Lead levels in Mich. city have moms avoiding tap water

Luke Skywalker · Oct 7, 2015

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[h=4]Lead levels in Mich. city have moms avoiding tap water[/h]Officials initially denied any problems -- until two independent studies showed elevated lead levels in children.

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Dan Wyant, director for the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality and Nick Lyon, director for the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, discuss action plan for Flint drinking water. Ryan Garza Detroit Free Press

Lee Anne Walters of Flint, Mich., pours a heated gallon of bottled water into the bath tub for her two sons to take a weekly bath on Oct. 1, 2015. Walters uses 8 to 10 gallons of bottled water to avoid her children's exposure to Flint water that contains high levels of lead.(Photo: Ryan Garza, Detroit Free Press)

FLINT, Mich. —*Outside*a taco shop on Fifth Street, Estella Walker balances a gallon jug of water on top of the stroller that holds her 3-month-old son, DeWayne.
She's *mixing bottles of formula for DeWayne and his*19-month-old sister*Vanessa.
Nadene Strickland sits outside her home on the city's north side, watching*her grandsons play basketball. She still drinks the water. She can't afford bottled.
Shopping at the local farmers market with five of her seven children, Tena Fransioli says she hasn't used tap water in a long time.
Across town, LeeAnne Walters' kids are having bath night. She heats bottled*water*in the microwave*and carries it to the bathroom, slowly filling the*tub.
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In Melissa Mays' bathroom, a reminder is taped to*the wall:*To brush your teeth, use the bottled water on the bathroom counter.
This is life in Michigan's seventh largest city, where you really should not*drink the water.
“I was hysterical. I cried when they gave me my first lead report.”
LeeAnne Walters, Flint, Mich.
For more than a year, Flint residents have been screaming that their water wasn't OK, that it smelled bad, tasted bad, looked bad*and was making them sick.
Few listened. The state told them, again and again, that the water was safe — that contamination had been handled*and that the water was*within acceptable levels.
Not until the end of September did Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder finally*acknowledge*the profound*problems with Flint's water. Lead, from aging pipes, is leaching*into the water the city pumps from the Flint River, exacerbated by a local treatment plant's failure to add appropriate chemicals.
For decades, the City of Flint bought its water from the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department, water that arrived treated to*make it safe for human consumption.*In 2013, the city opted to join the Karegnondi Water Authority*along with Genesee, Lapeer and Sanilac counties, and in*2014*to pump water from the Flint River while the new system is under construction.
Joining the Karegnondi Water Authority*didn't mandate the end of*Flint's relationship with Detroit's water system. Genesee County, for example, has continued to purchase its water from Detroit, albeit at a premium,*county drain commissioner Jeff Wright said.
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In Flint, both decisions were made during the appointments of four different emergency managers, turnaround guys the governor brought in to fix Flint's budget woes, and with the approval of the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, which monitors water quality and treatment.
For most of the past year, the state has told residents that the water here was fine, that it met*the standards*of the Safe Drinking Water Act. The state, for the most part, still says that's true.

Jessica Owens of Flint, Mich., holds a bottle of drinking water Oct. 2, 2015, that came from her home two weeks previous that she said had been proven to contain lead.*(Photo: Ryan Garza, Detroit Free Press)

But now the governor's team acknowledges that its data are incomplete*and that high lead levels found in the water for this city of 99,000 — and an increasing number of Flint kids with*elevated blood-lead levels — merit action. Snyder is dedicating $1 million to purchase lead filters for Flint residents, has ordered further testing and is improving*corrosion control at the Flint water treatment plant, which should help keep*lead out of the water.
Flint River never was*meant to be a long-term answer to the city's water needs. It was a short-term fix for a city scrambling to save money.
When Flint joined the Karegnondi Water Authority, the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department terminated its 35-year contract with the city. To continue to purchase Detroit water, Flint would have had to renegotiate a short-term contract*at a higher cost.
Switching to river water saved Flint $5 million to $7 million a year.
The*region had*long wanted its own water system, Wright said. Because of its elevation*and distance from Detroit, Flint paid a higher rate for Detroit water than most far-flung*communities.
Only one pipeline stretches that far north, and that means Flint — and the other Karegnondi Water Authority*communities — are vulnerable. In 2000, the pipeline went down, leaving 250,000 people without water for four days, he said.
It had happened before, and it has*happened since. The area needed a second pipeline, but Detroit wouldn't build it without a 30-year commitment from the communities the pipeline would serve.
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At the rates Detroit Water is obliged to charge, the communities were reluctant to make that commitment, Wright said.
When the Karegnondi Water Authority system*is complete*next year, Flint will be back on*Lake Huron water, same as Detroit. But unless its treatment plant is capable of properly treating the water, its problems will not end.
“There is no safe level of lead.”
Dr. Eden Wells, Michigan Department of Health and Human Services
Because much of this area's infrastructure*is composed of copper pipes with lead welds, systems like Detroit's add anticorrosive agents to prevent lead from leaching into the*water. River water is more difficult to treat than lake water, and*its chemistry can change daily, Wright said.
Because the Flint River is shallow compared with Lake Huron*its temperature is higher. All of this affects the composition*of the water*and the chemicals required to make it potable*and safe to pass through old pipes.
When Flint started pumping river water, its local plant*either never employed corrosion control*or didn't use sufficient control. Remarks that Dan Wyant,*Michigan Department of Environmental Quality chief, made Friday*didn't make that*entirely clear*and Snyder's office didn't respond to an e-mail*seeking clarification.
It didn't take long for residents to notice a difference. By June 2014, according to the city, residents began to complain about the water.
And as water quality suffered, Flint residents' bills have gone up, thanks to rate increases imposed first by Mayor Dayne Walling, and then*built into the budget by Snyder's emergency managers. A Genesee Circuit Court judge issued an injunction in August rolling back*a 35% rate increase imposed in 2011.
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A Virginia Tech University researcher tested water from hundreds of Flint homes, releasing a report showing elevated lead levels in the city's children. State data showed the highest rates of lead in Flint's water in 20 years.
And a blood test analysis that a Michigan*pediatric researcher released Sept. 24*and the state Department of Health and Human Services confirmed Friday, found the percentage of Flint kids with elevated blood-lead levels — 5 micrograms per deciliter or more — jumped from 2.1% in the 20 months prior to Sept. 15, 2013,*to 4.0% between Jan. 1 and Sept. 15 this year. In certain ZIP codes, it doubled*since the switch.

Flint residents protest the water quality in the city Oct. 5, 2015, outside City Hall in Flint, Mich.*(Photo: Danny Miller, AP)

In children, exposure to lead can cause behavior or attention problems, hearing problems, kidney damage, reduced IQ and slowed body growth, among other effects. The damage is irreversible.
"There is no safe level of lead," said Dr. Eden Wells, the health department's*chief medical executive.
For children like Gavin, one of LeeAnne Walters' 4-year-old twins, the potential for problems is more serious. Because Gavin's immune system is compromised — a condition unrelated to the water — he's more susceptible to the effects of lead.
The whole family developed rashes, likely because of a disinfectant added to the water to combat coliform bacteria.
Gavin stopped gaining weight, lagging his twin; now he's 37 pounds, compared with his twin's 52 pounds. Doctors weren't sure what was happening.
Then she asked the city to test her water. It showed astronomically high rates of lead, prompting an urgent e-mail exchange with the city, the state Department of Environmental Quality and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, according to documents obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union through the Freedom of Information Act.
Walters said she received an urgent call from city hall advising her to stop using her water.
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Lead screening showed that Gavin's blood-lead levels had soared, up to 6.5 micrograms per deciliter of blood from 2, before the switch.
"I was hysterical," Walters said. "I cried when they gave me my first lead report."
Before that, she'd pushed her kids to drink water instead of juice or soda.
"I'm trying to do my job*as a mom," she said. Now, "my kids will never drink tap water again."
One of the worst things about lead is that it's hard to know exactly*how*it will manifest.
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"What's the difference going to be between Gavin and his brother in school? Is he going to have more issues as this progresses?" Walters asked.
That's what haunts Mays, who said her family has experienced a range of health problems she links to the water. Mays and Walters have become relentless advocates for safe water, leading protests, interacting with Virginia Tech researchers and challenging city and state assurances that the water was OK.
These days, even Mays' cat drinks bottled water.
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"I pushed them to drink water:*'Put down that juice, go get some water,' " she said*of her teenage*sons. "Lead is in our blood."
As Mays'*children grow, she*said she'll always wonder whether any*problem is because of lead or would it have happened anyway.
"I'll never know," she said.
Contributing: Robin Erb and Kathleen Gray, Detroit Free Press

The cartoonist's homepage, freep.com/mikethompson*(Photo: Mike Thompson, Detroit Free Press)

See Gannett's October political cartoon gallery here.
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Lead levels in Mich. city have moms avoiding tap water

Luke Skywalker

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