Flint's water condition is completely egregious. There is no mystery here. This is a long known fact. The people of Flint's lives were toyed with by a Governor focused on punishing minority communities unable to pay their bills.
This is not a simple mistake. The State of Michigan needs to begin mediation of Flint and any other Emergency Manager city resulting in adverse living conditions NOW, not when it is convenient.
September 2015
By Nick Krieger
...Any Michigan community (click here) that draws its municipal water from a river or inland source rather than from one of the Great Lakes will likely face this problem to some extent. River and inland-source water contains higher concentrations of chloride ions than does water pumped directly from one of the Great Lakes. Why? Perhaps surprisingly, one of the primary reasons is the overuse of salt to deice our roads in the winter. As salt molecules dissolve in water, the negative chloride ions are separated from the positive metal ions. These chloride ions become concentrated in runoff, which makes its way into our streams, rivers, and other waterways.
The negative chloride ions are corrosive, so when the high-chloride water is pumped through lead pipes (or iron and copper pipes joined together with lead solder), lead leaches into the water. It's as simple as that.
Why isn't this happening to the same degree in other places, like Detroit for example? Surely Detroit has old lead pipes, too. Right? Absolutely. But Detroit draws its municipal water directly from the Great Lakes, and water pumped from the big lakes simply isn't as corrosive....
THE RESOLVE TO HELP FLINT IS NOW. Any further delay by the State of Michigan legislature will be viewed as a human rights violation and President Obama administration will have to be tapped to bring about daily fines of the States of Michigan for everyday the people of Flint are exposed to deadly dangers. Beyond that are the International Criminal Courts.
This is not a simple mistake. The State of Michigan needs to begin mediation of Flint and any other Emergency Manager city resulting in adverse living conditions NOW, not when it is convenient.
September 2015
By Nick Krieger
...Any Michigan community (click here) that draws its municipal water from a river or inland source rather than from one of the Great Lakes will likely face this problem to some extent. River and inland-source water contains higher concentrations of chloride ions than does water pumped directly from one of the Great Lakes. Why? Perhaps surprisingly, one of the primary reasons is the overuse of salt to deice our roads in the winter. As salt molecules dissolve in water, the negative chloride ions are separated from the positive metal ions. These chloride ions become concentrated in runoff, which makes its way into our streams, rivers, and other waterways.
The negative chloride ions are corrosive, so when the high-chloride water is pumped through lead pipes (or iron and copper pipes joined together with lead solder), lead leaches into the water. It's as simple as that.
Why isn't this happening to the same degree in other places, like Detroit for example? Surely Detroit has old lead pipes, too. Right? Absolutely. But Detroit draws its municipal water directly from the Great Lakes, and water pumped from the big lakes simply isn't as corrosive....
THE RESOLVE TO HELP FLINT IS NOW. Any further delay by the State of Michigan legislature will be viewed as a human rights violation and President Obama administration will have to be tapped to bring about daily fines of the States of Michigan for everyday the people of Flint are exposed to deadly dangers. Beyond that are the International Criminal Courts.
