Flint Water Study: Revisiting Science and Engineering

for the Public Good

Rebekah MartinOn behalf of the Flint Water Study team

Ph.D. Student, Civil and Environmental EngineeringVirginia Tech

1950s-1960s 1980s-present

The Flint Journal, from http://www.teardownbook.com/photos/ http://www.plan59.com/photos/buickcity.htm

No

Lead

Lead

Pipe

Lead

Solder

Lead

In Brass

Graphic Adapted from: http://www.clevelandwater.com/customer-service/protect-your-

home/home-tips

Health Effects of Lead

https://www.epa.gov/your-drinking-water/basic-information-about-lead-drinking-water#health

http://www.cdc.gov/nceh/lead/

Flint

River

DEQ

Approves

$$$

August - September

2014

E. coli violation

April 2014

Switch to Flint River

October 2014

January 2015

Exceeds total trihalomethanes limit

Michigan Department of Environmental

Quality (MDEQ) Responsibility

Due to Flint River water

chemistry

= Perfect Storm For Lead

Release

No Corrosion Control

+ Corrosive Water

Sam

Owens/AP

Regina H. Boone—Detroit Free

Press/ZumaPress

Sephia8 –

mlive.com

Abayomi

Azikiwe

Flint's mayor drinks water from tap to prove it's safePosted: Jul 09, 2015 12:18 PM EDThttp://www.wnem.com/story/29511581/flints-mayor-drinks-water-from-tap#ixzz3gwcWslUQ

Is it safe to drink the tap

water in Flint? Some

residents don’t think so.

"It's your standard tap

water. You can taste a little

bit of the chlorine," Walling

said. Walling says he

drinks the water every day.

“Let me start here – anyone who is concerned about lead in the

drinking water in Flint can relax,” said MDEQ Spokesman on July

13th, 2015

Why Virginia Tech?How we became involved

Two very important people

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/01/mother-exposed-flint-lead-contamination-water-

crisis

Dr. Yanna Lambrinidou LeeAnne Walters

NSF grant #1135328

Bridging the Gap Between Engineers and Society: Learning to Listen

Washington

Post

Washington post

http://photos.cntraveler.com/2015/10/21/562803a9c4dab9d441425a74_washington-dc-cr-getty.jpg

2001 - 2004

RYAN

GARZA/AP

20152014

April 28

LeeAnne

sends

samples to

Virginia

Tech

April 27,

May 6

EPA

investigates

Lee Anne’s

home

February

LeeAnne

contacts City of

Flint regarding

lead in her water

December

2014

The Walters

family stops

drinking water

from their tap

February 4

LeeAnne’s son

develops

rashes over

body after

bathing in the

water

February 26

LeeAnne’s

son’s BLL is

3 μg/dL

March 19

MDEQ tells

EPA

LeeAnne’s

high lead

levels are from

sources in her

plumbing

March 27

LeeAnne’s

son’s BLL is

6.5 μg/dL

Images and figure courtesy of Virginia Tech

“A major concern from a public health

standpoint is the absence of corrosion

control treatment in the City of Flint”

City of Flint/MDEQ Cheated on Monitoring

ACTUALLY FAILED NOW PASSED!

The Daily Mail/AP

Flint Water Study Launch

• Website launched late August

• Purpose: • Inform Flint residents about water quality issues

• Bring public awareness

August 13, 2015

Trip 1 : Sampling and LearningSampling

SitesSampling supplies preparation team

Melissa Mays

Laura Sullivan

Claire McClinton

Nayyirah Shariff

LeeAnne Walters

Filter after filtering Flint

water

Mobile lab in Mrs. Edwards’

van

Opportunistic Pathogens

Legionella pneumophila Mycobacterium spp.Legionella spp. Pseudomonas aeruginosaTotal Bacteria (16S) Acanthamoeba polyphagaMycobacterium avium

Corrosion-causing bacteria

Heterotrophic Bacteria

Acid Producing Bacteria

Iron Reducing Bacteria

Sulfate Reducing Bacteria

Slime Forming Bacteria

Denitrifying Bacteria

BART

qPCR

Biological Parameters

Fecal Indicator Bacteria

E. Coli

Total Coliforms

Enterococcus spp.

Testing for E. coli and other fecal indicator bacteria

Biological Parameters (cont.)

Physical/Chemical Parameters

ICP - MS

Probes

pH

Temperature

Dissolved Oxygen

THM’s

(Disinfection byproducts)

THMFP

Chlorimeter

Chlorine residual

Romain Blanquart / Detroit Free Press

Getty Images

Sampling protocol

Collected water samples from a cold water tap that is used for drinking water

1 L

First draw

(FD)

500 mL

~1 min flush

250 mL

~3 min flush

Flush for

2 minutes

6+ hour

stagnation

Flush for

45 seconds

For 271 samples:

90th Percentile for First Draw: 26.8 ppb

(EPA Action Level = 15 ppb)

Highest First Draw: 158 ppb

Highest overall: 1051 ppb

(after 1 minute of flushing)

Flint Trip 2: Public Health Advisory

Dr. Jeff Parks measuring lead

using ICP-MS

City Council Meeting

Sid Roy Speaking in Saints of God

Church

Town Hall Meeting

September 2015

Response from MDEQ

“This group specializes in looking for high lead

problems. They pull the rabbit out of that hat

everywhere they go. Nobody should be surprised

when the rabbit comes out of the hat, even if they

can’t figure out how it is done”

MDEQ’s Communications Director

Lead Corrosion Experiment

Flint Detroit

Iron Corrosion

Experiment

Iron Corrosion Experiment

Iron Corrosion Experiment

0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1

1.2

1.4

0 2 4 6 8 10 12

Fre

e C

hlo

rin

e (

mg

/L)

Time (Hr.)

Detroit water had less free chlorine

at the beginning of the experiment

September 2

Dr. Edwards warns

Flint people, MDEQ,

etc of high lead levels

August 31

VT Results from the first

120 kits indicate a

“serious lead in water

problem”

2015

August 13

300 Kits sent to Flint

September 24

Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha

and her team release

results of their study on

elevated blood lead levels

in children

September 9

MDEQ “rabbit out of the

hat comment”

September 14- 16

Flint Trip #2, 252

kits have been

returned

http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article/20150928/NEWS01/150929872/doctors-urge-flint-to-stop-using-water-from-flint-river

Public Health Emergency in

Genesee County

@HealthCritics, Detroit Free Press

Flint Trip #3

What tap water looked like one

hour before the switch!

Culturing was one

method used to detect

bacteria in drinking

water from Flint

Flint Trip #4

Ms. Weiss’ class at City School,

Grand Blanc, MI

Flint water was always

MORE corrosive than

Detroit water

40x

Student Observations

Drew: “…Flint water is

DISGUSTING!”

Ridley: “Flint = SNOW GLOBE”

Sophia: “…the Flint

water looks bad and

unhealthy to drink…”

“Flint looks like a snow globe and Detroit looks like nothing

barely happened” -Caroline

Legionella in Flint’s watersAn unfortunate prediction that came true

cdc.gov

Legionella bacteria

Lack of corrosion control = Increased Legionella

1. More bacteria “food”

1. More bacteria “food”

2. Iron corrosion = more iron entering buildings’ pipes

Lack of corrosion control = Increased Legionella

High levels of corrosion-

causing bacteria

Flin

t W

ater

Pu

re W

ater

1. More bacteria “food”

2. Iron corrosion = more iron entering buildings’ pipes

3. High iron corrosion removed chlorine disinfectant

Lack of corrosion control = Increased Legionella

Genesee County Legionnaires’ Outbreaks

Flint Water

Switch

Government Response

“We remain diligent in our efforts to proactively and appropriately address the potential for future cases”

January 16th to Today

“I KNOW IF I WAS A PARENT UP THERE [IN FLINT], I WOULD BE

BESIDE MYSELF IF MY KIDS’ HEALTH COULD BE AT RISK.”

- President Barack Obama

Carolyn Kaster/AP

Continuing Efforts

Lead Pipe Identification and Replacement

Many Flint residents are using very little water

Two homes with persistent elevated lead problem only using 20-45% of typical monthly volume

1. Trying to reduce water bills

2. Showering only once per week (<5 min) to reduce the likelihood of rashes or exposure

3. Using bottled water for baths, washing dishes and other uses

Loose lead and iron sediment in pipes

Water from Flint River disrupted developed scales

and biofilms

Flushing at low flow will clean lead deposits very slowly: Maybe months to years

Where do we go from here?Making sense (?) of this tragedy

18 months

100,000 residents

9,000 kids

200 confirmed

Jake May/AP

Criminal charges in Flint water crisisPaul Egan and Matthew Dolan, Detroit Free Press

11:54 a.m. EDT April 20, 2016

EPA Region 5 Administrator

… …to resign in wake of the Flint water

crisisJAN 21, 2016

Flint Water Study Team Member (FWS): So, do you inform the homeowners if the

lead levels are high?

Utility Manager (UM): We don’t need to inform homeowners if the 90th percentile is

below 15 ppb. [If fewer than 10 percent of homes produce lead readings above 15

ppb, the Lead and Copper Rule does not require the utility to take action.]

FWS: Yes, but, if you were a parent in a home which was tested over 15 pbb,

wouldn’t you like to know?

UM: I understand what you are saying, but that is not how the rule works.

FWS: I know, but would you agree that it is a problem and that the rule should

change? Isn’t it important to inform homeowners if they are over the action level?

UM: Yeah, but that is not up to me. Our job is to follow the rules and regulations.

EPA

DCH

FOIA – Agencies and the Water

Crisis

Jake May/AP

Jan 12 National Guard activated

Dec 14, 2015 City – Mayor Weaver

Jan 05, 2016 State – Gov. Snyder

Jan 16, 2015 Federal – Pres. Obama

$100+ million

The crisis is not over…

• Life-long education of Flint

citizens

• Nutritional and Health

Services to Children

Affected

• Meet the Lead and Copper

Rule

• Improve Water

Infrastructure

• Regain the trust of citizens

Why We Should Care

“…for just $100 a day you can save this village in

America…”

A Matter of Perspective

The Big Picture

[Flint] is a reminder of why you can't shortchange basic services that we provide to our people, and we together provide as a government to make sure public health and safety is preserved. – Pres. Obama

http://www.infrastructurereportcard.org/drinking-water/

Public Education

Appropriate Sampling Methods

WaterInfrastructure

Transparency

“The idea ofscience as a public good is being lost”

“Listening to the

public is critical”

Marc

Edwards

Mona

Hanna

Attisha

Miguel del

Toral

Lee Anne

Walters

The FlintWaterStudy Team

Undergraduates: Margaret Carolan, Kim Hughes, Rebecca Jones, Alison Vick, Kristine

Graduate Students: Christina Devine, Emily Garner, Pan Ji, Anurag Mantha, Rebekah Martin, Jake Metch, Colin

Richards, William Rhoads, Siddhartha Roy, Laurel Strom, Owen Strom, Min Tang, Ni Zhu

Research Scientists: Drs. Brandi Clark, Dongjuan Dai, Sheldon Masters, Jeffrey Parks, Kelsey Pieper, David “Otto”

Schwake, Fei Wang

Principal Investigators: Dr. Marc Edwards, Dr. Amy Pruden, Dr. Joseph Falkinham III

Grateful acknowledgements

•National Science Foundation, RAPID Grant #1556258

•Citizens of Flint

•WaterYouFightingFor? (Melissa Mays and LeeAnne Walters)

•Hurley Medical Center (Mona Hanna-Attisha and others)

•US EPA Region 5 (Miguel Del Toral)

•ACLU of Michigan (Curt Guyette, Kate Levy)

•Sen. Jim Ananich, Congressman Dan Kildee (and their extraordinary staff)

•800+ donors supporting our work

• Michigan State Health Department // Genesee County Health Department

• Democracy Defense League (Nayyirah Shariff, Claire McClinton, Dr. Laura Sullivan)

• Northeast-Midwest Institute (Elin Betanzo)• Concerned Pastors for Social Action (Pastors Alfred Harris, Allen

Overton)• Parents for Non-toxic Alternatives (Dr. Yanna Lambrinidou)• City of Flint (Mayor Karen Weaver, Dayne Walling, Howard Croft,

Mike Glasgow)• Members of the media• Virginia Tech (staff and students)

flintkids.org

How can you help?

www.gofundme.com/flintstudyvt