Flint Water Crisis: Everything You Need to Know

Lead levels in Flint water

Soon after the city began supplying residents with Flint River water in April 2014, residents started complaining that the water from their taps looked, smelled, and tasted foul. Despite protests by residents lugging jugs of discolored water, officials maintained that the water was safe.

A study conducted the following year by researchers at Virginia Tech revealed the problem: Water samples collected from 252 homes through a resident-organized effort indicated citywide lead levels had spiked, with nearly 17 percentof samples registering above the federal action level of 15 parts per billion (ppb), the level at which corrective action must be taken. More than 40 percent measured above 5 ppb of lead, which the researchers considered an indication of a "very serious" problem.

Even more alarming were findings reported in September 2015 by Flint pediatrician Mona Hanna-Attisha: The incidence of elevated blood-lead levels in children citywide had nearly doubled since 2014-and nearly tripled in certain neighborhoods. As Hanna-Attisha noted, "Lead is one of the most damning things you can do to a child in their entire life-course trajectory." In Flint, nearly 9,000 children were supplied lead-contaminated water for 18 months.

More problems with Flint water

Flint's water supply was plagued by more than lead. The city's switch from Detroit water to the Flint River coincided with an outbreak of Legionnaires' disease (a severe form of pneumonia) that killed 12 and sickened at least 87 people between June 2014 and October 2015. The third-largest outbreak of Legionnaires' disease recorded in U.S. history-as well as the discovery in 2014 of fecal coliform bacteria in city water-was likely a resultof the city's failure to maintain sufficient chlorine in its water mains to disinfect the water.

Ironically, the city's corrective measure-adding more chlorine without addressing other underlying issues-created a new problem: elevated levels of total trihalomethanes(TTHM), cancer-causing chemicals that are by-products of the chlorination of water.

Flint residents go to court

One of the few bright spots of the Flint water crisis was the response of everyday citizens who, faced with the failure of city, state, and federal agencies to protect them, united to force the government to do its job.

On the heels of the release of test results in the fall of 2015 showing elevated lead levels in Flint's water-and its children-local residents joined with NRDC and other groupsto petition the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to launch an immediate emergency federal response to the disaster. The EPA failed to act, which only spurred residents on.

In early 2016, a coalition of citizens and groups-including Flint resident Melissa Mays, the local group Concerned Pastors for Social Action, NRDC, and the ACLU of Michigan-suedthe city and state officials in order to secure safe drinking water for Flint residents. Among the demands of the suit: the proper testing and treatment of water for lead and the replacement of all the city's lead pipes.

In March 2016, the coalition took additional action to address an urgent need, filing a motionto ensure that all residents-including children, the elderly, and others unable to reach the city's free water distribution centers-would have access to safe drinking water through a bottled water delivery service or a robust filter installation and maintenance program.

Those efforts paid off. In November 2016, a federal judgesided with Flint residents and ordered that the government provide every home in Flint with either a properly installed and maintained faucet filter or door-to-door delivery of bottled water.

A more momentous win came the following March with a major settlement requiring the city to replace the city's thousands of lead pipes with funding from the state, and guaranteeing further funding for comprehensive tap water testing, a faucet filter installation and education program, free bottled water through the following summer, and continued health programs to help residents deal with the residual effects of Flint's tainted water.

But the work of Flint residents and their advocates isn't finished yet. Ensuring that the provisions of the 2017 settlement are met is an ongoing task. Indeed, members of the lawsuit are still in courtto ensure that the city properly manages its lead service line replacement program.

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