Up-to-date information on our collaborative research and citizen science work with the residents of Flint, MI in light of reported water quality issues
The answer to this question depends on your standard of “safe.” The press secretary for the Governor stated that Flint water was “safe” last week, with the added bizarre acknowledgment that the water flowing into “some” homes will have high lead:
In other words, Flint residents can be assured their water is safe, unless it is not safe. And there is no way to know if your homes water has high lead or not, because testing is not reliable, especially with the protocols that have been used by MDEQ. This does not meet our definition of “safe.”
For us, we’d be satisfied if Flint was protected by the same law that applies to every other city in the United States of America. That law requires: 1) corrosion control, and 2) monitoring that proves more than 90% of high risk homes sample below the EPA Action Level of 15 ppb. Flint now has a corrosion control plan, but they have not been monitoring according to Federal Rules. Will their next round of monitoring follow Federal Rules? One would hope so. If and when that occurs, and they demonstrate they are under the 15 ppb EPA action level, we believe that a reasonable person could say the water is “safe” and the water emergency could be lifted. Until that time, Flint water cannot be reasonably considered to meet that minimum legal standard.
Whereas the City of Flint and DEQ hold and manage waters withdrawn from the navigable waters of the State of Michigan in trust for the benefit and protection of the people of Flint for their sustenance and drinking water;
Whereas the people of Flint are beneficiaries of the public trust in the waters of the State and the right to safe water for drinking and sanitation that is delivered to them by the City of Flint with oversight of the DEQ;
Whereas the people of Flint, in order to save money, were forced to change their source of drinking water from the Detroit Water Supply to the Flint River by the Emergency Manager, hired by the Governor of the State of Michigan;
Whereas the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) failed in its responsibility to protect the environment, public health and safety of the citizens of Flint;
Whereas the DEQ failed to follow federally mandated procedures to guarantee the new water source from the Flint River did not violate the corrosive pipe federal statute;
Whereas the citizens of Flint, including children, babies and pregnant mothers, were, as a result of the above failures, subjected to lead in the water;
Whereas Flint doctors and a Virginia Tech research team discovered elevated lead levels in the children of Flint, and their findings were discredited by DEQ officials;
Whereas, as a result, children, babies and the unborn can develop lead poisoning which leads to debilitating and costly life-long learning and behavior problems;
Whereas Flint residents, since being switched to the Flint River, reported discolored and foul-smelling water, in addition to rashes and hair loss;
Whereas the residents of Flint formally complained to a variety of agencies and were repeatedly assured that the water was safe;
Whereas this step was taken to save $5 million but cost the state $12 million to reattach to the Detroit water system;
And whereas Flint residents were continually reassured that the water was safe for drinking;
Therefore be it resolved that a complete investigation be launched by the EPA or another qualified outside agency to determine cause of the increased lead level in the Flint water supply and why the citizens were not warned when it became known that the lead levels were increased.
Be it further resolved that any DEQ or other staff or elected official found to be responsible for the situation, including the Director, be severed from all state employment and benefits, and that they, in addition to the Emergency Manager and the governor, be subject to applicable criminal charges.
Be it further resolved that all Flint residents who were exposed to the increased lead levels in the water be tracked, and that compensation be paid to impacted residents for all health, reproductive, education and other expenses incurred.
PEER ACTION ALLIANCE
PARENTS HAVE POWER
CITIZENS TO PRESERVE PUBLIC EDUCATION
EXTENDED GRACE
LAKESHORE COMMUNITY LABOR COUNCIL
PROGRESSIVE DEMOCRATIC WOMEN’S CAUCUS
YOUNG DEMOCRATS OF MUSKEGON
PAX CHRISTI OF MUSKEGON
COALITION FOR COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
REVIVING OUR AMERICAN DEMOCRACY (ROAD)
WEST MICHIGAN BETTER BIRTH NETWORK
MUSKEGON COUNTY DEMOCRATIC PARTY
“God have mercy on our soul… Let these people speak! We are dying here…Don’t do this, man! Don’t do it!”
Now that the 2014-2015 Flint Drinking Water Crisis has a name and is getting national attention, we wanted everyone to get a glimpse of the surreal journey of Flint residents. The scene was a City Council meeting about 17 months into the water crisis. Understandably, Flint residents were upset, as they were paying the highest water rates in the U.S. (average $200 per month) for water that is now acknowledged to have been dangerous and non-potable.
The residents had just collected their own data, with the assistance of Virginia Tech researchers, that demonstrated Flint water was not meeting Federal safety standards for lead. At the meeting, Flint residents were not allowed to speak, and if they did so, they were arrested. The only mode of asking a question to the government was to write them on Post-In notes or submit them on paper, and residents were told that answers would be posted a week later on the City of Flint’s website. Moreover, questions from several Flint residents (like Melissa Mays and LeeAnne Walters) were never answered.
Siddhartha Roy of Flintwaterstudy.org, was told that by Melissa Mays that this was a routine council meeting during the water crisis, and that Flint residents were “frequently arrested for questioning the safety of their water.”
Here is more proof from footage shot by The Flint Journal/mLive from March 2015 where Tony Palladeno Jr. was asked to leave and is heard discussing Ms. Walters’ initial lead results with then Mayor Walling:
We have been collaborating with students in the classroom of Ms. Vickie Weiss, on a series of corrosion experiments to scientifically test claims made by the State of Michigan regarding lead problems in Flint drinking water. The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality has repeatedly claimed that:
Problems with lead in Flint water have nothing to do with corrosivity, and are due to customers bad plumbing or fixtures.
In any case, science is supposed to be about TESTABLE HYPOTHESES, and experimental results should be REPRODUCIBLE by anyone. Hence, we provided experimental apparatus to Ms. Weiss’ classroom, another local high school and to Brad Wurfel at MDEQ, so that they could do the science themselves if they were interested. The elementary and high school students were very interested and did the simple testing—as of the time we wrote this article, MDEQ did not respond to our query about how their testing was going.
Experimental Method
We shipped all three parties glass jars which had lead bearing plumbing in them, comprised of copper coupons with 50% lead solder on it — intending to simulate the effect of water chemistry in pipes of old homes with lead solder (see Figure 1). They randomly picked sample jars that would be filled with either Flint water or Detroit water. There were 5 groups of students from City School, and each group had a jar into which they poured Flint water or Detroit water.
Figure 1: Picture from Ms. Weiss’ classroom, showing the experimental apparatus
The students labeled and sent us tubes with water samples from their experiment to analyze on our Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometer (ICP-MS) run by Research Scientist Dr. Jeffrey Parks.
Analysis at Virginia Tech: A Small Guide
After we receive samples from the school in the tubes (see below), the first thing we do is add 2% concentrated nitric acid (HNO3) to each sample to dissolve any particulate lead:
Then we transfer the samples into 13 ml tubes that can be run on an Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectroscopy or ICP-MS (aka “The Beast”):
Next, we load them on to the ICP-MS’ auto-sampler, which has a moving needle to inject the sample into the machine:
Once the water sample has been injected into the ICP-MS (see below), it passes through a nebulizer, which breaks the water constituents and vaporizes it. The vaporized sample then goes into a plasma chamber, where it is heated up to 8000-10,000 K (Kelvin). This is almost two times hotter than the surface of the sun.
Here is a representative picture of the plasma inside an ICP-MS (courtesy of Saclay Institute of Matter and Radiation, France):
Finally, the plasma goes into a series of voltage gates, which is read by the computer and the results are shown on the screen:
The ICP-MS analysis is overseen by Research Scientist Dr. Jeffrey Parks:
Results
The students visually confirmed that much more white particles were being released in the jars containing Flint River water, and that the levels of white particles continued to increase as time passed (roughly four weeks). The jars containing Detroit water, on the other hand, have remained relatively clear for the duration of the test.
The students hypothesized that the white particles they saw in the Flint River water were made of lead, and that they were actually seeing higher lead in the Flint River water test than the Detroit water test, suggesting a much higher corrosivity of Flint River water compared to Detroit water. This was confirmed when the students’ samples were run on the ICP-MS.
Round 1 graphs show intermediate results, and Round 2 graphs are at the end of about four weeks:
Student Comments
Along with the sample tubes, Ms. Weiss’ class also sent us copies of their lab reports which had student comments. Some highlights from their lab reports are below:
Group 1
Drew Hertzberg, 10/23: “… Flint water is DISGUSTING!”
Drew Hertzberg, 10/26: “The Detroit water does not have a lot of led in the water. I am very thankful that my water comes from Detroit!” (sic)
Jillian Smith, 10/23: “IS Flint ever going to fix this issue?”
Jillian Smith, 10/26: “…Detroit water has greenish blueish colored particles, almost like copper.”
Estella, 10/20: “There are so many white things in the flint water it looks like a snow globe!…”
Estella, 10/26: “… Detroit water there are little blue things floating around in the water and the flint water has a lot of little white things in it.”
Ridley Stratton, 10/26: “Flint = SNOW GLOBE”
Group 2
Riya Achuri, 10/20: “Predictions: I think that the Flint water will have more led in it because it is more open to it.” (sic)
Riya Achuri, 10/26: “Detroit water: There is a lot of led in the Detroit water but not as much as there is in the Flint water.”
Ellyson Nicholson, 10/20: “2. What are so different about the two water jars” (sic)
Caroline Cramer, 10/26: “Flint looks like a snowglobe and Detroit looks like nothing barely happened.”
Group 3
Carson Kuhlmann, 10/20: “Will scientists ever be able to remove the led from the Flint water?” (sic)
Lucia, 10/23: “Flint: Looks like a snow globe. White everywhere you can hardly see the copper pipe” (sic)
Alex Li, 10/26: “The Detroit still has not changed but the flint’s lead started to blend with the water” (sic)
Group 4
Krisna Pedavalli, 10/23: “Flint water: The water is getting super dirty I just don’t know how people in Flint drink that water sometimes.” (sic)
Aiden Pulling, 10/23: “Detroit looks the same as 10/20 and flint turned into a pot of shredded paper that’s wet” (sic)
Group 5
Sophia, 10/20: “Both containers have some lead particles, but the Flint water has more lead. The Flint water looks bad and unhealthy to drink…”
Nicholas Stokes, 10/20: “..Questions: What is with the flint river chemistry that causes the corrosion? What does lead do in the body to make us sick?”
Nicholas Stokes, 10/26: “There is enough lead in the jar for it to be a snow globe. Now I see why people are getting sick. That is way too much lead…”
Conclusions
The elementary school students visual and experimental data, confirm that the Flint River water (without inhibitor) is much more corrosive to lead than Detroit water.
Experiments to test corrosivity of water are NOT complicated. MDEQ should consider such tests in the future. It would be a viable alternative to their current (ideal?) approach of changing the water source and seeing if kids’ blood lead spikes.
Role Play Exercise — Flint Water Crisis
Primary Authors: Anurag Mantha and Dr. Marc Edwards
Experiments: Ms. Weiss’ class from City School, Grand Blanc MI
Here we present the results of lead testing in two homes in Flint with persistently high levels of lead. The results from Dec 01 indicate that lead levels are dropping after the City went back to Detroit water. However, please continue to use your lead filters.
Bottle 1: First draw sample after 6 hours of stagnation (US EPA Protocol)
Bottle 2: Sample after 45 seconds of Flushing
Bottle 3: Sample after 2 minutes of Flushing
For reference, EPA’s action level for lead is 15 ppb.
Flint switched back to Detroit Water on Oct 16, 2015. All samples before this date are on Flint River water.
For both homes, sampling on Dec 1 indicates that lead levels are dropping.
For Home 1, water samples were collected at very low flow on Sep 15 because of very low pressure in the water distribution system. The lead levels are, therefore, an underestimate.
