is completely wrong in the article.
It states, "Five years after Michigan switched Flint's water supply to the lead-saturated Flint River from Lake Huron..."
Actually, the City of Flint (not the State of Michigan) changed its water supply from the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department (sourced from Lake Huron and the Detroit River) to the Flint River. The City of Flint failed to add corrosion inhibitors to the water, and the water corroded lead from residential piping to contaminate residential drinking water.
If this basic piece of background is wrong in the article, what else is wrong?
16
@James Russell
The city of Flint was under “emergency management” by the Snyder administration at the time of the switch. This lays right at his door step.
7
It's a relief to know that children unable to pay attention in school as a result of poisoning by Flint's contaminated water have fortunately retained their ability to play Fortnite for hours at time with no interruptions.
11
As an aside, the immediate feedback from a computer game drives that attention. This is different from the more thoughtful attention needed in a classroom.
I've often wondered what it would be like to incorporate grade school lessons in those games. At one time I had a child learning Braille (visually) so he could advance in some Pokemon game. The immediate feedback is a great motivator for learning.
4
For this to exist in the United States of America indicates we no longer have a functional government. In the 1970’s, we evacuated 36 blocks of Niagara Falls, New York, took 20 years, and spent $500 million to clean up the Love Canal neighborhood.
But wait, those were white people.
Maybe we never had a functional government in this country for black folks.
144
@Walt Bruckner
The Democrats have been the party in power in Flint for decades.
Hold them accountable
7
And had the Flint city government been in charge at the time of the switch, the switch wouldn’t have taken place. The state government, Republican run, had taken over the Flint government and made this disastrous decision.
But no one is fixing it.
12
@Walt Bruckner
It is crazy and sad to realize it, but what we call “functional government” has always been deeply dysfunctional. It just depends on who benefits from the dysfunction.
White Americans will blame the citizens of Flint, whose city government was suspended and put under the direct thumb Tom Snyder’s “Emergency Management.”
Once we blame the victims, we can go back to ignoring the fact that we allowed a Governor to poison a city’s water supply by switching the source to a corrosive pit to “save money.”
Who’s next?
Redlining was primarily for black people until subprime mortgages almost broke our economy.
And public schools? Unless people demand more from their neighborhood schools and elected officials, they will disappear to be replaced by charter schools— a movement swiftly afoot in black neighborhoods.
Police brutality and paramilitary policing? If you are black you know we already have a force that can stop and frisk you at will, search your bags, arrest you for “talking back,” choke you, shoot you 41 times for lifting your wallet, keep you in jail for years without trial etc and get away with it in the “liberal” big city of NY. What Constitution? LOL! What a joke!
Our prison system is enormous. We probably lock up more white people than other majority white countries.
And why are we the only “functional” government who can’t figure out universal healthcare or gun safety?
We tolerate dysfunctional government because it hurts blacks and “others”
11
What would the fallout of this story be if it were to be about Scarsdale, NY? This story would never have left the news cycle for a minute. Of course, we know that this would never have happened in Scarsdale, NY or a place such as Saratoga, CA. It reminds me of a Muhammad Ali (then Cassius Clay) quote, "Get Angelo Dundee. He's the right complexion with the right connection."
6
This is heartbreaking and a scandal; lead in the tap water! And the government get's paid for selling that? Look at history, when poeple used lead pipes; it is known for a long long time that lead is toxic. This is not first world anymore, the own greed changes the USA into a third world country with a few billionaires and the rest, the "epsilons". How can it be allowed, to reside in such a poisoned area? Why is there no justice.
40
@Mami Because our government is corrupted by big money. They make their money by destroying the water, soil and air and walk away. And Trump continues to not only ignore but deregulate. And where is Betsy DeVos, another billionaire. We need leadership by dedicated people. Trump is attacking and getting rid of them all and replacing them with slimy, immoral people,.like himself.
Vote them out, this is our chance to rid ourselves of chaos and lawlessness. Vote!
2
No, it was not the “lead saturated Flint River.” It was the lead inside the pipes, eaten off by Flint River water, that ended up in people’s homes! This continuing story is a nightmare.
12
My stomach is churning after reading this. Michigan's schools are the fruits of the GOP leadership in the state and a harbinger of where we are headed if we continue down the path of adopting the plan to privatize public services. This article fails to emphasize is that the "problem children" in Flint schools are the result of a political decision to privatize the provision of drinking water to avoid paying for needed infrastructure upgrades."School choice"-- a privatization scheme- segregates "problem children" from those who behave well and play by the rules--- the children of parents who can afford to pay for water. The GOP seems happy to live in a world of privatization where the victims of cost-cutting are segregated from those who can afford to live where they choose. This is an acceptable result to the GOP who decries "the government" and offers free-market "choice" as the solution for all the ills that affect us: poor drinking water, "failing" schools, Obamacare, and social security. "Let the marketplace work its magic, give consumers a choice, run government like a business, and everything will be all right".... unless you have the misfortune of being born into a poverty stricken family that does not have the wherewithal to relocate from a resource-poor community.
Flint Michigan is a canary in a coal mine. We should pay heed.
6
"These are all our children. We will profit by, or pay for, whatever they become." - James Baldwin
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@Pseudonym
No wonder the autism rate in this country has skyrocketed.
Every citizen should get a water testing kit and should regularly test their own drinking water. I'm sure this is not a few isolated cases.
3
"Michigan switched Flint’s water supply"
Wrong. Should read:
"Flint switched its water supply."
6
@sf
No the article is correct.
Tom Snyder switched the water supply. He wasn’t making the decisions for Flint under “Emergency Management.”
2
The Flint water supply was switched while the city government was under the complete control of the state government which had taken over. Gov Snyder and his administration are totally responsible for this mess.
2
@sf
Flint was under the “Emergency Management” of Tom Snyder who made the decision to switch the water source to the Flint River.
1
Flint has proven itself incapable of solving its own problems, the state had to step in. Poor decisions made at every level of state and local government. These kids already had almost no shot of living a happy, productive life, and now this. Plenty of blame to spread around and not enough solutions.
17
@Midwest Josh
The decisions were at the state level almost entirely as Tom Snyder had suspended the Flint City Council and decided unilaterally to source the drinking water from the Flint River. The elected officials of Flint had no say and their opinion would not have mattered one way or another.
The blame belongs to Tom Snyder most, but when rich White men commit crimes against blacks, they get away with it, especially as public officials.
Thanks for blaming the victim, though. It’s on brand, right along with the condescending casual racism and excusing of criminal state actors.
6
So, since the state had to take over governance of Flint, it’s okay to poison the population?
Does the phrase “poisoning his own people” have any resonance for you?
@Midwest Josh, it was the state that switched the pipes that created the problem. To save money they poisoned their own city. This is a disgrace and just another of our serious problems that the republicans have caused by playing politics with every important piece of legislation that had majority support of congress and the people.
McConnell must go and the rest of the extremists in the party.
2
Take note of the fact that Michigan was a state that helped elect President Trump. One would think that Trump and his “be best” wife Melania would pay back the State by being all over the Flint Crisis like “white on rice”.
When was the last time the Trumps, Betsy Devos, one of the Trump children ( especially Uber mom Ivana) stepped foot in the city of Flint and shared a meal and a tall glass of water with their constituents? Instead of going on Fox News promoting hisbook and extolling the virtues of his perpetually swollen father, I suggest Don Jr.march his “tone deaf” self over to Michigan and regal all his Flint constituents with how deplorably his dad has been treated since approximately the time the water crisis was exposed. The outpouring of both love, support and unwavering admiration should be palpable! Laud all that your dad has done for the country, and how the economy is booming all while your father has been unfairly vilified. The Flint teachers, who are making $35,000 annually will surely empathize and probably appreciate the sacrifices you make on their behalf. Trump, who posited that he is “the best president ever” has indeed made the kids of Flint an example that being great takes more then just embroidering MAGA on a hat.
Trump being removed from office seems unlikely. I suggest that after the senate votes down impeachment, Mitch, Lindsey, Mick, Barr, Conway, Giuliani, the entire Trump family, celebrate toasting with Flints finest tap water.
3
@Leslie I knew when I opened comments there would be at least one comment linking Trump to this crisis that long predated his presidency. But the first in the thread? Congratulations! But I'm sure you're not the last one here...
6
@Leslie
We are still waiting for the help from the Clinton Foundation who was going to be on this "like white on rice".
See we know politicians say anything to get elected and that they do not have any intention to deliver. Voters in the areas with highest lead levels stayed home and did not vote. Overall minority voters stayed home and intentionally did not vote. This is what caused Hillary to lose in Michigan. People knew as president she would not do jack for Flint and would make the criminal justice system more unfair.
Michigan did not put Trump in office, thr DNC pit Trump in office. Michigan wanted Bernie.
6
The point is mister “only I can fix it” has done absolutely nothing since he became in charge of everything. Save the self satisfied snark for after he pretends to care.
2
There is no safe level of lead exposure for young children. There is no level of exposure that does not impair the development of their brains. These poor children are intellectually disabled, permanently. Let's not sugarcoat it. It is a tragedy for the parents and children, and for a nation in which unqualified people would be allowed to run a municipal water system.
3
The young damaged brains affected by lead and other toxins, will come back to roost in large numbers, unmanageable, angry, frustrated, marginalized etc. I am sure you can imagine the rest of the picture, not great! Fixing the freshwater issue is peanuts in comparison to what they have to pay tens of thousands of people disability payments year after year for decades, add to that the exorbitant health costs which they might be entitled to as well.
1
This is horrific to read.
The government of the State of Michigan owes the children of Flint and their families both money for treatment and care for the rest of their lives, along with compensation for their loss and distress.
As a fellow mother my heart breaks for these parents and their children.
61
@A F , will you also be backing me on the horror that disease inoculation is having on our children as well? We have waves of autistic children filling our classrooms and not one article in the NYTimes. Autism has never been higher while lead levels in children has never been lower in modern US history. In my course, I try to get my students to explain how one unsubstantiated claim (that record low levels of lead found in children in Flint and other US cities (thanks to the end of leaded gasoline and leaded paint in every home) is leading to poor academic performance while the role of vaccines on autism is treated as fake news. Ideology Trumps facts once again in America.
1
@DoctorRPP
Why not blame fracking for the increase in autism? There were never as many cases before fracking began.
Or climate change or the internet usage or corn syrup in soft drinks? All also correlated to an increase in autism and as scientifically valid in theory
9
Don’t lay this off on the Michigan state government. The Environmental Protection Agency of the United States of America should have immediately stepped in and federalized this problem. If you want a doorstep to lay this one on, look at your own, and mine.
We are all guilty. I hope God doesn’t exist, because if she does, her justice will be both beautiful and terrible.
2
The teachers who stick it out in the Flint public schools are heroes. I teach in a public school in New York City with our share of challenges, and we don't have enough resources, but this article makes my job look like heaven in comparison. The neglect of these children and their teachers and schools is sickening.
6
What these teachers need is a union. Oh wait, they have one. Oh well.
1
What these children need are responsible adults in government.
They’ve been saying this in Baltimore too for decades... blaming every bad test score, deviant behavior, and even murder on lead paint.... It’s a complete and utter lie and they know it. They’re trying to absolve responsibility for bad parenting, broken families, moral decay and a cultural acceptance of permissive violence on lead. Its a false reality. Its a cheap excuse.
13
The levels of lead in Flint’s water are well documented. The effects of lead, especially on young children, are well documented. The “false reality” is your attempt to pin the results of structural disinvestment and environmental catastrophe on individual “bad parenting,” of which there’s absolutely no evidence in this article.
4
Testing positive for lead poisoning is actually false?
That's lie.
1
@F. Jozef K. Ummm... ADHD, dyslexia, among learning related diagnosis cited here are neurological disorders. And they exist in ample quantities in wealthy, white districts as well. These diagnoses have nothing to do with parenting and culture and morality. Yes, conditions like trauma/PTSD do mimic aspects of ADHD or ADD as they present in the classroom. But let's be clear what the article is talking about is brain-based.
2
I understand that Flint has become a symbolic part of a religious fervor for those who have filled the gap of organized religion with ideology, but can we all repeat one simple fact. The lead levels in Flint are a small fraction of what every American over the age of 50 received in their own childhoods when we actually used lead pipes, leaded gas filled the air, most homes still had peeling lead paint on the walls, and there were no chemical treatments of water systems. I am not advocating the return of lead in our lives, but click-bait articles every 4 weeks on Flint is helping create the kind of helpless fervor that destroys democracies.
12
America being the richest country in the world, must provide safe drinking water to its people. The fact that it’s not done at many places including Flint amounts to grave negligence on the part of concerned municipalities. Erring officials must be punished.
There is no guarantee that bottled water is safe but people drink it anyway. Who guarantees their health ?
Keeping aside lead problems associated with children’s health, I can vouch for the fact that infrastructure of public schools in America is thousand times better than those in India since I have experienced it firsthand when I visited my granddaughter’s public school in Ann Arbor two months back.
I am no expert. As such I simply can’t say how much children’s brain gets affected on account of lead contamination in water.
Children’s educational standards depend upon a variety of reasons. One of the main reasons for decline is lack of proper parental guidance at home. Parents invariably play a huge role in the educational development of children since they are first teachers.
22
@Sivaram Pochiraju
Ann Arbor ain’t Flint.
What really upsets me is how inequality in all forms, but especially wealth, is contributing to suffering like this.
Meanwhile, big Tech and other billionaires, instead of paying more taxes to be used for the common good, are spending mega money on their pet projects like space ships and immortality.
7
But we spend obscene millions and millions and millions on the electoral insanities the good working people of this country endure every two and four years so that do-nothing, accomplish nothing, serve no one but themselves parasites and tower above us all with better health insurance and back door deals to engorge themselves.
We are now solidly in the darkest hour of American democracy which might very well be considered DOA. We can’t keep going on the delusional presence that there is any elemental decency in our government. And that every tax dollar that is stolen from us is only given over to most vile and nefarious uses.
51
What happened in Flint is a crime against humanity of the highest order. Adults should be jailed. And the nation mobilized to help this traumatized community.
10
Elijah Cummings held cogent hearings in his House Oversight and Reform Committee, which led to some action. As to the problems noted at that time, maybe it's time for Carolyn Maloney, the new chairman of that committee to begin some followup to the currently dismal status to force their state and local governments into further actions to remediate their unresolved, continuing problems.
5
@Quandry
Flint needed more than hearings, yet that is all it received. Mr Cummings was great at PR photo ops but poo-pooed the real problems in Flint, Chicago, and Baltimore. He said nothing was wrong when real scientists and experts held evidence in their hands that things were very wrong.
Mr Kildee, D who is the rep for the Flint district doesn't care for much else beyond getting re-elected. Ms Slotkin, 8th district Rep (part neighbors Flint) has been all over water quality and ensuring safe drinking water for the whole 2 years she has been in office. She has sponsored bipartisan bills that have passed the House only to die in the Senate mostly due to Michigan's Senators not caring.
3
This is a brilliant example of how the United States is slowly but surely down spiraling. Tainted water, crumbling infrastructure , poor schools , diminishing middle class and unaffordable health care . And this is supposed to be a “rich” country?
211
@Joseph currently in Washington State Venture Capitalist are joining together and buying up water rights from farmers.
The Investors say they are not doing it for profit, but I don't understand, why buy the rights if there is not a plan to profit?
Buying water rights means there will be a charge for anyone wanting that water. The Farmers didn't realize how it would effect their neighbors down stream when they gave up their water rights. Seems as how there was a lot of high pressure sales.
What is my point? Capitalist are gobbling up the most important resource in the World: Water. The venturist plan to sell it back to people...money for the "rich", death to the poor.
21
Not rich, evil, rapacious greed.
10
Greatest country on earth, eh?
4
What a horrifying ordeal that should infuriate the whole nation. Wouldn’t you love to see the president tweet solutions and help for Flint instead of his daily woe-is-me drivel?
My heart goes out to these kids and I wish there was some way I could help as a former teacher who has taught many kids with special needs in the past. The teachers are obviously doing everything they can—God bless them all.
Brain trauma can be helped through art therapy as well as sensory play, such as sand and items of different textures. When I read the parts about the virtual learning, it made me wonder if a strictly online environment is making things worse. These schools obviously need more support, but I’m wondering if non-profit organizations or businesses could provide art and sensory learning activities, especially for those who have opted to enroll in the virtual school?
Since American schools are shamefully underfunded for core subjects, art unfortunately gets left out in so many cases, so I hesitate to ask if Flint schools have such programs. I would love to know more about the programs available to these children and their families. Thank you, Erica Green, for sharing this piece with us.
181
@Corrie in every photo except one a child is on a device. Huge part of the problem right there.
26
@Corrie My thoughts exactly.
7
@Suzanne so true. I nearly had a Julia Sugarbaker moment when a principal told me that I had to use the devices at all times, that he’d better not walk in and see the devices turned off. People who don’t know how to appropriately harness technology are wrecking K-12. A device is not a curriculum solution.
26
Straight out of a Margaret Atwood novel. Or name your dystopia. In a community that is unable to be supplied with safe drinking water, its buildings should be condemned, as if a natural disaster took down all those houses. These people should be moved somewhere else, perhaps into temporary housing while their homes are rebuilt.
If you can't get safe drinking water in your home, is it any different than living in a fire, hurricane or earthquake damaged home?
And yes, it's the government's responsibility to fix this, not the residents.
3
It’s a sad indictment on our society that our anger, outrage and injustice is pointed at Trump and his minions. Yet for the least powerful in the equation, people who really need our help - we don’t have a whole left over.
In exasperation for my love of the USA (being so welcomed and with both my kids born there but returning home to Adelaide after nearly 15 years) ---- haven't any of you made the connection ??
The last great true empire died away after all the lead in their pipes and bottle seals etched away at their collective fitness.
Seriously, you allow decimation of the EPA. Pruit, shouldn't have got a look in! Period. Nickle and dimeing all the major institutions in the name of less red tape and smaller government. And then once that is done you go for the high court and the Justice Department.
You know you are better than this. We look on now believing this to still be true. The oversight and especially the Electoral College needs to listen to those hurting and not the vested interests (Flint is not alone); before it is too late -- for you and for all of us.
PS. Don't get me started on the benefits of a national health care system. For some reason it, and our PBS, has worked well over decades with acceptable efficiency.
6
Flint’s case is also the result of regulators failing to do their jobs. The EPA was so concerned about climate change that it was not paying attention to their primary mission: make sure our air and water are clean. Climate change is a bigger call, a more glorious and fulfilling mission, but what we the people need from the EPA is to make sure we have clean air and water today, not 150 years from today. Yes, a boring mission, but that is their job. And this president is trying to straighten out the EPA so it works for we the people. And hopefully private industry regulations that make sense are kept, enacted, and enforced.
2
Say what? Trump is trying to keep our current air and water clean? What KoolAid have you been drinking?
Lead is devestating, has been long before Flint. It is a known poison to the body, reacting within each body differently, but devestatingly. To not acknowledge the problem is criminal.
The only way I see to handle such a criminal act is to feed the criminal ONLY highly concentrated lead water for 3 years as their only source of water.
Any company selling water, a life source, should be fined, and forced to give the water away. Water that is used in farming in Flint will contaminate the land and the food. Who will compensate the Farm community for the Billions of Dollars that it will cost to cleanse their land, irrigation ditches, and other water resources?
Companies selling bottled water to the Flint residents are hardened criminals, the people of Flint deserve better treatment. A Water company providing only contaminated water at an outrageous price should be forced to give back the money AND provide clean water for all residence in Flint. People deserve drinkable water at NO COST.
Many charities help build/drill wells in foreign countries for a community, they do not charge for the water. Perhaps one of those charities could help drill drinkable/bathing water in Flint giving it away to Families. That does assume that the water tables have not been polluted.
Fifteen criminal indictments were made in Flint in 2016 including three persons from the Michigan Health and Human Services Department (HHSD). For those posters here disputing claims of lead poisoning in Flint based on an article published by Mother Jones in July 2018, it should be noted that the source used for the article was from the Michigan HHSD.
4
Does anyone know what needs to be done to repair the water and treat the children? And does anyone know an estimated cost? Remember Farm aid in the 80s? Could we have a concert to raise the money needed?? The rich and the republicans are not going to do it. The auto industry that sold out the workers in Michigan, Ohio, etc isn't going to do it (but they can pay their top management tons of $)
7
@Kathy
One fewer F-35 jet would solve this.
Of course the F-35 jets are an integral part of the corporate welfare system, so forget that.
And the one's affected in Flint were members of the underclass, hence the insipid reaction to this crisis.
5
The institutionalized racism that continues in the U.S. is analogous to the unseen part of an iceberg. Lead-tainted water is a perfect example of this on-going and unseen negative force.
The ridiculous notion of reparations is a pathetic gesture that really only addresses the visible portion of this iceberg.
How does a nation do justice to the myriad of on-going obstacles that it puts in the path of people struggling to get a small portion of the American dream
8
At some point, we all bear the cost of magical thinking by Republicans.
There is no escaping this. It’s like the black lung disease that made the owners of coal mines rich, save that this time the cost is borne by children. It is revolting to the conscience of anyone who claims to have a conscience, no matter what system of belief they claim to adhere to.
Forget the reparations for slavery. There are real reparations due now.
7
The lead crisis in Flint invokes one of the critical blindspots facing frontline professionals who have the most touch-points with the most vulnerable. That is the issue of an arcane and fragile system to activate physicians, nurses, and teachers to uncover public health issues. Front-line staff go through the day diligently helping people on a dyadic basis with minimal consideration to population health level perspectives.
I don't know the Flint case well, but there is a real quandary of scant reporting by front-line workforce -e.g. nurses and physicians in discovering environmental toxin cases when these professionals are faced with patients every day. The fact that a paediatrician / public health doc picked up on the Flint lead crisis is an exception not the rule. With the burden of disease in Flint, what percent of paediatricians and hospital physicians noticed an uptick in lead related illness in children? What did the teachers think of the spike in special needs kids?
How do we foster a system to better encourage detection and reporting of public health issues as a priority in our clinics and even schools? How do we know that a similar lead-poisoning crisis is not brewing in another town?
Perhaps a lab system where abnormal lead values are automatically sent to public health to add to the epidemiological data. Education of educators to know that clusters of behavioural problems do not happen randomly. Annual Pro-D days to focus on public health.
2
See the work involved in reporting the lead problem in Canadian water that was just released. How about checking your own tap, too?
@Green Many localities do exactly that. Every small child in Baltimore is tested (that goes to see a doctor) and abnormal levels are reported.
Lead levels in children in Flint hardly budged during the period of contaminated water (a graph was published in Mother Jones showing the data), and were far below national averages in the 1970's.
Whatever is going on, it isn't lead poisoning. If you look for something as vaguely defined as educational or behavioral problems, you will find it.
If the author wants anyone to believe this has something to do with lead in the water, she needs to provide data about children's lead levels. Are they actually higher than they were 10 or 20 years ago, or than in other places?
7
@Jonathan Katz Yes, they are higher than they were 10 years ago, but not higher than they were 50 years ago. This is a very complicated problem.
This is a well written and interesting read, but PLEASE clear up the glaring mistake that the Flint River is lead saturated. It's simply untrue, and it gives the people who made all this happen an easy way out. The water was not properly treated, and THAT is the problem.
22
In many Republican controlled states the teachers would be blamed because their students are not meeting the marks for their grade level. This is but one example of why teachers or schools should be blamed for poor student performance. The problem is as complicated and diverse as society is. The job of a teacher is to present the material it is up to the children's guardians to see that they are properly fed, clothed and feel secure in their home environment as well as making sure that they complete their work assignments. Blaming the teacher for failing students is like blaming the dentist for their bad teeth.
9
What happened in Flint is criminal and no one seems to care.While all of our attention is on the Trump Reality Show Flint festers. To have destroyed children's lives is of little import in our quest to prove Trump is a scoundrel.Talk about misplaced priorities.
8
@Steven McCain
True. What was done in Flint was criminal and no one has been indicted and imprisoned. Why not?
Michael Moore's film 11/9 addresses the Flint water crisis and tells the story of corrupt politicians, tax breaks, cover-ups, the willingness of the rich to damage a poor black community, how Barack Obama failed the people of Flint. The movie is well worth watching for the exposure of the facts about the Flint water contamination. See also, https://michaelmoore.com/10FactsOnFlint/
4
To Erica Green the author of this article: Michigan did not switch Flint’s water supply. Flint city officials made the choice to do that in an effort to save money, even though the savings were minimal.
5
This comment is not accurate. Flint city officials, including the city council and mayor, had no real power since the city was in emergency manger control. The emergency manager and others in the Snyder Administration failed to properly treat the Flint River water which then allowed the protective coating in the water pipes to disappear this allow lead to leach into,the water supply.
11
Adding insult after insult to injury. An entire city's children were poisoned with lead and now people are complaining about the known complications of such an exposure while blaming the victims. This Country has a racism problem. Like the crack crisis decades ago, no money will be allocated to this problem because those who are suffering are people of color. These children's problems will not go away and as untreated adults they will be everyone's much more expensive problem.
12
I subscribe to the New York Times because I expect that the articles to be well researched and contain factual material concerning the subject at hand.
I will not repeat all the errors in this article, since other readers have already done so, using actual facts concerning this matter.
This does not excuse the criminal behavior of the government officials who attempted to save money at the expense of the residents of Flint.
My fear is that this inaccurate article will be cited in the future as authoritative because it was published in the NYT.
In scientific publications, inaccurate and/or misleading articles can be withdrawn by the publisher for cause.
That is what should happen here.
19
Why aren’t more people in jail for this?
7
The crisis in Flint is a horrifying example of white greed and white collar crime having a devastating effect on poor people - especially poor minorities. There is no punishment harsh enough for those politicians who made this happen. Imagine if a young black man did this much harm to a wealthy white community. This is a heartbreaking story. Even if huge amounts of money are poured into improving the crisis there is no acceptable solution.
56
I find your comments unnecessarily racialized. There are myriad explanations for the crisis in Flint and blaming white pepper is reckless and actually, misplaced. Residents of Flint have a responsibility for their own community and can’t depend on white people for everything, especially given their depleted tax base. Most residents don’t even pay taxes.
Also you employ an analogy about one black man doing harm to a white community. One white person didn’t do this...
11
@Tom Flint is 37% white.
4
@Moderate in a Big City
I'm not blaming white pepper (sic). I'm blaming a white governor who appointed a city manager who was willing to be involved in a cover up. I'm blaming a governor who had bottled water shipped to his friends before the general public had the evidence about the problem with the water.
However, I'll give it to you, if it were a town in predominately white Appalachia the problem would have probably rolled out the same way. Too many rich people think that poor people don't count.
2
Almost no child in Flint during the period of contaminated water had lead levels above 10 micro-g/dl, and very few above 5 micro-g/dl (the graph was published by Mother Jones). This was a tiny blip on a graph that shows much higher levels decades earlier. In fact, that national AVERAGE in the late '70's was 14 micro-g/dl, yet almost no one needed or received individualized educational programs or "behavioral interventions".
I don't know what is going on here, but it's not lead poisoning.
76
@Jonathan Katz Part of the scandal was that the tests were faulty or outright falsified. If you are implying that the kids are being over diagnosed with disabilities, consider this: The fetal death rate increased by 58%. That’s not due to paranoia, overly enthusiastic diagnosis, or a desire for behavioral interventions. These kids were poisoned and it’s disingenuous to claim otherwise.
134
@Jonathan Katz
New You Times: "Six state employees were charged with crimes related to the lead water crisis in Flint on Friday. Local and state officials had said for months that tests showed that Flint’s water had safe levels of lead. But the officials used flawed testing methods, making the levels of lead in the water supply appear far less dangerous than they were."
You were saying?
60
@Jonathan Katz BRAVO. . .sadly reality in USA today is trumped by belief and conspiracy theory.
5
Apparently Ontario and Quebec have the same or higher levels of lead in their water than Flint, some other Provinces too. This has been reported in the last few day.
I haven't been able to determine if Canada is facing facing the same issues or consequences?
My guess is that lead in water from old pipes is more common than most think.
9
The water should be made safe to drink; and the children should have the education they need. Whether or not the entire array of problems is from lead will never be determined, but in a wealthy suburb somewhere else, one where children are given every advantage and then some, this threat to children wouldn't be tolerated. We should not tolerate this as a nation. Our entire way of funding schools guarantees that some districts will simply never be able to meet the needs of their students.
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@cheryl
Well said.
2
Families in Flint deserve all the support in the world. Their children have been irreparably harmed by lead poisoning. Their parents now face the pain and burden of raising children who struggle to cope in their daily lives. And the haves are only too happy to blame the victims.
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The Flint River is not "lead saturated" as the author claims, that's nonsense. The river's water is more corrosive, leaching existing lead from pipes. But the lead is not in the water, and it is a failure to treat the corrosive nature of the water that caused contamination.
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@Tom agreed that the river water is not lead saturated. How did the editors at the NYT let that get by unless they had an agenda. People should also read about the worry well phenomena. There are many other lead hotspots such as Newark NJ and NYC public housing. The story of lead contamination is a lot bigger than Flint.
5
Are the blood lead levels high enough to cause brain symptoms?
What about the effects of poverty, poor parental educational levels?
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This increase, correlated to the timing of the lead pipe corrosion, links much more to lead poisoning than to cultural and social-economic conditions that have been present for decades.
Are the blood lead levels high enough to cause brain symptoms?
What about the effects of poverty, poor parental educational levels?
The Flint water disaster should be laid at the feet of Governor Snyder and the GOP.
Thanks, Republicans.
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@Aaron VanAlstine
There's no room for bad decisions by local officials, who were directly involved in creating this disaster?
Local officials who are, or were, primarily Democrats?
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@Aaron VanAlstine - I didn't see Obama get out a shovel and start digging up old lead pipes. No, he went to a rally in Detroit and pointed the finger at the Republican governor. And the Republican governor pointed it at some Democrat.
Meanwhile, Cher called some people in Iceland and delivered a million bottles of clean water to the residents of Flint, Michigan.
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@Aaron VanAlstine -- You are correct. Republican Governor Snyder hired outside managers to come into Flint in 2011-2015 to implement cost-saving measures. Changing the source of the water and omitting the necessary chemical additive in order to prevent lead from leaching from the pipes was to lower costs. Local elected officials did NOT make theses decisions.
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I know that President Trump and Secretary Devos are busy with other things, but maybe if they visited Flint and sampled the water, things would get better.
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What are the children's blood lead levels?
How do these levels relate to the scientific literature on impairment?
Are there differences between the blood lead levels in Charter schools versus public schools?
Fact error: the river water was not "saturated" with lead. The lead leached from pipes due to the corrosivity of the water.
The word "saturated" in meaningless hyperbole.
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As the retired Math Dept. Chair at Flint Northwestern H.S., where Obama came and spoke in 2016, I can confirm the devastation of the Flint Community Schools during my time there since 2001. Flint N.W.H.S is now closed. As the article states, more than half of school age children attend Charter Schools, which were allowed to flourish with extensive lobbying from Betsy DeVos and the Koch Bros. Every child that walked away from City Schools took valuable State Aid away that resulted in further shrinking the ability of the Flint Schools to deal with the long term devastation imposed on Flint Children. The Lead Issue will be the nail in the coffin of Flint Community Schools, leaving Flint Children at the mercy of For Profit Education as promoted by our Sec. of Ed. DeVos.
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@Michael W. Espy that’s criminal and it makes me sick to hear. Related side note, are you following the Roger Stone trial? Roger’s “payload is still coming” message, meaning the Wikileaks email dump, went to none other than Betsy DeVos’ brother, Erik Prince. I hope they all go to prison.
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Lead levels in Flint kids during the crisis are still about 90% lower than lead levels in rich kids in places like Pasadena and UES in the 1960s when lead was belched out of every tail pipe. Lead levels in Flint were higher 2 years before the crisis than during the crisis. If you read the NYT editorial below there is just no way to reconcile the hysteria with the reality.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/22/opinion/flint-lead-poisoning-water.html
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@Aurthur Phleger I was just about to post the link to that article myself. That article was posted as opinion. It had as many or more facts in it that the article we are commenting on now that was published as news.
That being said there is really no excuse for what happened in Flint. Lead is just being blamed because we know a lot about lead. There are many other chemicals that we no very little about. We do not test for them and we do not know what the effects are. However, switching to polluted water supply and assuming the water is properly treated is arrogant and wrong.
The richest country in the world can't afford the basic responsibilities of Government: EDUCATION
It's unbelievable how SELFISH the people of this country have become. As long as they've got theirs, they couldn't care less about their neighbors. I am continually amazed at the attitudes of my fellow citizens. They complain incessantly about the education system, about the lack of police officers (when their car has been broken into), about the potholes in the roads on their drive to work (or the opera), about the homeless bums who sleep in doorways or beg at the corners.
Then, in their next breath, they complain loudly about their tax bill. Complain loudly about the school bond measure that is placed on the ballot to give teachers a raise or add/repair schools. They rail on about school teachers who are overpaid for the results they deliver. They complain about the cost of public employees pension plans, because truly, they don't work as hard as you or I and therefore do not deserve to retire, ever. They complain how are tax dollars are spent, because, you know, mental health issues are a family issue. Let the church groups deal with it.
Paying taxes and SUPPORTING our community is not a BURDEN. It is an HONOR. The cost of education is not a cost. It is an investment. We need an intelligent citizenry who can tell the difference between fake news and the real deal. As a country we will not survive if we're only concerned about "my" circumstances. Compassion & Empathy works.
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@C.E. Davis II blame the boomers who voted to line their own pockets at the expense of the future.
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I couldn’t agree more👍🏻
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@JDK The boomers had much higher levels of lead in their blood.
Did anyone interview teachers at the time the poisoning of the water was revealed, or at any time since?
Because we would have told you this was coming.
But in Michigan's community of Flint, where current Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos had enormous impact on the public schools, the answer is charters and vouchers. Special accommodations for children whose brains have been damaged by lead exposure do not qualify.
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Tragic, though the story gets a basic fact wrong. The Flint River is not "lead saturated." The lead was leached from the pipes when the water chemistry changed.
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@Aaron Thank-you....I was really bothered by the incorrect source of the lead stated in the article. Plenty written about the real lead problem source and the replacement of many old corroding lead water meter pipes. Hard to believe lead was ever used at all but it is flexible.
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The people ultimately responsible for Flynt lead toxicity have gotten off scot free. Republican Governor Rick Snyder and Emergency City Manager (appointed by Governor Snyder) Michael Brown. Other officials have been prosecuted, and share some of the blame, but ultimately these two scoundrels are responsible for poisoning the residents of Flynt, the majority of whom were African Americans.
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If I could get my hands on the wretched monster Snyder, and his henchman Bill Schuette, god would I lay them out deeply in lavender. Monsters, horrible horrible monsters, who have taken the lives of so many and destroyed these lives, while living on the public dole. Get them Dana Nessel.
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This is truly a life-lasting tragedy caused by criminal incompetence. The sheer scale of the consequences, exacerbated by poverty, neglect, and an overwhelmed system will not be solved anytime soon. I can’t help but wondering though, shouldn’t resources also be allocated to parent/caregiver training? Parents are also overwhelmed - but has the centre researched ways to help parents help their children? Have there been successful pilot projects? What is different about the small percentage of kids who do remember the words?
This issue cannot be “solved” by the school system alone - parents and caregivers need to be given better tools so they are more equipped to improve the outlook for their children.
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@Connie
The Flint water crisis was not caused by incompetence, it was caused by deliberate intentional criminality.
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If it happens, this is the first stop any Wealth tax money should be spent with no restrictions.
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I think some of those kids got crazy high doses of lead and other heavy metals. I saw folks with those rashes and all kinds of weird pain a few months after the switch. Why Snyder isn’t in jail is beyond me. He knew the state was poisoning Flint.
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@Diane It takes many months for the beginning of lead poisoning to manifest and it turns around the moment the intake stops.
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Lead leached from pipes. It would not have, at the levels it did, had the water been treated as it ought to have been.
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The Republican vision for America up close and personal. Send a thank you note to former governor Rick Snyder and his republican majority legislature for this gerrymandered, power hungry, defunded nightmare.
Deregulation might be good for business but it kills American human potential every single day.
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@Jude Parker Stevens The lead piping was installed many years before Flint was a "minority" community. This story is not a story of Republican indifference toward people of color, but an all too common story of governmental incompetence along with a large dose of greed. While both political parties are complicit with such atrocities, and Flint isn't alone, Republicans haven't had a hand in Flint's politics for decades. The same is true with Newark, NJ which has been the purview of "Democrats" for ages. This is what happens when accountability doesn't exist.
5
Snyder took short cuts to save money which others did not do
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@Mabel - - no, Gov. Rick Snyder hired managers to come into Flint and take over operations in order to reduce costs in 2011-2015. Get some facts regarding Flint.
What a sad situation there. This is something that Republicans and Democrats can work on next year. If we can send $400 million dollars to Ukraine, we could send 1 billion dollar aid package to flint. No more foreign aid until our people can have reliable infrastructure!
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@E Robichaux - Best idea I have heard all day.
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@E Robichaux
You are absolutely correct!
The city of Flint was under emergency management imposed by then Governor Snyder. The water sources were switched and the absence of water treatment resulted in lead being leached from pipes. The failure was the cover up and criminal mismanagement. There was an inordinate amount of iron being introduced into the water supply but not lead. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/science/study-confirms-lead-got-flints-water
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I see a tragic future for these impaired kids - socially dysfunctional, unable to move upward; for them, the cycle of poverty and ignorance continues.
I see billions of tax dollars spent too late on rehabilitation programs, and worse, a higher percentage headed for lengthy prison sentences and recidivism.
I see the absurd and complete failure of the city to simply monitor its water quality and plan its infrastructure development. In Flint, and similar communities, the design of Trump and his E.P.A. is to crush America’s greatness for the sake of corporate profiting.
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In the 1960's, the average kid (me) was exposed to a lead level of about 15 μg/dL. All of us!
The kids in Flint? Maybe 5 μg/dL.
This story seems to be data free. What is the documented level of lead exposure for these children? What was it in the 1960's?
Who owned the pipes that were made of lead? (In most cases, the pipes were owned by the property owners and should have been replaced decades ago.)
Should kids, or adults, be exposed to lead? No. Are individuals, not the government, responsible for most of the exposure? Yes.
Will the Times include actual, useful data in their reporting? No.
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@Michael H. You are a sample of one. What do you know about lead poisoning? Does the same level of lead affect everyone the same? You don't know, as you don't cite scientific studies to support your argument on your opinion written here. Why don't you think study is important before engaging?
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@Michael H. Thanks for actual reasoning and not emotional pandering.
2
Time to welcome the residents of Flint into our cities, towns, and counties. They need us. And, in many ways, we need them. With everyone sharing a flow of empathy. All ideas welcome. Thank you.
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Dear Erica Green:
Please provide the evidence of "lead saturated water in the Flint River."
There is none. You made that up.
The lead comes from old lead pipes in homes and lateral lines. Those are also privately owned. Please let truth, not emotion, dictate your journalism.
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@Ernest Montague
My understanding was that the Flint River water was more acidic than water previously used and pulled from other sources. The city did not treat the Flint River water to reduce its acidity, so it corroded the pipes much more rapidly and that released the lead from the pipes into the water. So the Flint River water is part of the problem because of its high acidity and that it was not treated properly is a public problem.
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@Ernest Montague
Really?? You are going to bicker over this??
This is a massive generational problem that can't be undone, and no one has even been charged with a crime.
I don't care if the lead came from outer space. Severe damage has been done and there are more communities out there dealing with similar issues.
And there will be more still.....
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@Ernest Montague
@ernest montague Not quite. The issue has been determined was corrosion in the lead and iron pipes of the city's distribution system caused by the city not implementing the correct water treatment (orthophosphate) required to control corrosion when they made the switch to river water. Citywide, the water entered private homes already contaminated. Regardless of the age of the pipes in people's homes, their children were drinking lead contaminated water. This scientific determination was published in the American Chemical Society on July 19th. 2017 if you would like to read more. "Forensic Estimates of Lead Release from Lead Service Lines during the Water Crisis in Flint, Michigan"
28
This horror show is the direct result of a greedy, immoral republican party that puts money ahead of health and the public good. This occurred well before trump. trump fits in so well with the present republican party because he is greedy, immoral and a liar.
Just like the Michigan republican party.
People of the US, learn your lesson, the republicans do not care about the poor, the colored, or the disabled among us. They only care about themselves and their money.
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Republicans haven’t been in control in flint in decades. This sounds like poor home management and poor local governance.
10
Blaming Democrats for Flint would be like blaming Republicans for Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Georgia.
Would you blame Republicans for the condition of these extremely poor states?
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@Moderate in a Big City
You folks already do. In spades. So yes, it's entirely appropriate to criticize local Democrats.
1
Thanks to the former governor and his criminal actions, the city of Flint and its residents have to continue to suffer. The lack of accountability and justice here is astounding.
The same plays are coming out of the EPA and other federal agencies, they must be stopped before they poison more communities.
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An indictment of former Governor Snyder should be considered regarding to what he did to Detroit and Flint while he was Governor.
In Flint, through neglect, he poisoned the city's water supply. In Detroit he needlessly stripped the city of art worth over $4 billion for 10 cents on the dollar. ... http://lstrn.us/2vTkVc6
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@sbanicki
Not sure what you're referring to regarding art in Detroit (and the link you provided seems to be broken).
Rick Snyder was instrumental in pushing the "grand bargain" among the state, unions, corporations and private foundations that minimized the "haircut" city pensioners had to take and kept the Detroit Institute of Arts collection protected from the city's creditors.
2
Frontline did a story about former Governor Rick Snyder's office and the Michigan department of Health withholding information about legionnaires disease caused by Flints contaminated water. Frontline claimed over 100 people may have been allowed to die for political reasons. If true, this should be considered a criminal matter. The Michigan Attorney General does nothing.
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When and who will bring criminal proceeding against any and every individual government official at every level who has not been held accountable and culpable in this matter?
7
This is tragic but also the result of low voter turn out and a failure of the citizens of Flint to pay their taxes.
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@Moderate in a Big City
huh? I paid Flint taxes. I drank the water. It was bad.
2
This article is very misleading. It states that the problem was switching "Flint’s water supply to the lead-saturated Flint River from Lake Huron" This is patently false, The higher acid levels in the Flint River caused corrosion in Flint's old lead pipes. The lead comes from the plumbing not the river. So the fix is not easy it requires re-piping the city, no small feat and at enormous costs. It highlights a potential problem in all cities with lead plumbing.
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@Steve The fix is even easier. Just dribble some cheap buffer into the water supply to make it less acidic. Even a little alkaline material, NaOH, essentially free, would do in a pinch.
Long-term, replacing the lead pipes is needed, but those kids wouldn't have been poisoned if cheap and easy fixes had been used.
6
No, chemical additives are used and should have been used in Flint in order to prevent the lead from the pipes leaching into the water. The city financial managers decided to save money by omitting the chemicals.
3
There is absolutely no documentation that the Flint River is "lead saturated". When Flint changed it's water supply from DWSD to the Flint River, the city did not add anti-corrosion agents to the treated water. As a result, lead leached from older pipes in the city, contaminating the water supply. This article needs to be revised to accurately present the facts.
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“In violation of federal law, it was segregating special education students from their peers for most of the school day.” How is it wrong to educate students in special education classrooms with specialized teachers who are trained to help them? Keeping children with significant impairments in the same class with other same aged peers, taught by a teacher who does not have expertise in special education and who cannot adapt to every need of every child is not a much better option. Sometimes the least restrictive environment for learning is a separate classroom for at least part of the day.
My heart goes out to the special education teachers who continue their amazing work despite limited resources and who refuse to sweep these poor children’s problems under the rug.
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The sad reality is simply this: An hysterical unsubstantiated wild tear by parents. The reality is found in a March 26, 2018 reported by the University of Michigan Medical School, published in Science Daily. The report's title, "Blood lead levels of Flint children before and after the water crisis".
The findings: Flint children's blood lead levels were nearly three times higher almost a decade before the year of the Flint water crisis. Present day levels of 15,817 children tested are lower than 10 years ago.
The residents of Flint are unwilling to accept peer reviewed science. The question to be asked is: Why are they taking this irrational position?
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@Jim
Really that is not what the reports stated coming out of George Washington University who took the lead with this man made issue. My my another cover up by the GOP
4
@Jim -- you said "today's levels". What were the levels in 2014 when the Flint residents were drinking the water?
1
Let the story of Flint be a warning to anyone who supports a State takeover of any city, school district, or other entity.
.
Takeovers are sometimes warranted, but you have got to ask the tough questions. Who is going to be in charge? What experience do they have? Who will they answer to, if not voters? What happens if they mess up? Will they be liable to fix the mess they make? These questions weren’t asked in Flint, and the tragic results still aren’t over.
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@ZAW
White politicians always want a take over because historically there are no checks and balances. There is so much money to go around and so much corruption. No different than hedge fund managers getting over .
Every school district loves a take over because you staff classrooms with uncertified teachers and in the name of fiscal responsibility, pension plans are blown up. Look at Detroit, look at Newark NJ, look at any take over siege, and examine the books, lawyers, make out like fat cats.
At this point it doesnt matter who did what, these children are suffering and white politicians are laughing all the way to the banks. The usual racism of America at full force
Troll me if you want but this would not happen in a white zip code and we all know that
4
It seems as if some are questioning the mere existence of high lead levels. Is this an attempt to avoid legal responsibility?
While this article talks of treating the results in school, wouldn't it be logical to first test lead levels and establish the extent of lead poisoning. Testing lead levels would show where lead levels were elevated and where they were not.
Chelation - treatment with drugs - can help lower levels. Shouldn't lower lead levels be the initial goal followed by dealing with the symptoms remaining?
It IS possible for lead to have come from paint and other sources however given the issue with Flint''s water supply it is clear that the water was a contributing source.
3
@cynicalskeptic Science please? There isn't any documentation of lead in the Flint River. It comes from the lead pipes used in homes and in the connection to the supply mains. That's thoroughly documented. There is a huge problem with lead exposure from home lead pipes and supply laterals.
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@Ernest Montague
My understanding is that the original water supply was treated with chemicals that prevented lead in old pipes from leaching into the water supply. That is the situation in many older communities - including where I live. Properly managed and treated there is no risk (though I would avoid making formula and drinking tap water first thing in the day since that water had sat in a lead pipe coming from the street main to my house all night). With old lead paint around as well we also regularly had our children tested.
Flint changed the source of the water fed into its water supply system taking water from the flint river. The composition of that water caused a leaching of lead from old pipes.
The liability exists because Flint changed the source of their drinking water causing lead to leach into the supply system.
Given our legal system I would have expected some class action suit on behalf of residents to seek some sort of treatment paid for by Flint or the state.
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@cynicalskeptic There are a number of ways to approach that legality. One is that lead pipes are illegal and have been for many decades. Most municipalities have outlawed them and required them to be replaced. Two is that the lead pipes are NOT owned by the City of Flint or the water company, but by private home owners who chose to ignore the risk. It far from a home run that any liability will be found.
9
Let’s not forget the well-documented basis for all this: Republican lawmakers and their blatant nepotistic greed. See Michael Moore’s work for the details.
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@Jeff
The people responsible just as easily could have been equally incompetent Democrats. The real problem has been the non-response of the Republicans, but they generally are not concerned about a city with a large black population, they are just "not their people". Flint should consider sending complimentary bottles of Flint drinking water to trump.
4
@Jeff who could ever forget "Pets or meat?" in "Roger and Me"?
1
$740 billion a year for our beloved Department of (War) Defense.
What you want is what you got.
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@george eliot
We can't even deliver clean water to our citizens and we think we can fix entire countries around the world by bombing them? Insanity.
15
how can a government do this to it most vulnerable citizens. hey all you evangelicals who vote republican - take note. this crisis is NOT christian
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The Flint river was not "lead saturated". The lead leached into water from pipes that supplied homes. And the reason for this was that the Flint water department did not add a chemical additive when treating the river water that would have prevented this leaching. This additive was added to water provided prior to the crisis by what was then called the Detroit water system.
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In a 2002 speech, Michael Crichton coined the term for Gell-Mann amnesia effect. He used this term to describe the phenomenon of experts believing news articles on topics outside of their fields of expertise, even after acknowledging that articles written in the same publication that are within the experts' fields of expertise are error-ridden and full of misunderstanding
12
@hrtrips
Correct , the acid levels in the Flint River corroded the lead pipes. The Detroit water did not contain these acid levels.
20