When Everett Graham was in grade school, news broke of a sharp spike in levels of lead in kids’ blood. Lead is a toxic heavy metal that can cause a variety of health and learning problems. His hometown — Flint, Mich. — had changed the source of its drinking water. And now the whole town faced a major public health emergency.
“Overnight, we went from being able to drink from the water fountains at school,” Graham recalls, to learning that water wasn’t safe. Instead, he carried bottled water almost all the time.
Ten years have passed since that water source was switched to the polluted Flint River. The city switched back to its previous source in late 2015. But massive damage was done. And “the crisis still isn’t solved,” notes Graham, now a student at Michigan State University in Lansing.
A choice to put money savings ahead of public health caused — and later prolonged —Flint’s water woes.
The water crisis harmed the health of many children and adults in Flint, studies have shown. Mental health problems have surfaced, too. They include learning problems, behavioral issues, anxiety and depression. Though city residents are working to make things better, many still face an uphill battle.
One reason: U.S. homes built before 1986 often used lead pipes to connect them to city water supplies. In many places, that use of lead pipes was required. Faucets and shower heads in many homes used lead, too.
And lead doesn’t always stay in those pipes and plumbing fixtures. It can leach into the water. When people drink that water, the lead gets into their bodies.
Flint isn’t the only city that has suffered from lead and other contaminants in its drinking water. Washington, D.C., had a big problem in 2004. Drinking water for large parts of Newark, N.J., had high levels of lead from 2016 to 2019. Lead has also contaminated the drinking water in even bigger cities, including Chicago, Ill., and New York…
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