Toxic water in Flint

[interpreter]

From the Washington Post:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nati...705f0c-c11e-11e5-bcda-62a36b394160_story.html

Anger over the levels of lead in the water in Flint has led the mayor to declare a state of emergency.
By Lenny Bernstein and Brady Dennis January 24 at 11:00 AM
The scale of government neglect in the water crisis in Flint, Mich., could place the city alongside some of the most infamous environmental disasters in U.S. history, from New York’s Love Canal to the Hinkley, Calif., saga of Erin Brockovich fame.

The debacle ranks among the worst on numbers alone, said Paul Mohai, who studies environmental-justice issues at the University of Michigan. With a community of 100,000 people, largely poor and minority, unable to drink from their taps, Flint is “one of the biggest environmental justice disasters I know” — and perhaps unprecedented, Mohai said Friday.

Months after activists first called for the EPA’s intervention, the agency used its emergency powers Thursday to demand action by the state and city. Its regional leader, Susan Hedman, resigned — as the state’s water quality director had done just weeks before. The National Guard is handing out bottled water, and water filters have been distributed.

I predicted it.

See my "2016 in Bible Prophecy" at the7lastplagues.com

 

[Oafman]

I predicted it.

See my "2016 in Bible Prophecy" at the7lastplagues.com

I did a Ctrl + F on your blog, searching for the words 'Flint', 'Michigan', and 'lead'. My search revealed no hits. You did not predict this.

This must be a particularly disappointing failure for you. It wouldn't have been particularly hard to predict, given that there were news articles about this precise issue last year

 

[Nithavela]

Propably something vague about water.

Also, there is already a thread about this.

 

[OldWiseGuy]

This problem can explode in any town or city that still has lead pipes. It usually isn't a problem until the 'scum' that accumulates on the inside of those pipe is disturbed in some way. This film (God only knows what it consists of) prevents the lead from leeching into the water. Apparently the water from the Flint river was sufficiently 'harsh' in some way to disturb this protective layer resulting in highly soluble "old" surface lead, along with the dissolved 'scum' to quickly enter the water supply.

My city has replaced all of the 'mains' with new pipe over the years and is continuing to replace any 'laterals' that contain lead.

Of course the problem with cities such as Flint is that there isn't enough money in budgets to do this, or do it completely. Poorer areas that don't produce the property tax revenue are often the last to get improvements, if at all. Another factor is that the property owner is responsible for the cost of the abatement on their property. Even changing the water mains that run beneath the streets often results in a bill to the property owners as well. I paid over $2000 for such a special assessment when the city replaced water mains in front of my rental property.

But to me the frosting on the cake is that the affected residents of Flint were unable to do anything on their own behalf when it was obvious that something was wrong with the water.

I live in a city famous for it's great tasting water. But I wouldn't drink it if you paid me. I have drank only distilled water for over 40 years, and although our tap water is good tasting to most, I can't choke it down for the taste and smell of the added chlorine. It's like drinking bleach.

Just to confirm my suspicions I visited several water distiller websites. There is no evidence of a 'run' on distillers. Most are actually on sale, which wouldn't be the case if massive purchases were being made. Oh well.