Flint, MI water crisis

Read about this last week. Depending on who knew what and when, criminal charges might be on horizon.

Displaced Bama Fan said:

Sounds like a few generations of city council members should be as well for failing to rebuild infrastructure and were probably spending money on things that could be "seen" and avoiding the bigger issue of the water system. Kind of like our federal government kicking things down the road.

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Here's the article I read last week on the matter from ORAC. Very informative.

Fact of the matter is, this was so easily preventable that it's laughable. The pipes were old, yes. Switching to the River was much cheaper. They could have treated the water in such a way that this corrosion could have been prevented for $100 a day, though. A pittance when you're discussing the drinking water for a city of 100,000 people. This shortsighted city manager's (appointed by Snyder, by the way) head should be on the figurative platter for this screw up, as well as anyone that publicly denied it.

Displaced Bama Fan said:

Snyder's head should be on the platter too.

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Comes down to what he knew and when he knew it. This is not the kind of information you sit on. If the article I linked above is correct, most definitely.

Displaced Bama Fan said:

Maybe I missed it in the article you posted. But when were the lead welds on the pipes put in place? I'm just curious how recent it was with all the data on lead and its effects on development and behavior if maybe the contractor is at fault as well.

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These tend to be very old pipes. Absolutely ancient. Some more than likely getting close to a century in age. Whoever installed them is probably long dead. But this is not uncommon. Lead piping was the norm until the 1950s or so. Many cities still have lead piping. Detroit is one of them. Unlike Flint, they were treating the water in such a way that this corrosion is minimized.

from here

muslims donate 30,000 bottles of water to flint, mi

Who is Hussain? was inspired by the story of an early Islamic leader, Imam Hussain ibn Ali, the grandson of Islam’s Prophet Muhammad. Hussain ibn Ali complained early on about growing violence and extremism in the Muslim community, but was brutally killed after being denied water for several days. Adherents of Hussain’s teachings believe that the denial of water under any circumstances is an unconscionable crime, and actively promote water distribution campaigns on a regular basis. On the anniversary of Hussain’s death, they themselves forsake food and water for most of the day as a type of remembrance.

“Prophet Mohammed taught us ‘Your neighbor comes before your own household.’ As a resident of Detroit this is not only a Flint problem this is a Michigan problem and I feel obligated to help to the best of my ability.” said Mohammed Almawla, a local filmmaker and volunteer for the organization.

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i think they are trying to catch us off guard

Displaced Bama Fan said:

So Sen. Mike Lee is holding up federal funding to alleviate Flint's water issues. But the real question, is this a federal issue that our government should be meddling with or is this a state/local issue where decades of poor decisions to not reinvest in their infrastructure has created this problem?

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/the-senator-holding-flint-aid-hostage/ar-BBqgjDQ?li=BBnbfcL

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I have no problems with the "hold" because I agree with the Senator, this is a local/state issue. Michigan should bail Flint out, not the federal government.

TIDE-HSV said:

The problem is that in that part of the Midwest, the rivers have a high percentage of dissolved chlorides, from generations of salting the roads with various salts. It's the chloride which leaches out the lead in the unions. The Great Lakes have enough water to dilute it. Rivers don't.

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Ding, ding, ding..............winner!

As long as they have been salting the roads, there is no excuse for not understanding this phenomenon.

And folks still wonder why I have no faith in gubbament.

Apparently, the racist white Republicans poisoning black people argument just fell to the ground...



http://www.12news.com/news/nation-n...0-water-systems-across-all-50-states/85501301

Many of the highest reported lead levels were found at schools and day cares. A water sample at a Maine elementary school was 42 times higher than the EPA limit of 15 parts per billion, while a Pennsylvania preschool was 14 times higher, records show. At an elementary school in Ithaca, N.Y., one sample tested this year at a stunning 5,000 ppb of lead, the EPA’s threshold for “hazardous waste.”

"This is most definitely a problem that needs emergent care," Melissa Hoffman, a parent in Ithaca, forcefully pleaded with officials at a public hearing packed with upset parents demanding answers.

In all, the USA TODAY NETWORK analysis of EPA enforcement data identified 600 water systems in which tests at some taps showed lead levels topping 40 parts per billion (ppb), which is more than double the EPA's action level limit. While experts caution Flint is an extreme case of pervasive contamination, those lead levels rival the 400-plus of the worst samples in far more extensive testing of around 15,000 taps across Flint. The 40 ppb mark also stands as a threshold that the EPA once labeled on its website an “imminent” health threat for pregnant women and young children.