As more facts come to light in “The Flint Water Crisis”, this story of government over-reach, the incompetence and arrogance of those in charge of the health and safety of millions of Michigan residents, and the resulting human tragedy is no less than stunning.
The facts surrounding the switch from clean, fresh, safe water from Lake Huron, to the caustic, polluted, and bacteria laden, water of the Flint River for the single purpose of saving money is well documented and irrefutable. What followed in the weeks and months that followed is unimaginable in a technologically advanced society.
Immediately after the switch, residents complained to anyone that would listen that their water was yellow or brown, tasted bad, and smelled of sulfur. City of Flint officials, the Emergency Manager (EM) appointed by Gov. Snyder to run the City, the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, and the Michigan EPA all insisted that the water was fit to drink.
As is usual in older industrial cities with large populations of poor and disadvantaged residents, living in older, poorly maintained homes in close proximity to industrial complexes, pediatricians routinely test children’s lead levels. One Flint physician, Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, reported that blood tests of her patient’s clearly indicated that lead levels in children living in Flint had, on average, doubled since switching to water from the Flint River. When she separated the children into geographic areas, some areas had lead levels that had tripled. She was immediately demonized by local and state government and ridiculed by the media.
Flint resident and mom, Lee-Anne Walters, noticed her hair began coming out. The pencil marks in the doorway marking the growth of her son had stopped their steady upward progression and her daughter was also losing her hair. When she raised the alarm, city officials offered to completely replace her plumbing for free — if she signed off her rights to sue the government for any damages. You may get away with murder, but you just don’t mess with an angry mom. Ms. Walters refused the bribe, formed a citizen’s group named “Water You Fighting For”, and joined in the efforts to file lawsuits for what the government had done to her family and others.
Lee-Ann also contacted Dr. Marc Edwards, a civil engineer and professor at Virginia Tech, who is an expert on water treatment and corrosion. She convinced him to come to Flint and he showed up -- with his 25 person team — at no cost to the people of Flint. Instead of testing 40 or 60 or 80 samples from a city of roughly 100,000 residents, the Virginia Tech researchers ran tests on over 275 water samples from homes in Flint. Their conclusion was that the amounts of lead, copper, and other heavy metals in the water made it unsafe for drinking or cooking. In fact, some samples exceeded the EPA’s definition of Toxic Waste.
But now, Dr. Edwards was faced with an even bigger, more ominous question that could result in some very serious answers. But the question demanded answers.
WHY WERE THE RESULTS OF THE VIRGINIA TECH STUDIES SO DIAMETRICALLY OPPOSED TO THE TEST RESULTS OBTAINED BY THE FLINT WATER DEPARTMENT UNDER THE SUPERVISION OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN?
The testing was to take place in two identical studies performed 6 months apart. When the Michigan chapter of the ACLU began an investigation of the procedures employed by the water department and supervised by the state’s Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), they were able to determine:
- The initial tests in 2014 were supposed to include 100 samples, yet only 71 were collected. However, only the results of 69 samples were reported. Their investigation revealed that two samples were removed due to extremely damaging results. Once removed, the overall results fell below the EPA’s “Action Level” standard.
- When collecting the water samples, the residents were instructed to “flush” their system by running the faucet for 4 minutes or longer. This action would remove most of the lead and copper in the sample.
- When collecting the water samples, residents were told to fill the container very slowly. This would collect a greater concentration of water from the center of the pipes, and less from the water next to the corroded walls of the pipes.
All three of these steps are clear violations of the EPA Water Sample Collection protocols, however, they would lower the lead content of the samples by 50% or more. You may ask, “Why would they “game” the samples before they knew about the lead?” but you already know the answer, which constitutes a deliberate attempt to deceive the public and expose them to illness, disability, and death.
Of course the Michigan DEQ announced there was nothing wrong with the water and Flint residents had nothing to be afraid of.
Additionally, this deception meant the residents, the children of Flint, anyone who worked in or visited Flint, who went to lunch or out for dinner, who bought a diet Coke with extra ice from a drive-thru, would be exposed to this poison for another 6 months, when the next round of state tests would be performed. It was also clear that as time went on, the corrosion, and lead levels, would continue to increase. This was not a problem that was just going away, and it wasn’t lost on the governor and his appointed minions.
In the spring of 2015, the Michigan government showed its complete and willful disregard for the health, safety, and lives of the citizens it was elected and/or appointed to serve.
Again, the Michigan ACLU obtained documents that revealed even more fraud had taken place. As the spring sampling began, of the original 71 homes, only the 13 homes with the lowest lead content had second samples taken. This was in clear violation of federal law regarding sample protocols.
An email message from the DEQ to Flint’s utility manager, Mike Glasgow, on June 25th stated:
"We hope you have 61 more lead/copper samples collected and sent to the lab by 6/30/15, and that they will be below the Action Level for lead. As of now, with 39 results, Flint's 90th percentile is over the AL for lead."
In other words, with 39 samples tested, WE ARE FAILING. We need 61 clean samples before the June 30th deadline or we fail the testing and we’re caught.
But Mr. Glasgow is in luck. As it turns out, there’s a neighborhood in Flint where the old water-main and iron tap-lines running from the main to the homes were all replaced just a couple years earlier along Flushing Road (you can’t make this stuff up!). Coincidentally, there’s also a Flint Water Department employee that lives on Flushing Road (who would believe it?) who went up and down the road asking for water samples from his neighbors. In all, the pristine samples from Flushing road would constitute more than 25% if the Spring 1015 testing. I can only ask, is there a hyphen in “cherry picking”?
A spokesman for the Michigan DEQ then issued an email in July 2015 which stated that the test results proved “that residents of Flint do not need to worry about lead in their water supply.” Also, "...DEQ's recent sampling does not indicate an imminent health threat from lead or copper."
Again, Flint is deceived by the blatantly illegal actions of their government; their basic rights are violated; and the government fails to provide any protections from the sickness, permanent emotional and mental damages, or compromised potentials for a whole generation of children.
But that’s not all. General Motors Corporation cut off their connection to Flint’s water supply because their engines were corroding immediately after coming in contact with the caustic water. In doing so, Flint lost its biggest customer.
The most disturbing is the spike of Legionnaires Disease in the county. Normally, there are 9 or 10 cases per year, however, beginning one month after the water source switch and continuing for the next 18 months, there has been 87 cases reported and 10 if those resulted in death. One Flint hospital noticed those cases included current or former patients, so they tested their water. Sure enough, small amounts of the legionnaire bacteria were found. They reasoned that the caustic water quickly broke down the chlorine and the plumbing system was so large, the now un-chlorinated water would not be flushed out for days, allowing the bacteria to grow within the warm pipes.
If a drunk unintentionally runs into another car and kills someone, they are tried and convicted of murder and sent to prison. It remains to be seen if a governor, his appointed department heads, and his aides will be held accountable when their monetary decisions and policies sicken and kill people. When it is evident people have died or become disabled as a direct result of their despicable decisions, lies, cover-ups, and complete disregard adversely affect a major city, will they go to prison?
Or will they simply be given the option to resign?