Flint On Its Way To Recovery, But Hurdles Remain

Researchers at Virginia Tech, who were among the first to call out the lead crisis in Flint, say the water is improving but remains unsafe to drink without a filter.

Civil engineering professor Marc Edwards and his team presented their findings last week after testing more than 170 residences, according to The Roanoke Times. The researchers published their data online and provided video of the news conference.

“We’re nearing the beginning of the end of the public health disaster response,” Edwards said, per TIME. “This shows that the corrosion control and all the things being implemented are working and Flint’s system is on its way to recovery.”

Residents should drink water through a filter or bottled water, he said, per The Roanoke Times. The tests showed lead levels have declined as much as 60 percent since previous tests, the researchers said, per the report.

“The sampling is not an EPA-approved test, but the research is an indication that Flint’s water is showing significant improvement, and Edwards says the city would likely pass an EPA-sanctioned test,” TIME reported.

Edwards was recently featured in a long profile by The New York Times Magazine, where he was dubbed the “troublemaker” scientist because of his work to shine a light on the crisis in Flint when government officials were unwilling to admit the problem. Wired profiled him as well. From the New York Times Magazine piece:

Michigan officials initially tried to discredit him, too, trotting out the rabble-­rousing charge. Although the state “appreciates academic participation in this discussion,” Wurfel, the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality spokesman, wrote in an email to a local reporter last September, “offering broad, dire public-­health advice based on some quick testing could be seen as fanning political flames irresponsibly.”

A recent study by Columbia University tallied up the social costs of the lead crisis in Flint, estimating a total of $395 million. “The total takes into account some 8,000 children believed exposed to lead poisoning in Flint since April 2014,” Reuters reported.

A federal emergency declaration for Flint ended last week. Under the declaration, the feds “have been footing 75 percent of the bill for the bottled water, filters, filter cartridges and home testing kits that are free at distribution sites in nearly all of the city’s wards and 30 churches and community centers,” Michigan Radio reported. Now the state will pick up the tab.

To read more about the Flint crisis visit Water Online’s Drinking Contaminant Removal Solutions Center.