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Why Water Quality Is Important

FLINT, MI

The Consequences of
Inadequate Water Budgets

Water Quality Issue in Flint

There is no safe level for lead in


the water, but the EPA puts a
limit at 15 parts per billion
(ppb)

EPA classifies water tainted


above 5,000 ppb as hazardous
waste

Virginia Tech researchers found


blood samples from Flint
children with lead
contamination as high as13,200
ppb

Lead is a Neurotoxin

lead poisoning is known to impair cognitive function,


shorten attention spans, spur antisocial behavior, and
lower IQs in children

the World Health Organization says the "neurological


and behavioral effects of lead are believed to be
irreversible.

lead poisoning affects young children more severely

Economics

the decision that resulted in


poisoning the children of Flint was
made to save ~$2M/year in
operating expenses

the infrastructure capital costs to


correct the water quality impacts
of this operating cost-saving
decision may cost as much as
$260M

however these costs do not include


the expected individual healthrelated costs from lead poisoning

Human Cost of Not Adequately Maintaining Infrastructure

in April 2014, a decision to cut Flint, Michigans water supply


budget caused widespread lead poisoning of children in Flint

in May 2000, inadequate water operating & maintenance


budgeting in Walkerton, Ontario, a town of 5,000, introduced E
coli 0157:H7 into the public water supply sickening 2,300.
Hundreds were hospitalized and seven people died

in April 1993, inadequate water repair & replacement


budgeting caused 400,000 customers to became ill, 4,000 were
hospitalized, and 100 people died from exposure to
cryptosporidium oocysts in Milwaukee, WIs drinking water

There is no way that Flint is a one-off.

there is growing evidence that many


municipal water systems east of the
Mississippi with aging water infrastructure
from the 1800s or early 1900s are
underreporting levels of lead and copper in
their municipal water

corroded pipes are to blame, along with a


testing system that is being gamed to avoid
the capital costs of repairing infrastructure
way past its economically useful life

only communities willing to afford safe


water will assure that their water is truly safe

Note: bottled water sold in the US is


unregulated and not necessarily safer than
most municipal water out of the tap

Lead Poisoning - the Story

In the 19th Century through the mid 20th Century lead was
used in water distribution systems because it was cheap, it
lasted a long time, and the medical research on lead
poisoning was nascent

public health officials were much more concerned with


preventing typhoid than lead in public water distribution
lines

By the 1960s, medical research proved the public health


problems with lead in drinking water

In 1977, the Congress passed the Clean Water Act

On June 19, 1986, President Ronald Regan signed an


amendment to the Clean Water Act that banned the use of
lead pipe and lead soldering for public water distribution
systems after an EPA study showed than 1 in 5 public water
systems in the US had lead levels beyond regulatory limits

generally, although lead pipes for public water systems


were banned and even mandated testing for lead levels in
private businesses and homes was required under Federal
laws, these measures were not implemented by municipal
and private public water purveyors due to cost

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