Saturday, December 31, 2016

Sorry, I took the wrong one out of my notes. It was New Years Eve. The actual Flint River is much worse.

When a water source for a city is sought, the volume of the water source matters. Often, some cities have water tower to create water pressure to move the water through pipes.

Below is the Flint River USGS water record. (click here) The year 1975 was the record low of 21 cubic feet per second daily discharge.

A water source has to be applied to all the POTENTIAL population and USE. That means a small city has to plan ahead in selecting the water source. It is my opinion the Flint River, without the contamination considered, could not supply water to a growing city.

The Army Corp. of Engineers can assist a city or state with water source plans. It is my belief there are records that date back to the beginnings of Flint, Michigan as a town that calculated the water needed for Flint and a growing population. There was a time when Flint was a vibrant town living in the shadow of the GM plant. The Flint River was not tapped then and should not have been tapped today.

I also am considering the fact this is the Otisville, Michigan gauge. There are other small tributaries into the Flint River between Otisville, Michigan and Flint, Michigan. That is not going to increase the level of water that much. Obviously, this is not a complete picture. 


The reason the Flint River water was so dirty is because of the low level of the river. It is my opinion, the turbulence of drawing a low flow river into the city water supply caused the sediment to be disturbed increasing the amount of contaminants/particulates in the river sediment to be suspended in the water column.


Depending on the height of the river, the water will contain more or less sediment.

The lead in the water came from the pipes because of the chemical reaction between the Flint River water and the lining of the pipes.

Turbidity of the water is a real issue and has to be treated.


Turbidity (click here) is an indirect measure of particulates in the water. It can result from clay, silt, organic matter, plankton or micro-organisms entering the water system. Cloudy water is the result of turbidity. The higher the turbidity level, the cloudier the water looks. Besides affecting the colour and taste of water, turbid water can be difficult to treat effectively....

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The point is the water would change color because of the height of the river as stated above. The level of the river would increase and decrease depending on recharge. The level of sediment in the water was determined by the height of the river at the place where the water entered the water treatment plant.

What I am saying is the Snyder administration didn't care about the quality of the water or where it came from. If public information was tapped and the river dynamics evaluated it would be completely obvious why Flint received it's water from Detroit.

The reason Snyder wanted to change the water source is because he wanted less expense for the city. If the water was treated properly, the cost to Flint would be higher and not less.

Even with proper treatment the level of water in the Flint River would not be sufficient to supply the people of Flint with water and their source would be dry from time to time, especially, during a poor rainy season. As a matter of fact, Flint was headed to lose its water supply from the Flint River because of the climate crisis and potential drought. 

Michigan has many lakes and tributaries that fill those lakes.

The American state of Michigan borders four of the Great Lakes. The number of inland lakes in Michigan depends on the minimum size: there are 62,798 lakes ≥ 0.1 acres, 26,266 lakes ≥ 1.0 acres, 6,537 lakes ≥ 10.0 acres, 1,148 lakes ≥ 100 acres, 98 lakes ≥ 1,000 acres, and 10 lakes ≥ 10,000 acres.

Profound drought in Michigan is nearly impossible because of the "Lake Level" (not sea level) in the state. The water table is usually enough to provide a reliable water resource. The "Lake Level" of Michigan is 597 feet above sea level.

The below ground water level/table at Flint, Michigan is insufficient to provide enough water to a city of people, yet alone a car factory.

The people of Flint have been exposed to some of the most incompetent leadership a state can have. Snyder literally looked at the Flint River and thought it would be sufficient to provide a water source. This is some of the most irresponsible actions ever witnessed in state governance. Add to that the fact the quality of water was poor and the Snyder administration ignored the letters from the EPA; what transpired was an attempted cover up of the blatant disregard for state and federal law.

The Flint River was never a good source of water with profound reasons the people of Flint received water from Detroit. This is reason to impeach a governor and prosecute an administration. I can't believe the complete disregard for public safety.

AND.

The reason for the problems in Flint, Michigan had absolutely nothing to do with race or any other hideous social pattern. It is my opinion the decisions in Flint were racist, regardless, of the ethnics of the emergency manager. The emergency managers embarked on changing the fiscal reality of Flint without any reverence for law or public safety standards.

I haven't written all that I need to and I kept track of other Flint Rivers because I fully expected false replies to my findings. Sorry about the posting yesterday. I wanted to begin this segment of the facts because of the article published regarding minority city populations in relation to water. 

The Army Corp is the standard for city planning. It is recognized by the courts as valid. A full evaluation by the Army Corp would have rejected an emergency managers decision to use the Flint River as a water source.

Have a better new year.