Lessons from Flint, Michigan

Nearly every news source recently has been reporting about the water crisis in Flint, Michigan. Many Americans are now concerned, and rightfully so, about the decisions that are made in their communities and cities regarding the quality of their local water source.

The Flint crisis began long before the water contamination, when the community drastically declined after the auto industry shut their doors. Many residents left the area, and of those that stayed behind, about 40% of residents are below the poverty line. The city was declared to be in a financial state of emergency in 2011, and the state took control of the budget. During that time, the state made crucial life-changing decisions that have now affected every resident of #Flint. “’When the governor appointed an emergency financial manager (in 2011), that person came here ... to simply do one thing and one thing only, and that's cut the budget, at any cost,’” said Michigan Congressman Dan Kildee,” according to an online article posted on CNN. So, the state switched the water supply from Lake Huron to the Flint River, notorious for its contamination.

Once residents began to notice the change in their water, they began to ask questions. Initially thought to be sewage by some residents, in fact the brown water was found to be iron. “The Flint River is highly corrosive: 19 times more so than the Lake Huron supply, according to researchers from Virginia Tech,” says the CNN article. The problems began when the #FlintRiver water was provided to consumers without an anti-corrosive treatment, so the water eroded the iron water mains, turning the water brown. Additionally, “About half of the service lines to homes in Flint are made of lead and because the water wasn't properly treated, #lead began leaching into the water supply, in addition to the iron.” Now, Flint residents realize they have been drinking water filled with lead contamination.

This scenario played out for nearly two years, with city and state officials telling residents that “everything was fine.” But in August, 2015, a group of #VirginiaTech researchers conducted in-home testing. They discovered elevated lead levels in the water and went public with the information.

While this has happened in an impoverished city, it also highlights how quickly one single action taken by a government or municipal agency can affect hundreds of thousands, possibly millions of residents of both small towns and large cities alike. There are questions about why the state and local officials denied the problem for almost two years before residents were informed of the lead contamination. And if your local water source is being properly treated with disinfectants and federally mandated anti-corrosion agents, are those chemicals and by-products something you want in YOUR water supply?

The only effective way to know for certain that your water is clean, fresh, and free of contamination and water treatment chemicals is to own a high quality point-of-use water filtration system. The system that you choose should be NSF-tested and certified to reduce the greatest number of contaminants, such as the Multipure family of water filtration systems. Water2Drink.com can provide you with information regarding the certification of Multipure Drinking Water Systems and help you select the best system for you and your family’s needs.