ChemMatters - December 2016

What, Why and When It Happened

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;IN THE SPRING OF 2014, LARGE AMOUNTS of lead found their way into the water that some residents of Flint, Mich., were using to drink, cook, and brush their teeth. Lead is known to be particularly damaging to young children’s developing brains. So how did lead get into the tap water in Flint?

Treating and supplying
water

In early 2013, in order to save money,
Flint officials decided to change the source
of the city’s water from the Detroit Water
and Sewerage Department to the Karegnondi
Water Authority (KWA). However, KWA was
not ready to deliver the water, because they
were in the process of building a new pipeline
to bring water from nearby Lake Huron. This
meant that officials in the city of Flint needed
to find a short-term solution, while the new
pipeline was being built. They decided to use
water from the local Flint
River that they would clean in
water-treatment plants.

In April 2014, Flint switched over to the new source, and the problems began almost immediately.

Within weeks, residents were
complaining of foul-smelling
and discolored water. The
city initially denied that there
were any issues, but within a
few months, they issued a boil-water advisory.

Later, in October 2014, the General Motors car plant in Flint announced that they would no longer use the water, because they feared it would cause corrosion within the factory.

April 2013:

Facing severe financial pressures, the city of Flint, Mich., decides to change the source of the city’s water and signs a contract with the Karegnondi Water Authority (KWA), but KWA would not supply water until 2016.

April 2014: Flint begins using water from the Flint river until the KWA pipeline from Lake Huron is completed.

May 2014: Flint residents begin to complain about the water.

When Flint’s water started smelling foul, tasting odd,
turning orange, and the children drinking it started to
develop nasty skin rashes, there was clearly something
terribly wrong. But what? That was a mystery that only
chemistry could solve.